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The same PTA guy from the last entry invited me to take a motorcycle class last Sunday. I figured it would be a good way to get a headstart on the Japanese motorbike test, which is a bit different from the U.S. test, and perhaps a good way to brush up on some skills that have gotten rusty over winter. We set out early in the morning for the test center, he in his instructor's uniform and I in my full leathers.

The class itself had about 15 students (three of which were single girls in their 20's) and 10 instructors, a fantastic ratio. Most everyone had their own bike, from a little 90cc minibike to an enduro on knobblies all the way up to a guy on a Kawasaki 1100. One guy even ran the course on a Harley Softail-- yikes. There were also a couple loaners there for anyone who didn't have a bike to practice on or wanted to try something different. The weather was fantastic-- not many clouds and occasional winds but the pavement was bone dry. Of course, since we were doing a lot of stop-and-go and low speed maneuvers, it started to get really hot underneath the leather jacket, even with the vents open. One of the instructors lent me a white mesh jacket for the remainder of the course.

Before we started, of course, we did full inspections of all our bikes. I had never been shown how to check and adjust the chain tensioner, but evidently my chain was undertensioned. They said they'd fix it later in the afternoon, as it wasn't a major safety issue and I didn't see any real issues with it.

First exercise was braking. Not just panic stops from a certain speed, but runups from 10, 20, and 30 meters. They had us run up to speed from one cone and stop quickly after passing the second one, watching our tires to see if they locked up. I had been taught to slowly squeeze both brakes evenly, but it's much better to adjust braking technique depending on how fast you're going when you try to stop. In general, the bike stops much smoother when using the engine to help brake instead of just pulling in the clutch immediately. Stopping from lower speeds, I was using too much front brake, tending to make stops really abrupt and jerky. Stopping from higher speeds, I needed to ease off on the rear brake so as not to lock it up; just give enough rear brake to load the front, while simultaneously squeezing in the front brake until reaching a lower speed, then easing it back out to settle the suspension smoothly.

The next exercise was some cornering. They split the class up in half and had us each do laps around a course, trying different lean types in each turn, going around a sharp blind corner, and doing a narrow S shape at one point. I was in the second group to go, so during the first half I watched everyone's technique as one of the instructors pointed out some tips to me. This part wasn't too difficult, but I got railed on for not turning my head toward the exit of the turn-- something I had gotten out of the habit of doing on Japan's many blind corners (since in many cases if you try to look at the exit of the turn you'll be looking at a wall or rock face). It was an important point, though, and the second time around I tried to consciously look into the turns; it worked a lot better.

During the hour lunch break, we watched a short film on how to carry a passenger on the rear (not something I intend on doing, but interesting nonetheless) and then discussed some mistakes the instructors had noticed in the previous exercises.

The afternoon started with a follow-the-leader all-around course with several parts. First was what they called a "slalom" but was more accurately an extended series of tight U-turns; next came a series of right turns through narrow cone lanes, an actual slalom through a straight line of cones, followed immediately by a slalom series through offset cones-- think a staggered line of cones, where you have to ride around the outer edges, set to make a sawtooth pattern about 6 meters apart; after that an S-shape, an immediate U-turn back into another S-shape. After a couple laps around this harrowing challenge I began to tense up. My boot hit one of the cones with a resounding crack. I was leaning the bike quite a bit, pressing and rolling, but couldn't seem to turn hard or fast enough. I pulled off the course in frustration-- everyone seemed to be able to pull it off smoothly without any problems, at any speed, while I was jerking around at the low end of my revs and wrestling with the little beast trying to get it to go where I wanted.

One of the instructors pulled up, and I explained my frustrations. He chuckled, and told me not to worry, that most people didn't get it their first time. I pointed out that nobody else seemed to be having any problems at all with the course. "Oh," he said, "well he's the Miyagi trick champion, and that guy over there is the trick champion from 2 years ago. The others have all taken this class several times before."

"What about that cute girl I was talking to before?" I inquired.

"She's the women's champion from last year." Ah hell. So much for trying to impress her. She was kicking my butt.

He asked me to stretch out a bit, get off the bike, and relax for a minute. "You're starting the turn too close to the cone; let the bike go wide, set your throttle, and then lean hard off the bike into the turn. Don't look at the rider in front of you; each rider and each bike ride differently, so pick your own line and look through the turn." Meanwhile two of the other instructors had pulled my bike up on its centerstand and were tightening the chain up. "Drop your shoulders and relax. The handlebars are going to turn, so don't fight them. When you want to stop turning, open up the throttle and the bike will straighten out. Don't use your clutch at all or you'll fall over." One of the instructors jumped on my bike, I nodded, and he ran the course once to make sure everything was in order. "You should be able to do this whole course in second gear, but if the engine is lugging it's OK to drop into first. See how he's relaxed and everything is smooth. Watch his head." He finished up the lap and all the riders filed in.

The rest of the afternoon was open course; everyone split up and practiced different parts of the course. I hopped back on and tried to tackle the U-turns again. First gear, run wide, lean in and look, don't wrestle the handlebars. The front turns in by itself as if by magic and I'm diving into a tight left. Wow, it worked. Transition to lean off the other side and look in, and let the bike do its part. A few more runs and it's starting to feel a lot better. I pull off with a big grin on my face. "That was a lot better. Why don't you try it on the Honda over there?" I told him I wanted to run some other parts of the course first.

He followed me to the "narrow bridge", a test where you try to run the bike as slowly as possible along a raised straight curb about a foot wide. I flubbed it once but came back around and passed it on the second try. I went back and tried the offset slalom but didn't have much luck and decided to pull it in and take a break. "Go ahead, try out the CB 400!" Sure, why not.

I ran a couple U-turn laps in first gear on the slightly bigger (and much smoother) Honda before cranking it into second. If anything, it was a little bit easier on that bike because the throttle was smoother and the handlebars set out a bit more so the front wheel could turn farther. By the end I was able to almost keep up with the others practicing.

I ended the day all sweaty, but I feel good about what I accomplished. I still need more practice, and there's another session next month. I think I'll go to that.