Prac 4.01 (1st attempt) - Passed

Prac 4.01 (1st attempt) - 28/10/14 (Thirteenth lesson)

Recently I've been chionging through practicals because one, I don't have that many workslots this month cos its a nonpeak period and two, next month onwards, through nov and dec, it'll be the school holidays and corporate bookings will increase like mad! So it's better to clear most of my practicals now incase there are no more time till TP hahaha.

Today's practical 4.01 is all about 'S' and crank courses.
Objective:
- 'S' course: Clear in less than 11 seconds
- Crank course: Clear in less than 6 seconds

I remember hating crank course so much during my Class 3 days, more than 4 years back, I was so scared of mounting the kerb! Took my 4.01 with 1 guy and 1 lady, we were all first timers. Instructor we've gotten today was Syahir! He took my 1st attempt of 1.03 and my 3rd attempt of 2.02 previously. I was quite happy to get him because I know he's a really good instructor.

Went for a warmup round before heading to the 'S' and crank courses! This is what it looks like as seen below... Grabbed this pic off the net, I know it's damn pixelated hahahah.

We had to queue up, signal left, left blindspot, go through the 'S' course, stop if there are vehicles, turn left, queue outside the crank course, signal right, right blindspot, go through the crank course, wait outside if there are any vehicles, stop at traffic light junction, signal left, left blindspot then redo everything again!

First, Syahir told us to get a "feel" of the courses by going in gear 1. I was in a clumsy mess when trying the 'S' course!! After which I couldn't stop laughing at myself cause I can definitely tell I looked like a bloody retard. Including crank course as well ahahah. Nervous like hell!!!!!

So Syahir told us what to do for these courses.. I guess initally I had a huge problem with my speed!! I did not maintain my throttle and keep turning it on and off, making me wobble + didn't use my footbrake. In the end Syahir had to pillion me to show me what to do.. Initially he went slow, taught me how to maintain my throttle, where to look, where to speed up and use foot brake at. Subsequently he went medium speed and then he went really fast!!! Or that's what I felt lah. My heart was beating like crazyyyyyyy, felt sooooo nervous! He turned quite low at bends and I was really scared of falling LOL. Laughed at times, and at one point during the 'S' course, he leaned so low to the ground when going round the bend I was saying, "OH MY GOD DON'T!!!!" hahahaaha.

And I'm embarrassed to say this but.... At one point of time in my CRANK COURSE, my nightmare came true... I MOUNT KERB LOLOLOL!! I didn't look far and jengjengjeng... Mount the kerb. Some guys at the opposite of the traffic junction shouted, "OH MY GOD SHIT" hahahahha wahpiang they must be laughing really hard at me lah.

Subsequently I got the idea of how to get through these courses, maintained throttle and use footbrake! At first I clocked in an average of 11.20+ seconds so Syahir kept saying, "FASTER FASTER!!" He even ride behind the 3 of us when we did our "S" and crank courses so we will go faster ahahah. Then my average timing for the 'S' course improved to 10.30++ seconds!! There was once I clocked in 9.56secs, I couldn't believe it lah hahaha.

After that Syahir told us to finish up our last rounds for the 'S' and crank courses, and to go to the narrow plank, pylon slalom and ebrake! We went to the narrow plank station first, and I was really surprised I still got it, I did not fall off the plank!!! Then we did pylon slalom, and another narrow plank (but it was a higher one) and I went really slow this time w/o falling!! Followed by ebrake station before we headed back to return our bikes.

All 3 of us passed our 4.01!! *cheers* I was really glad to have gotten Syahir today for the 3rd time (his instructor ID is - 6463 MUHD SYAHIR). He really pushes me to perform well, I'm always a little nervous and scared inside everytime there's a new lesson but he is really professional, finding ways to help me. Plus I find he's very knowledgeable in this field! Saw him did the narrow plank when we went to try it after our 'S' and crank courses and wahlao, I was damn amazed at how long he can stay on the plank for HAHAH.

Next lesson will be 4.02: Circuit training review! Where we will be doing everything we've learnt since the start of our first lesson. Not sure when I'll be able to go for practicals now since work is getting busier, so I can't go to bbdc for practicals as frequent already.. Hopefully I can make time! Ohmy, wrote a very lengthy post today hahaha.

Prac 3.02 (2nd attempt) - Passed

Prac 3.02 (2nd attempt) - 26/10/14 (Twelfth lesson)

It's rare I'll book a weekend prac.. That's cause I'm not working today but I can foresee myself working all weekends through nov to dec since it's the school holidays so there's gonna be lots of bookings! Anyway I left house pretty late.. Drove out only at 11:23am when my practical was at 11:30am hahahah, I literally tried driving as fast as I can to bbdc, ran to grab my number tag, grab helmet and wore elbow and knee guard before finding my instructor for the day.

Took the class with 4 other guys (all 1st timers) and its my 2nd try. Got instructor Quek today, who took my 2nd attempt of 1.03 last time. Instructor Quek asked me to go practice ebraking on my own while he went to brief the rest of the 4 guys on today's lesson and stuff since I already knew what to do.

Reminded mysef to rev and throttle on in my initial speed before maintaining at 30km/hr subsequently. There's another instructor, the one I mentioned that he looks damn intimidating and fierce (during my 2nd attempt of 2.02) hahaha. He gave me really great tips, like maintaining speed, pushing myself back while I ebrake, and wait til my left thigh leaves the tank then clutch in. Had a slight problem with clutching in too early so instructor Quek told me to only clutch in when the bike feels rocky. Stalled engine prolly like 1-2 times today hahaha but stalling engine won't cause any demerit points, clutching in early causes 2 demerit points.

At some point of time, there were like 14-16 bikes queuing up to do the emergency braking station hahahaha!! Bikes from class 2b, 2a and 2 were all queuing up. I felt like I was queuing to head into jb at the checkpoint LOL. And towards the end of the session when I was waiting for my turn, I heard this "BAM" sound, looked up and saw this guy taking the same practical as me skidded, fell off his bike and rolled on the road WTFFFFF!! Afterwards I saw some of the guys taking the same practical as me dare not speed up more nor do they dare to brake hard HAHA, then the instructor said, "Why speed so slow?" "Never brake harder, see you passed the red line already." "Is it cause you saw him fell?" It was cause he braked too hard and his speed exceeded 30km/hr. Anyway it was scary to see people fall off their bikes.. And its only 30km/hr!! Imagine licenced riders fall off their bikes at prolly 80km/hr?! Gonna hurt so bad :(

So during debrief, instructor Quek didn't point out any mistakes for me. I passed my 3.02 with 1 other guy! YIPEEEEE!! And he shook all our hands after the session ahaha that was a first for me.

My next lesson will be 4.01: 'S' and crank courses! My sis said its not gonna be easy so I'm hoping I won't kanchiong or what lah hahaha. Looking forward to next tuesday :D


My progress up till now:
23/09/14: First lesson
1.01 - failed

25/09/14: Second lesson
1.01 and 1.02 passed together

30/09/14: Third lesson
1.03 - failed

2/10/14: Fourth lesson
1.03 - passed

7/10/14: Fifth lesson
2.01 - failed

9/10/14: Sixth lesson
2.01 - passed

10/10/14: Seventh lesson
2.02 - failed

14/10/14: Eighth lesson
2.02 - failed

15/10/14: Ninth lesson
2.02 - passed

20/10/14: Tenth lesson
3.01 - passed

23/10/14: Eleventh lesson
3.02 - failed

26/10/14: Twelfth lesson
3.02 - passed

Prac 3.02 (1st attempt) - Failed

Prac 3.02 (1st attempt) - 23/10/14 (Eleventh lesson)

Today's lesson is about ebraking on a wet surface! Sounds easy? Nope. Had to wear elbow and knee guard today, prolly cause this lesson has a high probability of falling. Objective is to go up to 30km/hr then ebrake immediately!

First we tried to go up to 20km/hr, in order to grasp the feel of braking using front and rear brake.. We had to use the front brake more, incase our rear brake gets locked and skid. Initially I didn't brake hard enough and was quite near the red line after braking at 20km/hr!! Plus my left hand kept standby at the clutch or sometimes I clutch in too early.... Maybe I was scared of stalling the engine but then again my instructor said stalling the engine during TP won't cause or immediate failure or whatnot.

Then we went on to 25km/hr.. Having to check the speedometer at times. Subsequently I got better and corrected my mistakes! However idk wtf happened to me when I tried going 30km/hr... Cause we had to queue before the stop line before going to do the ebrake. So there I was, waiting for my turn cause there's another female biker doing her turn. Suddenly she skidded, went up the kerb and crashed (?) into the fence!! I was like, "OMG SHIT". Of course an instructor tended to her. I got damn worried lah that the same thing will happen to me??!

So its like this, we had to speed up quickly and change gear at the first small cone, then speed up and change gear to 3 before reaching the second small cone. My speed changing from 1 to 2 is quite close.. And I only tried to speed up upon reaching the 2nd small cone. My instructor said that's very dangerous. He went to pillion me to show me how it's done, I was damn scared lah hahahaha. He went 2 rounds to show me and I was damn motivated to do well BUT... My speed adjustment is damn cui?! I really need to speed faster at the initial stage. My instructor was saying, "WAH first time I pillion someone and they cannot do it!" LOL paiseh max.

Expected lah, I failed but the 3 other guys passed. I must be the first person in BBDC history to have failed my 3.02 HAHAHA!!

I just need to work on the speed changing properly. And to stop doubting myself and go all out!!! Booked my 2nd attempt of 3.02 for this coming Sunday.. Hopefully I'll be able to clear this stage by then :)

Prac 3.01 (1st attempt) - Passed

Prac 3.01 (1st attempt) - 20/10/14 (Tenth lesson)

3.01 consist of narrow plank and pylon slalom!

Objective:
Narrow plank: Stay on for more than 6 seconds
Pylon slalom: Finish the entire course in less than 6 seconds

I've seen blogs and forums about people failing their 3.01 countless of times! Came across 2 blogs, where a guy passed on his 13th attempt while this girl passed on her 9th attempt. Was I intimidated? YOU BET I AM!!! Have heard stories from my sister (she passed her 2b last year) where she seen people fall off the plank and when they tried to get back up, the bike fell and landed on their foot and stuff (OUCH!). My last practical was last wednesday so I was kinda nervous whether or not I've already forgotten the feel of the bike and stuff. Cause to me, even 3-4 days can affect my performance!

Took my 3.01 with 3 other guys, instructor today was Izhardi. We went for a warmup around the circuit before the instructor gave us a trial run on the narrow plank and pylon slalom. I went second, before that I saw one of the guy taking the same class as me fell off the plank and I was like "SHIT SHIT SHIT" hahahaha. I fell off the plank during my first trial, it was damn nerve wrecking for me! Then we parked our bikes and went to the side where Izhardi went to brief us on what to do for narrow plank and pylon slalom. The key is to, GRIP TANK TIGHTLY, ARMS RELAX, LOOK FAR DON'T LOOK DOWN!!

After a few tries I managed to stay on the plank!!! Can you imagine my happiness when I knew I stayed on hahaha, for the first few times I didn't try to clock the timing but to maintain my balance and the feel of the plank first. Then for pylon slalom, I regret to say but I accidentally knocked the cones down like 3 times ha ha ha ha... One of the time is because I didn't kick the gear high enough before I entered the pylon slalom course hence its in neutral gear wtf hahaha. I panicked and my speed wasn't enough hence, knocking down a cone. Kept apologizing to Izhardi cause he's the one who had to pick up the cones when I knocked them down hahah.

Subsequently I got like 6.2-6.7 seconds for the plank, and 5.4-5.7 seconds for pylon slalom. It's still on the dangerous side lah but I'll definitely practice more for this station! Because falling off the plank is an immediate failure :O

After the lesson we had a debrief. Izhardi said the 2 guys did well for today's lesson, but for myself and an uncle we still can do better, like we were on the average side (sometimes can sometimes cannot). So he asked the both of us whether we can advance to 3.02 anot, the uncle said "depends on your decision". hahahaha!! Despite the fact I accidentally knocked down the cones 3x and I fell off the plank like 3x as well, majority of the time I managed to stay on the plank and clocked the timing! In the end Izhardi said, "Ok today the 4 of you passed, if not I would not have brought you to the ebrake station just now. So you all and can move on and book your 3.02!" Because just now when the lesson was about to end, we went by the ebrake station. I was damnnnnnn happy!! It's quite rare I'll pass my lessons on my first try. But still it was a really fun 3.01 for me! The narrow plank and pylon slalom were so interesting hahaha.

My next lesson will be on Thursday.. Cause I'll be working tomorrow plus there's no slots on Wednesday :( Looking forward to my 3.02 - Ebrake on a wet surface!

Prac 2.02 (2nd attempt - Failed, 3rd attempt - Passed)

Prac 2.02 (2nd attempt) - 14/10/14 (Eighth lesson)

Since I'm working in the afternoon, I booked a morning slot which was at 9:20am. Woke up at 8am, felt soooo tired and all. Took the class with 2 other guys, one of them was at his third attempt while another guy was his first time (but he told me he took 2b 2 years back and is continuing now). Sun was scorching hot like crazy, felt so dehydrated.

This instructor called, Azad, took my 2nd attempt of 2.02, but there's this chinese instructor who came and helped with the lesson. Firstly.. He rode a class 2 bike so the engine and stuff is mad loud, secondly his face is damn intimidating and really fierce, lastly I saw his instructor ID is 1000++ whereas other instructors are like 6000++, cfm he is damn experienced and all. So whenever he looks at my performance I felt damn stressed up.

And well well well... my lane changing screwed me up again. I just couldn't speed up fast enough when I was changing lane. Turns out whenever I was gonna change lane, my right hand immediately went to close the throttle wtf. Yeah in the end the 2 guys passed the class and I need to retake my 2.02 AGAIN!



Prac 2.02 (3rd attempt) - 15/10/14 (Ninth lesson)

My favourite session is session 5, 3:20pm - 5pm but suay suay after workslot came out and I wanna book session 5, it was taken up. So I took session 6, 5:10pm-6:50pm (peak hour period somemore, pay extra $4 hahaha).

Anyway it started raining damn heavily at 5pm and deep down I was thinking,

"Shit man I'm just gonna fail my 2.02 AGAIN!!!"

Went to put on raincoat and pants first, I was damn lost ahahah cos it was my first time encountering the rain. Thankfully theres this guy taking the same class guided me on how to wear raincoat first then the number tag. The only size I could find was L, and I look bloody ridiculous in it!! Vincent said I looked damn funny, I told him I couldn't find a smaller size one so he went to help me get a size M raincoat (but it was still big, long and reached until my thighs kind) hahahaha I'm just short lah zzz. So how does riding in the rain feels like?

IT WAS GREAT!! Hahahaha it was damn cooling lah with the raindrops and all but when I was stationary it got very warm inside. Plus my new vans shoes were soaked!! Everytime I tried to stop my left feet will sometimes slip on the ground and stuff.

Took my 3rd attempt of 2.02 with 2 other guys, and the instructor I got was Syahir (he took my first attempt of 1.03). Did right turning, lane changing, slope, traffic light junction and left turn filter lane. At the end of the session, 2 people passed!! And yessss I'm one of them hahahaha.

I think I'll really be damn upset if I fail again lah actually. But deep down I knew I did alright today cause Syahir didn't have much to say about my performance and I didn't do any "fatal" mistakes hahaha. I accidentally stopped at neutral gear like 2x, so I quickly kick down to gear 1 hahaha whoopsss! Must not commit the same mistake again :(

Next lesson will be narrow plank and pylon slalom! Feeling damn nervous cos it looks damn difficult. Well I'm always ready to learn!! Yipeeeee :D

Prac 2.02 (1st attempt) - Failed

Prac 2.02 (1st attempt) - 10/10/14 (Seventh lesson)

Was damn excited the night before so I booked my 2.02 today.. Big regret AGAIN WTF. Early morning I woke up at 6:30am because I had to go to work for oned amazing race.. Work srsly wore me out like crazy and after work, I headed home, showered (cos I was damn sticky), got changed and took the bus down to bbdc already. Felt damn drained :(

Anyway the bloody SGBUS app is fucking retarded srsly. Stated bus is ARRIVING yet I waited almost 3 mins then it slowly crawled to the bus stop... Yeah it made me late for class today wtf (prolly 5 mins late). I literally ran from the bus stop to the bike waiting room to grab my number tag and this driving instructor saw me running, told me to slow down and relax HAHAHAH.

I shall never be late AGAIN!! All the M sized helmets were taken except one.. I should have suspected sth was wrong with it. Kelvin told me to lift up my visor and when I did, the left side cracked wtf cos it was jammed or something. Anyway I immediately told my instructor about my helmet and had to go change a new one.... Size L somemore dammit, so big!!! Maybe I should just buy my own helmet right wtf. Kelvin even asked me why I push bike like damn difficult like that HAHAH I said, "I'm a girl, got no muscles one!!" but it was damn heavy ley. Actually I got a few similar remarks from my instructors, one of them even said I push the bike like giving birth HAHAHA LOL PLS.

Today we were wearing blue tag. Took the class with 4 other people.. 3 guys (1 of them was the same dude I met last tues, and yesterday) and 1 angmoh girl (saw her with blue tag while I was taking 2.01 ytd, guess she's retaking her 2.02 today) plus me. First we were taught these few things,
 -Turning left, going to filter lane, check blind spot and traffic, stop if necessary etc.
- To position ourselves to turn RIGHT
- Lane changing
- Turning right from major to minor road and stop if necessary
- After turning right, change lane immediately to number 29
- Slopes
- After slope turn left and immediately changing lane at traffic light junction
- Positioning ourselves at the traffic light junction if there's oncoming vehicle in the opposite direction
- Turn right and then redo the entire route again

I guess I'm still damn timid about turning right.. Right turning isn't as easy as left turning because we need to have clearance from both directions. For me the lane changing was a bloody pain to do!!! There was once I kena engine stalled 2 times on the slope.. I got kinda frustrated cause for me slope is pretty easy to clear.. Once again I threw the clutch too fast and didn't throttle enough.

Had 2 main problems.. One is my lane changing isn't very smooth. Secondly, I need to stop dragging my gear and quickly speed up during lane changing. It seriously was quite tough to have to do many things simultaneously during lane changing.. Signal, check mirrors, blind spot, lane change and stuff like that. I felt quite stressed today idk why?! Like the tension was really high and I felt like I had to push myself to do better. I got remarks from other bike instructors at the circuit (like 3-4 of them) on what I was doing wrong and what I should be doing instead, for example I should stop at the dotted line, in line with my handlebar when I stopped and wanna turn right from major to minor road.

Today's class of 5, 3 passed. Yeah so as you can tell, I failed my 2.02 hahaha. It's funny cos my instructor said, "I'm sorry but you and you failed". I think he's the first instructor (out of 3 previous time I failed) to say "sorry" when I fail my lessons.. Anyway I don't mind failing my lessons. I rather have the assurance that I had grasped a good foundation in my orientation days before moving up.


My progress up till now:
23/09/14: First lesson
1.01 - failed

25/09/14: Second lesson
1.01 and 1.02 passed together

30/09/14: Third lesson
1.03 - failed

2/10/14: Fourth lesson
1.03 - passed

7/10/14: Fifth lesson
2.01 - failed

9/10/14: Sixth lesson
2.01 - passed

10/10/14: Seventh lesson
2.02 - failed

There seemed to be this pattern.. Where I tend to fail the lesson first before passing. Furthermore I'm still at my orientation stages!! As I progress further there definitely will be more challenges ahead of me. So far I'm really enjoying my class 2b lessons! Instructors at bbdc were really nice and friendly as well. Looking forward to my second attempt of 2.02!

Prac 2.01 (2nd attempt) - Passed

Prac 2.01 (2nd attempt) - 9/10/14 (Sixth lesson)

Woke up super early in the morning for work, it was a filming event for Channel 5's Secret Singapore show! They filmed land zovb and bloop. Okay so anyway, I was really really drained and kinda regretted booking practical today but still.. After taking a 15mins nap at home I bussed down to bbdc.

So I've actually been using a low cut bike since my 2nd lesson, apparently their "higher authority" had permitted me to use low cut (mainly used for girls around 155cm.. I'm about 159-160cm) after seeing how I had to tiptoe so yeah. Ever since then I've been getting alot of queries from other instructors asking what's my height and that I should use the normal cut CB125 bike. I've always wondered if I'll be damn clumsy should I change to a higher cut bike.. Like the feel is gone that kind? Today I gathered my courage and told my instructor taking my class today about my plight and requested if I could try the normal cut CB125 first and he said okay. Turns out actually I can put my whole left feet down lah so hahaha think Ima stick with the normal cut bike from now. It's weird lah, maybe last time I never place my butt properly on the seat or my legs grew over these past 2 weeks LOL.

Took my 2nd attempt of 2.01 with 2 other guys.. Where 1 of them was actually from my previous 1st attempt of 2.01 last tuesday. He remembered me and told me, "why are you here? I thought you passed last tuesday" hahahah wah I wish. Another guy was taking it for the first time.

Both of us (retaking 2.01) went to do our own self practice for left turns first while the other guy got pillioned by the instructor, think he's showing him the areas to check blindspot and stuff. After that we went ahead to do slope!! I was damn worried about it lah initially, cause of last tuesday I did it damn horribly. The instructor taught me really well and what to do and stuff! I'll prolly still need to be more efficient in changing signals lah hahaha, sometimes forgot to cancel signal and sometimes I'll forget to signal left at first when coming down the slope.. Only when I'm gonna stop at the stop line then I'll signal left.

I felt the 100 minutes of today's prac flew by really quickly. All 3 of us passed our 2.01, yayyyy!! Next will be my 2.02, turning, lane change and traffic rules. There'll be right turns as well, and slopes!! Oh the horror, seems like there's so many stuff to clear for 2.02. Really got this gut feeling I cannot pass 2.02 in my first attempt lah but I gonna be optimistic y'know hahaha.

Prac 2.01 (1st attempt) - Failed

Prac 2.01 (1st attempt) - 7/10/14 (fifth lesson)

2.01 consisted of lining up in the correct position, stop behind stop line properly, left turns, blind spot checking and slopes. 

Took 2.01 with 6 other people!! It's a full class again. 2 out of 7 ppl were retaking their 2.01 for the second time while the rest of us were taking it for the first time. Since we were a full class so 2 instructors took our class today. 

Started with blind spot checking and left turns... And seriously it was NOT EASY AT ALL!! I kept having a bad habit of wide turns sighhhh. At times I moved off first then check left blind spot BUT! It should be checking of vehicles on the right, left blindspot then move off. 

Next is slope. I was damn 鸡手鸭脚 like that wtf. We had to go up the slope, drop down gear 1, use brakes, signal right, check blind spot, throttle on with half clutch thn while going down the slope, release clutch and let it engine brake down before braking then clutch in. I think I got the order right lah HAHAHAH I'm not sure. 

Weather was damnnn humid, felt damn headachey LOL. During debrief, instructors asked us for our comments and all. In the end only 1 person passed in our class of 7. As expected I FAILED! I already knew it lah I was damn buay zai haahha. 

Booked my retake of 2.01 for this coming Thursday. May it go smoothly pls!! I've been going for prac lessons only every Tuesday and Thursday and normally the wait from Thursday to next Tuesday is 5 days.. I should probably book one slot in between so I won't get so rusty. But I work on fridays and the weekends so... Guess I have to make time for my prac! 

BBDC riding theory practice, riding theory evaluation

Riding theory evaluation (1st try): 2/10/14

Prior to that, I only did 1 practice session only. Thinking of giving it a shot, I went for evaluation immediately on that very Friday. And yes yes yes... I failed horribly hahahah. Think I scored only 85% or something. You need at least a 90% to pass your RTE and RTT!! Wasted $5.35 like that. In conclusion..

PLEASE PLEASE GO FOR RIDING THEORY PRACTICE!!

Riding theory evaluation (2nd try): 3/10/14
Following day, I booked 1 session of riding theory practice and a riding theory evaluation after. Rushed down to the centre after work by taking a really long bus ride :|

Quickly rushed through 5 booklets and wanted to make the 45 mins of practice session to the fullest. One practice sesson is $3.21. Tried remembering tricky questions that I got stuck at during my first try at the riding theory evaluation. Then I went ahead with my riding theory evaluation (with my memory fresh after going through the practice) and I scored 100%!!

Yes so in conclusion.. again.. Go for riding theory practice!! Unless you're the damn tyco kind lah hahaha.

Booked my riding theory test after... Which is a little more than 2 months after from now.

It'll give me plenty of time to clear my practicals whilst waiting for my RTT! Hopefully by then I would have cleared most of my prac and can book for my TP after.

Prac 1.03 (2nd attempt) - Passed

Prac 1.03 (2nd attempt) - 2/10/14 (Fourth prac lesson)

With much hesitation, I booked my 2nd attempt of 1.03 the night before. Reached BBDC, wanted to print my slip but I couldn't find my IC wtf, found it eventually and made my way to the waiting area quickly. Reached the waiting area and saw my number left on the chair and I thought to myself, "WAH I'M THE ONLY STUDENT?!?" Suddenly one of the instructor told me my class is already outside hahaha, immediately shouted" HUH OMG LAH" and I dashed out of the holding area room. Put on knee and elbow guard and helmet before my instructor said, "1.03 come here" and I saw 6 other students (excluding me)!! So my instructor was saying, "wah full house today" so a second instructor came and helped out. Yeah man total of 7 students taking 1.03 today, a few were like me.. Doing a second attempt for this.

Did warmup at the mini circuit at 1st gear, then 2nd and 3rd gear. Then we lined up and headed out to the main circuit area where we rode many rounds till gear 5 and dropped gear according to traffic conditons (like pedestrian crossing or vehicle infront). The instructor said once we cleared the main circuit he will pull some of us back to the mini circuit for low speed control practice. I was riding around (feels so bloody cool riding at such a fast speed, I can even hear the wind lolool!!) then my instructor signaled for one guy and myself to head to the mini circuit for low speed control practice first.

Deep down I was saying to myself, "DON'T SCREW THIS UP JOYCE, YOU FAILED LAST TUES COS OF THIS STAGE!!!" I tried not to look down at the cones and used alot on my rear brake instead of front (which will make me lose balance). And like 90% of the time I felt like I didn't wobble as much as I did last tues!! Was a little afraid turning on the throttle even more but I know the clutch is what controls the movement and all.

Then the rest of the 5 students came and joined us in the mini circuit for low speed control. Imagine the circuit is really small and we had to quickly cover the gap whenever any of us moved forward hahahah!

At the end of the stage we had a debrief, the instructor asked whether we did well enough to pass the 1.03.. Some said they did okay but the instructor said no and pointed out their mistakes while some admitted they know they didn't do well. When the instructor asked me, I said I did okay today and he replied me with just an "OK" and moved onto the next student and I was thrilled!! It means I passed weeeeeeeee!!! So in the end out of 7 students, only myself and a guy passed today's 1.03 lesson (I think it was the guy's second time taking 1.03 like me).

So thrilled to start my stage 2.01!! Yipeeeeee :D

Prac 1.01, 1.02, 1.03

Prac 1.01 - 23/09/14 (First prac lesson)

Felt super intimidated cause it was my first time in my entire life I'll be on a bike! Was pretty blur about what to do, where to sit, whether or not to take the number tag outside the classroom or what. Some of the instructors already knew who I was cause my sister took her 2b there a little past 1-1.5 yrs? My sister did socialize with them and since we are twins... We pretty much look alike hahaha.

Took my 1.01 with 4 other guys + me as the only girl. Put on knee and elbow guards + helmets and we got onto our bikes. Was tiptoeing throughout.. I'm standing at 1.6m ± 0.01cm so prolly cos I have short legs or something thats why I had to tiptoe LOL. They said I was "too tall" to take the low cut bike cos its meant for 1.55m people.

First lesson was basically learning how to clutch in and brake properly, all in gear 1. I was pretty buay balance and kept relying on my front brakes (which is really bad cos I'll just fall forward). The rest of the guys were progressing much faster than me so I kinda felt the pressure + being frustrated with myself. There was another instructor who came and helped me by providing a longer route by marking out with cones etc to practice 1/2 clutch, controlling the throttle + braking.. Cause initially we were doing it against a wall which was prolly 1-2 metres distance. Anyway, I failed the lesson in the end, already expected to. But the rest of the 4 guys passed their 1.01 hahaha.

Even though I felt damn embarrassed about my first lesson, my family told me normally first lessons for everything will be damn unstable plus I'm unfamiliar with the bike and how it works. So I decided to go on and book my retake of 1.01.


Pract 1.01 + 1.02 - 25/09/14 (Second prac lesson)

Reached like a few mins late so I was moving damn frantically, tryna put my bag in the locker and quickly going into the classroom to take my number tag and little did I know... I locked my bag without taking out my gloves and hat liner WTF hahahah. Furthermore I only had one 1 dollar coin and I just used it.. Saw the instructor taking me and I shamelessly asked him if he had change for a 1 dollar coin hahaha he did and I quickly went to the locker to grab my stuff.

AND, I was supposed to take my 1.01 with another guy but he didn't turn up so basically I was his only student for that session... Got pros and cons lah I guess. Pro: Instructor can work closely with you regarding your mistakes. Con: He has to basically focus ONLY ON YOU (ok I don't know if thats really a con hahaha)

I used a low cut bike that day. Practiced my 1/2 clutch plus throttle movement and then my instructor asked me to up gear to 3 then kick down to gear 1 when stopping etc. After awhile I got to go out to the main circuit! But only till gear 3 lah. Went round the circuit before stopping and dropping to gear 1 then moving off. There was once after stopping, I think I leaned my bike too much on the left and my left leg cannot tahan the weight so I dropped the bike LOL oopsssss.

Went back and did a debrief. The instructor passed me for both 1.01 and 1.02 and I was really thrilled! 1.02 is about going up to gear 3, drop gear and stopping at gear 1 from 3.


Pract 1.03 - 30/09/14 (Third prac lesson)

Today's lesson was broken up into 2 parts, 1) go up to gear 5, drop to gear 3, then to gear 4, then drop to 3 when going around bends. 2) Maintain low clutch control. Took this lesson with 2 other guys.

First we went to warm up at the mini circuit by going up to gear 3, drop to gear 2 etc. Must remember to close throttle, brake, clutch in, drop gear, release clutch then release brake!!! Afterwards we went to the main circuit where we went up to gear 5! There were areas where we had to go up gear 5, then drop to 3 before entering a bend, then maintain at 4, drop to 3 again before entering a bend, go up to 5 and then drop to 3 again hahahah, I know it sounds very messy when I type it out like that. I think changing gears for me wasn't a big problem but sometimes I don't have time to go up to 5 before having to drop down to gear 3. The instructor didn't have alot to say about my gear shifting.. I probably have to work more on my braking skills :(

Before that, my instructor told us to not change lane if we were to be stuck behind cars unless given a signal cos we weren't taught how to change lanes yet. What happened was.. I was SUAY SUAY stuck behind a private car taking TP. The TP car then braked so I stopped behind and waited, yes I waited. Saw the TP car engine stalled (I know it stalled cos it surged forward plus I kena car stalled before hahah). The car subsequently DID NOT move at all, no signal, no brake lights, never switch on engine again?!?!? Then I saw the TP person (sitting at the passenger seat) kept looking back at me. There was another car taking TP (yah wtf damn suay or what) waiting behind me and the car changed lane. I kept looking around cos I didn't know what to do, no one was nearby so I couldn't ask anyone whether to wait or change lane.... Then I made the move to change lane (yes wtf was I thinking) and suddenly some bike instructor from far shouted "OIIIIII" at me and deep down I was like "shit ffffff bad move". Saw my instructor after and I went to tell him what happened. He said he already knew cos someone went to walkie talkie him... Wah bloody embarrassed lah you can't imagine how paiseh and bad I felt?!?! My instructor said I'm like "sabo-ing the TP car and stuff" but he said it's alright it's okay.... I kept apologizing though?!?! SIGHHHHHH.. I don't know whether I caused that TP person to fail or what lah but I don't understand why after stalling the engine, the car didn't immediately turn on engine again and move off or do something?! Plus the TP tester kept looking back at me so I don't know what that means, felt damn lost..... I still feel damn bad about it idk lahhhh :( :(

Then we went back to the mini circuit where the instructor laid out several cones, around 1-1.5m apart. We had to stop at each individual cone. On a straight lane, we need not place our left leg on the footrest unless doing a turn, and there was a part where we had to go up to gear 2 and then let it engine brake until the next cone. It was really difficult tryna control my low speed!!! Damn frustrating. I kept wobbling and couldn't brake smoothly so at times it was pretty jerky.

During the debrief the instructor gave us his comments.. 2 students failed 1.03, myself and a guy, the other guy passed cause I did saw the way he controlled the bike and it was quite steady hahaha. I don't mind failing my lessons and rather fail to ensure I had grasped my foundation of the bike well enough to proceed to stage 2. Felt damn shagged and tired after the lesson (tiredest day I felt as compared to other 2 lessons I took previously), but I had to go for my riding thory practice after. Immediately knock out upon reaching home.