[madjak30]

6-9 pm tonight, I think there are two hours of class room then an hour on the bikes tonight. Tomorrow and Friday are 7 hr days, that I beleive are mostly on the bikes….I am pretty pumped…I have booked my road test through the Alberta Registries (Canadian) for Friday evening after the course is complete. They allow us to use their bikes for the test, so it only made sense to book it close to the end of the training so that the information was still fresh…if all goes well, I should be licensed by Saturday and riding my bike this weekend.

I was pretty worried last weekend when it snowed a couple of inches, but this week it has warmed up a lot…20 C (70 F)…it was -2 C (28-30ish F) at the end of April, but my GS500 still started…maybe I got a ringer??

I’ll keep you posted…

[Munch]

Good Luck! and have fun!

[gitchy42]

Hope you enjoy it at least as much as I did my training. Let us know how it goes

[madjak30]

Class started with introductions…three guys, eight women…I expected the ratio to be the other way around. The class ranged from a 20ish woman to a guy who was in his mid to late 50s…broad range…really good mix. We were sitting in class filling out the waivers and going over ground rules…then one of the instructors said” this is getting kinda boring, lets go out to the bikes…we can do the videos later”…well we started slow…at first not starting the bikes, taking turns pushing each other to a jogging pace and practicing balance and controlled stops. Then started the bikes and practiced friction zones…then slow speed, to a controlled stop…

After everyone got the hang of that, we rode over to the practice track/area…and just rode around and got a feel for the bikes. They stopped us after a while and got us to ride back to the “barn” and we were past our end time…I couldn’t beleive how fast the three hours were over, and no videos…I would imagine, we will pay for that tomorrow…now I am kicking myself for not starting this 20 years ago…oh well, better late than never…and maybe the silly grin will be gone by tomorrow morning, but I wouldn’t hold my breath…lol

I will let you know how tomorrow goes…

[romalo]

I had the same feeling when I took my class last year. Why didn’t I do this 20years ago? Better late than never. Where are you taking the class? I am in Alberta also.

Have fun?

[gitchy42]

Sounds like a good first day! Hope things go well tomorrow…

[madjak30]

Man…I think this is better than…well…it’s pretty good…lol

I can’t beleive how fast the day went…we stopped for a “potty break”, but it was noon…after lunch, we did some practice riding, etc, then another “potty break”…time to watch videos and go home…

Great day, learned starting on a hill, shifting in a corner, emergency breaking, and in a corner with that as well. I am still a little wobbly at the slow manouvers, but everything else seems to be going pretty good.

We do have about three in the course that don’t seem to be getting the hang of the clutch – throttle – brake combo, but maybe they will have the “A-HA” moment tomorrow…everyone seems to be having fun though, and that is the point of it all…

Last day tomorrow, then the road test…here I go…lol

[madjak30]

Yeah…the feeling started a few weeks ago, but today it was…well…why didn’t I do this before….but the finances didn’t support a “toy”….so there it is…

[gitchy42]

…and have fun!!

[pixiedust]

I was one of those people in class who didn’t get the hang of the clutch until the morning before the test. Suddenly, I had my AH-HA moment, and passed with flying colors! Hopefully, your classmates will too. Have fun and good luck.

[owlie]

Glad to hear that it is going well. The wobbly in the corners will get better with practice.

Good luck on the road test this afternoon!

Owlie

[madjak30]

Passed the class and the road test…the instructors were pretty happy with my performance, even used me as an example a couple of times…the road test wasn’t as hard as I thought it was going to be…

The MSF class is awsome, I would definitely recommend it to others. I wouldn’t have learned to shoulder check as much and the slow speed manouvering that I had trouble with did get easier…just a great experience…this is the best fun ever…I can’t wait to get on the road tomorrow on my own bike…

As for “push steering”, just don’t think about it…it just works…I was push steering at 55mph today…that was an absolute blast….I can’t wait to hit some twisties…it’s almost like an addiction…just watch out for the idiots pulling out from side streets and alleys…one of the guys in my class had a real close call…someone pulled out on him on his road test…he stopped just in time…probably missed an impact by about two feet…thank god for the practice emergency braking…he passed as well, just in case you were wondering…

See you out there…woo hoo!!!

[madjak30]

How is it going for you? I hope you have as good of instructors as I did…they made if a lot of fun, and focussed on improving our skills without making it too serious…

[ShamRock229]

I agree, the MSF class is a blast! Congrats on your success!

My class didnt have an actual on road portion…we just had the skills evaluation and the written exam, how exactly did the on road portion work? (ie what were you graded on, what was the set up, etc.). I’m just curious because I would have liked to have done that myself in my class.

[eon]

Madjak lives in Canada so technically it’s not the same MSF as the states. I think Kansas has the only msf class that goes out on the road but I don’t think that is part of the test.

[Author]

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