Learning To Ride XIIIXIVII - I passed…finally….

That’s right I FINALLY passed my bike test, after starting all this way back on the 4th June with my CBT I can finally say I’m a real biker.

So why did it take so long?

Well it actually only took 11 days of training (4 tests in total), those days just happened to be spread out over about 19 weeks. The main reason for this is the waiting time for tests. The DSA says that you have to wait 10 ‘clear’ days between tests, I wish! The average waiting time was 6 weeks! This also meant that I wasn’t on a bike much between these dates so I had to try and get back up to speed every time.

So what did I fail for?

As I said, it was 4 tests in total:

1. 1 you know about
   
2. Stalling: I stalled the bike 3 times. The last one was quite bad; I was in the right hand lane at the end of a dual carriage way, waiting in a queue to get on the roundabout. I managed to stall it twice in quick succession so had to sit and take my time getting 1st to pull away.
3. Leaving An Indicator On & Going Too Slow: I left an indicator on for a ‘bit’ too long after joining a dual carriageway it was a case of “I thought it was off… bloody button”. The “Going too slow” was on the same dual carriageway just outside Bathgate. There is a right angled turn off the dual carriageway and I started to slow up before I got to the little filter lane bit. I personally think the filter lane bit is a too small; I wouldn’t like to try and stop in it from 70mph in the wet!
4. Passed! Only 1 Minor, stopping a bit too close to the bend after I got away from the examiner. I wasn’t actually that confident about this test. Although just before my 3rd test I had a day with John from City School of Motoring, which was a massive help. We just spent the whole day going through everything required for the test and by the end of the day we both thought I would pass. When that didn’t happen I kinda felt “Well we’ll see what goes wrong this time”. I was genuinely shocked when the examiner said “I’m glad to say you’ve passed”, in part because he said it in exactly the same voice as he’d said “I’m sorry to say you’ve not been successful”, all the other times! I had to check that he had ticked the “Pass” box on the form to make sure.

So do I actually have a bike yet?

Thankfully I do. Just before my 2nd test I started looking for bikes and saw a Honda Transalp at Two Wheels in Edinburgh. Now at first I didn’t like it, see it’s orange, but after a while it grew on me so I decided what the hell? Why not go ahead and get a bike so it’s ready when I pass. Shame it them spent a month at Two Wheels and then a month at my parent’s before I finally managed to pass

So I got insurance and tax sorted (don’t get me started with the wacky DVLA Tax regulations!), and picked it up on Monday night.

It’s really nice to be able to finally be able to ride a bike whenever I want, rather than having to wait till I was training again and getting shouted at for doing everything wrong! Shame this pesky work thing gets in the way, roll on next years summer holidays!