I did a short test drive of the bike in the parking lot of the dealership before I bought it. It felt so much nicer than the little Street bike, since I'm a tall guy. It felt right and manageable in size. But, I also needed far more practice. I didn't have memorized with muscle reflex where are all the controls. For better or worse, I was used to the Street 500.
Fortunately, I have an extremely large yard. I started just driving around my yard in the grass. Going in a giant circle. I went slow. I went around and around. I practiced shifting up to second just for the practice. My goal was to get used to the controls. I kept going around. Even after I felt I had mastered going around my path, I kept going. I'd see how well I could curve back around, or how well I could match my tire tracks from the last time around. I tried out the turn signals. This was great and was all about getting basic familiarity.
I also have a drive way that is about 800 feet long. Originally I thought that would come in handy. But it is gravel and everyone says that gravel is slippery. They are right. Thus, I take it out of the garage and get over to the grass as soon as I can. The grass does feel more stable to drive on than the gravel.
In the MSF class, one of the instructors suggested just sitting on the bike with your eyes closed and memorizing where all the controls are. I tried doing that too.
Starting off, my goal was to work up to enough comfort to drive to the school parking lot and begin practicing more there.
No comments:
Post a Comment