Toma-kun
03-07-2006, 02:45 PM
I wanted to share my experience to anyone who might be thinking about taking the Motorcycle Safety Foundation course or even maybe just remotely interested in riding a motorized two-wheeled vehicle. I signed up for the class at Two Wheel Safety Training in Hayward for $150. Yesterday was the first of three days of the course and it was the 5 hour class portion of the program (the two other days are for riding practice). Unfortunately for me, I woke up feeling like crap that day; my throat was hurting and I was running a mild fever. To make matters worse, I had a medical examination later during the day, which involved losing some blood. Of course it didn't help having the class from 6PM to 11PM either; I was never a night person. Good thing the office was only 7 miles away, so even if I got lost I should make it in good time. I arrived about 30 minutes before the class was set to start. Surprisingly, everybody who signed up actually showed up and on time too. The first thing I noticed that the class wasn't very diverse; I mean there were a variety of people from other cultures, but I think I was the only one under 21. Some people had already been riding for a while, but it seemed that the majority were close to clueless. We had only one female, the rest were guys.
The class would have been standard, boring lecture fare had it not been for the instructor who tried to get the class involved with the material. He had each table read certain part of the book and report their findings. Kept me from falling asleep, but took an unnecessarily long time to get through the material. Between each section we were treated to an video component related to the topic, which lasted about 5 or so minutes each. Even though the assigned questions kept me from dozing off, I have to admit I wasn't really paying that much attention; most of this stuff I already read about.
At about 10:15PM we took the test; it was 50 questions, all directly related to the material covered. I was done in about 10 minutes and was the first one out, not to mention I aced the test; not bad for someone with a mild fever and short a few vials of blood, eh?
So on Thursday and Friday we will have our range practice days, which involve training in slow speed maneuvers as well as getting familiar with the motorcycle's behavior and controls. Now, even though this class is meant for beginners, they made it clear that if you are having major problems with the drills or are not progressing at a satisfactory rate; you will be dismissed. Luckily you will be allowed to sign up again for half of the price; which is not the case if you decide to just plain quit or if you are kicked out for intentionally unsafe behavior (wheelies, burnouts) or if you show up with sandals and shorts. If you manage to fail the riding evaluation at the end of the last session, you can take the riding portion again for no cost (yay!). I've been told that it might be raining on those two days (damn California weather) and I just got a tetanus shot today so if I'm unlucky, I might end up with a fever on those days. I've been training rigorously on the bicycle so I'm not too worried about the skills really. Instead of wishing me luck, wish me good weather and good health! :D
I'll keep this thread updated as the magic unfolds.
The class would have been standard, boring lecture fare had it not been for the instructor who tried to get the class involved with the material. He had each table read certain part of the book and report their findings. Kept me from falling asleep, but took an unnecessarily long time to get through the material. Between each section we were treated to an video component related to the topic, which lasted about 5 or so minutes each. Even though the assigned questions kept me from dozing off, I have to admit I wasn't really paying that much attention; most of this stuff I already read about.
At about 10:15PM we took the test; it was 50 questions, all directly related to the material covered. I was done in about 10 minutes and was the first one out, not to mention I aced the test; not bad for someone with a mild fever and short a few vials of blood, eh?
So on Thursday and Friday we will have our range practice days, which involve training in slow speed maneuvers as well as getting familiar with the motorcycle's behavior and controls. Now, even though this class is meant for beginners, they made it clear that if you are having major problems with the drills or are not progressing at a satisfactory rate; you will be dismissed. Luckily you will be allowed to sign up again for half of the price; which is not the case if you decide to just plain quit or if you are kicked out for intentionally unsafe behavior (wheelies, burnouts) or if you show up with sandals and shorts. If you manage to fail the riding evaluation at the end of the last session, you can take the riding portion again for no cost (yay!). I've been told that it might be raining on those two days (damn California weather) and I just got a tetanus shot today so if I'm unlucky, I might end up with a fever on those days. I've been training rigorously on the bicycle so I'm not too worried about the skills really. Instead of wishing me luck, wish me good weather and good health! :D
I'll keep this thread updated as the magic unfolds.