Going through police motor school
#192
05-07-2010, 06:14 AM
The Test!
Day 8, Wednesday, May 5th
We officially started at 1:00 P.M. today and planned on working until 9:00 P.M. so we could get in some night riding. The instructors made it clear to everyone, though, that they would be in at 11:00 A.M. for anyone who wanted to start practicing early. I think most everyone showed up between 11:00 and 11:30. Today was test day, after all, a little extra practice couldn’t hurt!
The practice routine was as normal today, starting out easy and working my way into the harder exercises, forcing myself to do at least 4 clean runs before moving on. When done, back to the beginning to start all over again. At about 2:00 P.M., it was time. The instructors called us all together and made the rules clear to everyone. A cone knocked down, or even moved from it’s “base”, meant a bad run, as did a foot down, a bike down, or riding out of the exercise (in other words, not following the correct path).
We decided, as a group, that we would prefer to have one rider at a time take all 4 runs, as opposed to lining everyone up in a row for a run, then doing the next run, etc… We all agreed that once we were “in it” we would want to stay in it. When it came time to line up for the first exercise, the slow cone weave and offset weave (actually 2 separate exercises run together), no one seemed anxious to go first. I took that as my cue and jumped right in. My thoughts were that I would rather get through it right away than have to watch people mess up and let that get into my head. The order would remain the same for the remainder of the testing.
As I lined up for that first exercise I took a deep breath and told myself “slow down, head and eyes, you can do this”. I aced all 4 runs on the slow weave and offset weave with no problems at all. As everyone else took their turn behind me, I went off to a far corner and worked on the next exercise (as much as I could without the benefit of the cones), the 90 degree pull-out. That, too, went smoothly for me, but not so much for most of the others. They had taken for granted that this “easy” one didn’t really need that much attention and they made mistakes that cost them points.
Next up was the intersection. By now I was equally comfortable doing this one clockwise and counter-clockwise, so I did 2 of each. I had a close call on one of my passes here though. I realized that I was too deep as I was setting up for a turn and my engine guard nearly clipped a cone. I realized it at the last second and looked down just in time to see what was happening. I dipped the bike hard to the left and barely missed it.
The keyhole was next. I was fairly confident, but less so than I was with the intersection. I had initially planned on doing 2 runs in each direction but changed my mind at the last minute. The reason I changed my mind is that I had crashed, hard, just moments before I had to actually perform the exercise. I had been off by myself practicing full lock, board scraping turns when I dumped the bike hard on its left side. I THINK what happened was that my boot must have been hanging off the board slightly and, when it caught the pavement, my foot was pulled rearward and right under the left side saddlebag guard. I thought initially that I might have broken my ankle, it hurt that badly. I realized that I could stand, but I could barely walk. My confidence was severely shaken. I climbed back on the bike and forced myself to do a few more full lock turns in the same direction, but then it was time to test. I don’t know how, but I came out with 4 clean runs.
When I finished, I parked the bike and walked off my injury as best I could. I was really hurting. Within a few minutes I would need to do the 180 decel, probably the toughest exercise, and I needed to get my head back in the game. I already knew that none of the other students were “clean” at this point, but I didn’t know how many points they had lost. I had to make 4 clean passes here to finish with a perfect score and earn “Top Gun” honors.
My first run was textbook perfect and felt great. My second run was not. I knew, just as I started leaning to the right for my u-turn and exit, that I was too deep and that I was on a collision course with the cones on my way out of I didn’t do something quickly. I decided to lean the bike as hard as I could; I figured I might as well ride it straight into the ground in an attempt to miss those cones. It scraped hard, I think maybe the frame made contact with the ground, but I somehow managed to make it out clean. The next 2 runs were clean as well. On that last run, once I knew I had made it, I couldn’t help but let out a little “Whoo Hoo” on the way out! I rode around to the other side, parked the bike and lay down on my back in the grass. My heart was racing!
As it happens, just 4 of the 9 of us would pass today on our first attempt. Me with 100%, followed by a 93%, a 92% (the female rider) and an 85%. The other 5 riders would need to re-test on Thursday. Some were painfully short of making the grade, others were very close.
Two of the instructors told those of us who had passed to saddle up for a night right. The remaining 5 would stay and practice their slow cone work. We rode out to a small town, maybe 20 miles away, and stopped at a steakhouse. The instructors bought us a celebratory dinner! Very cool! After dinner we rode back to the training site and arrived just as the others were leaving. I was home by about 9:30 and I was tired but feeling very satisfied. My ankle still hurt but I knew by now that it wasn’t a bad injury, just a bruised Achilles tendon.
We officially started at 1:00 P.M. today and planned on working until 9:00 P.M. so we could get in some night riding. The instructors made it clear to everyone, though, that they would be in at 11:00 A.M. for anyone who wanted to start practicing early. I think most everyone showed up between 11:00 and 11:30. Today was test day, after all, a little extra practice couldn’t hurt!
The practice routine was as normal today, starting out easy and working my way into the harder exercises, forcing myself to do at least 4 clean runs before moving on. When done, back to the beginning to start all over again. At about 2:00 P.M., it was time. The instructors called us all together and made the rules clear to everyone. A cone knocked down, or even moved from it’s “base”, meant a bad run, as did a foot down, a bike down, or riding out of the exercise (in other words, not following the correct path).
We decided, as a group, that we would prefer to have one rider at a time take all 4 runs, as opposed to lining everyone up in a row for a run, then doing the next run, etc… We all agreed that once we were “in it” we would want to stay in it. When it came time to line up for the first exercise, the slow cone weave and offset weave (actually 2 separate exercises run together), no one seemed anxious to go first. I took that as my cue and jumped right in. My thoughts were that I would rather get through it right away than have to watch people mess up and let that get into my head. The order would remain the same for the remainder of the testing.
As I lined up for that first exercise I took a deep breath and told myself “slow down, head and eyes, you can do this”. I aced all 4 runs on the slow weave and offset weave with no problems at all. As everyone else took their turn behind me, I went off to a far corner and worked on the next exercise (as much as I could without the benefit of the cones), the 90 degree pull-out. That, too, went smoothly for me, but not so much for most of the others. They had taken for granted that this “easy” one didn’t really need that much attention and they made mistakes that cost them points.
Next up was the intersection. By now I was equally comfortable doing this one clockwise and counter-clockwise, so I did 2 of each. I had a close call on one of my passes here though. I realized that I was too deep as I was setting up for a turn and my engine guard nearly clipped a cone. I realized it at the last second and looked down just in time to see what was happening. I dipped the bike hard to the left and barely missed it.
The keyhole was next. I was fairly confident, but less so than I was with the intersection. I had initially planned on doing 2 runs in each direction but changed my mind at the last minute. The reason I changed my mind is that I had crashed, hard, just moments before I had to actually perform the exercise. I had been off by myself practicing full lock, board scraping turns when I dumped the bike hard on its left side. I THINK what happened was that my boot must have been hanging off the board slightly and, when it caught the pavement, my foot was pulled rearward and right under the left side saddlebag guard. I thought initially that I might have broken my ankle, it hurt that badly. I realized that I could stand, but I could barely walk. My confidence was severely shaken. I climbed back on the bike and forced myself to do a few more full lock turns in the same direction, but then it was time to test. I don’t know how, but I came out with 4 clean runs.
When I finished, I parked the bike and walked off my injury as best I could. I was really hurting. Within a few minutes I would need to do the 180 decel, probably the toughest exercise, and I needed to get my head back in the game. I already knew that none of the other students were “clean” at this point, but I didn’t know how many points they had lost. I had to make 4 clean passes here to finish with a perfect score and earn “Top Gun” honors.
My first run was textbook perfect and felt great. My second run was not. I knew, just as I started leaning to the right for my u-turn and exit, that I was too deep and that I was on a collision course with the cones on my way out of I didn’t do something quickly. I decided to lean the bike as hard as I could; I figured I might as well ride it straight into the ground in an attempt to miss those cones. It scraped hard, I think maybe the frame made contact with the ground, but I somehow managed to make it out clean. The next 2 runs were clean as well. On that last run, once I knew I had made it, I couldn’t help but let out a little “Whoo Hoo” on the way out! I rode around to the other side, parked the bike and lay down on my back in the grass. My heart was racing!
As it happens, just 4 of the 9 of us would pass today on our first attempt. Me with 100%, followed by a 93%, a 92% (the female rider) and an 85%. The other 5 riders would need to re-test on Thursday. Some were painfully short of making the grade, others were very close.
Two of the instructors told those of us who had passed to saddle up for a night right. The remaining 5 would stay and practice their slow cone work. We rode out to a small town, maybe 20 miles away, and stopped at a steakhouse. The instructors bought us a celebratory dinner! Very cool! After dinner we rode back to the training site and arrived just as the others were leaving. I was home by about 9:30 and I was tired but feeling very satisfied. My ankle still hurt but I knew by now that it wasn’t a bad injury, just a bruised Achilles tendon.
Last edited by stro1965; 05-07-2010 at 06:18 AM.
#193
05-07-2010, 06:14 AM
Day 9, Thursday, May 6th
When I got out of bed today I could barely walk. The ankle had stiffened up overnight and it was all I could do to force myself to stretch the Achilles out so I could make it in for training. I briefly considered going to a doctor but didn’t, as I was afraid he might sideline me and I wouldn’t be able to finish the course.
We were all scheduled to start at 8:00 A.M. today. Those of us who had already passed weren’t really sure what was in store for us. We warmed up just as we had in days past, but, after a few minutes, we more or less yielded all of the cone exercises to the 5 riders who needed to re-test. Some asked us for advice, but mostly we just picked up cones for them so they could keep practicing. When the time came, we 4 left the course and were told to go clean up our bikes. I think the instructors really just wanted us out of the way so as to not distract the riders.
I had no idea just how badly those cones had been melting onto my pipes all week. We were given the go-ahead to use steel wool on the pipes to clean them up, but even with that it took a lot of elbow grease. When we were finished cleaning the bikes we left the others to their testing and went to lunch.
Upon our return we learned that just 2 of the 5 re-tests had been successful. One of the others had apparently injured his back and chose to leave the course and go to the hospital on his own, thus throwing in the towel, while the other 2 had outright failed to meet standards.
In the afternoon, the 6 of us took a group ride with the instructors, practicing riding in pairs, staggered formation, and single file. We were also shown how to safely negotiate a curb and we touched on traffic stop procedures as they apply to motor officers. They then led us to the steepest residential street in town where we played “follow the leader” and negotiated several u-turns on the hill. Very tricky, to say the least!
We were told to expect a media turnout on Friday, as they have apparently been tipped off that, for the first time in Nebraska history, a female was about to be certified as a motor officer. I think we are all just as excited for her as she is for herself, she did an amazing job!
When I got out of bed today I could barely walk. The ankle had stiffened up overnight and it was all I could do to force myself to stretch the Achilles out so I could make it in for training. I briefly considered going to a doctor but didn’t, as I was afraid he might sideline me and I wouldn’t be able to finish the course.
We were all scheduled to start at 8:00 A.M. today. Those of us who had already passed weren’t really sure what was in store for us. We warmed up just as we had in days past, but, after a few minutes, we more or less yielded all of the cone exercises to the 5 riders who needed to re-test. Some asked us for advice, but mostly we just picked up cones for them so they could keep practicing. When the time came, we 4 left the course and were told to go clean up our bikes. I think the instructors really just wanted us out of the way so as to not distract the riders.
I had no idea just how badly those cones had been melting onto my pipes all week. We were given the go-ahead to use steel wool on the pipes to clean them up, but even with that it took a lot of elbow grease. When we were finished cleaning the bikes we left the others to their testing and went to lunch.
Upon our return we learned that just 2 of the 5 re-tests had been successful. One of the others had apparently injured his back and chose to leave the course and go to the hospital on his own, thus throwing in the towel, while the other 2 had outright failed to meet standards.
In the afternoon, the 6 of us took a group ride with the instructors, practicing riding in pairs, staggered formation, and single file. We were also shown how to safely negotiate a curb and we touched on traffic stop procedures as they apply to motor officers. They then led us to the steepest residential street in town where we played “follow the leader” and negotiated several u-turns on the hill. Very tricky, to say the least!
We were told to expect a media turnout on Friday, as they have apparently been tipped off that, for the first time in Nebraska history, a female was about to be certified as a motor officer. I think we are all just as excited for her as she is for herself, she did an amazing job!
Last edited by stro1965; 05-07-2010 at 02:57 PM.
#194
05-07-2010, 06:47 AM
#196
05-07-2010, 08:40 AM
CONGRATULATIONS for you and the gal too!
Now curiosity is killing me, and we're never too old or too good to learn more! Anyone know where the best deal would be for the RLAP course?
Incidentally, I think turnarounds on steep roadways is one of the most oft encountered tricky moves we all encounter; most of us use the freedom of doing a 2-3 point turnaround or just shoot up a drive or side road to avoid it.
The problem here is really just that we don't want to risk messing up our bikes, or most of us would be better riders. I'm thankful for 2 years of dirtbike racing, but it doesn't really carry over to street logistics.
Now curiosity is killing me, and we're never too old or too good to learn more! Anyone know where the best deal would be for the RLAP course?
Incidentally, I think turnarounds on steep roadways is one of the most oft encountered tricky moves we all encounter; most of us use the freedom of doing a 2-3 point turnaround or just shoot up a drive or side road to avoid it.
The problem here is really just that we don't want to risk messing up our bikes, or most of us would be better riders. I'm thankful for 2 years of dirtbike racing, but it doesn't really carry over to street logistics.
#198
05-07-2010, 09:02 AM
#200
05-07-2010, 10:49 AM
