So I have been getting a ton of practice in these last couple of days, riding 2 times a day most days for 2+ hours. One good thing about a military base is there are certain times when there is minimal traffic around but it is still like a small city with stop signs and stop lights, residential places, etc. I am now fairly confident and familiar with the friction zone on my bike. Haven’t killed it at a stop sign or stop light since that first ride. I have even took it to a couple hilly areas on base and practiced starting from a stop on a hill, over and over and over. I was even able to find an incline much like the one Capt. Crash demonstrated in during one of his videos (one of those loading zone looking areas that trucks back up into). Now that was a pretty steep incline. I made sure and practiced that over and over as well. If I killed the bike I would practice it 5 times more until I could do five in a row without killing it…then I did 5 more haha. I’ve basically just been riding all over base, the speed limit on base is 30 but I took it to 50 (made sure it was safe first) so I could get a feel of how the bike accelerates and the feeling of speed..so far i love it 
I spent some more time on the big black top doing turns and trying to practice leaning. I have chalk but I keep forgetting to bring it to mark my tires. I can confidently get up and go from a stop sign and shift up smoothly as I accelerate.
I’m at that point now where I’m kind of bored just riding around on base…I really want to get a taste of the freeway (NO PUN INTENDED!)…what I mean is I want to ride on the freeway and see what it’s like. The bird has to leave his nest and fly sometime, right? lol. There is a place about 10 mins down the freeway called National Harbor that me and my buddy want to ride down to (he has been riding for a little over a year now). It’s down by the water and it’s a little harbor town, has a lot of restaurants, a big fancy schmancy hotel and a lot of nightlife. I figure it would be a good first freeway ride. I know I would be a little nervous before the ride, but it would be during a low traffic time and it’s a straight shot down the freeway. The way I’m thinking of it is, I now feel comfortable enough riding with other cars around me on base, I can operate the bike confidently, and I feel like I’m ready for the next step/challenge. I realize I sound like I’m just trying to convince myself lol but what do you guys think?
Also, some other question.
When approaching a stop light/sign, do you brake first and then down shift when you are going slow enough? Or is it ok to pull in the clutch, press the shift peg down, then use the brakes and smoothly release the clutch as you slow down and use the brakes/engine brake…then rinse and repeat as you shift down through the gears. Hopefully you guys know what I mean…
Is it bad/bad for the bike if you come to a stop and you arent in first, but shift down to first while you are stopped? There have been a few times where I kind of forgot which gear I was in or wasn’t able to downshift all the way and then came to a stop light/sign and I would be in 2nd, so before I accelerated again I would put the bike back in first while stopped.
