Lesson didnt go too well :(

Originally Posted by chakraist

...the instructor said to me that the more confidence I build on the bike before the A2 course the better.

I offered the instructors a bit of money for stealing their saturday evenings and they told me not to worry, because it saved them time and increased their pass rates having people up to scratch on how to ride a bike before teaching maneuvers and doing road riding, etc.

Hey everyone - firstly don't give up!

Training people to ride a bike is a strange thing - no dual controls like the car! My brother in law owns a bike training school so when I'm round there I often find myself chatting to pupils. The feedback from pupils is great as he can then work on improving his instructors. I did all my bike training with him and he found the feedback really useful.

At the end of the day we are all only human and it's probably just a case of that particular instructor and the way he deals with people - another instructor and you would probably be fine. Remember, at the end of the day you are paying them so try and get the most of it. Ask them to demonstrate on the 125's and even go as far as asking to get them to take you through the moves as a pillion. I had that on my DAS as I was nervous in the u turn, the instructor chucked me on the back and went round and round in circles at full lock slowly - it gave me the chance to feel how it should feel.

Lessons before your CBT?? my CBT was done as an assesment on the whole day not over several lessons, unless things have changed?

Anyways, sorry to hear you had a bad day, we all have them, i been riding 3 years and i still have off days. YOur instrctor shouldn't be putting you down though especially infront of everyone. Have you looked at seeing if there is another school?

Good luck with the rest of your training

[dirtydog]

Originally Posted by Samnooshka

i been riding 3 years and i still have off days.

Yeah and look what happened last time

Originally Posted by dirtydog

Yeah and look what happened last time

Thin ice alert

Thanks everyone - i really really want to do it and have been really positive.

It is something i have always wanted to do - despite protests from others because i am a girl. Hubby doesnt even know i am doing it but i am determined..

I think i will look for another instructor...

[fizzwheel]

Originally Posted by magical_mover

despite protests from others because i am a girl.

These are the sort of people that you want to just ignore.

Originally Posted by fizzwheel

These are the sort of people that you want to just ignore.

i know - a good friend of mine has told me to sleep on it and see how i feel.

i feel much better than yesterday thankfully so i will look to speak to another instructor tomorrow and get on the CBT.

[northwind]

I would look for another instructor, sometimes you just don't gel- it's not even a case of saying they're no good, not everyone learns the same way.

Encouraging story for you- it took me 5 attempts to pass my CBT! No pre-training or anything, just straight into the CBT. On the first day, I was terrible... I couldn't work the clutch, but I was good enough at balancing the bike etc that I managed to keep going with the more difficult stuff even though I was basically completely out of control- in a state of constant recovery. You can only do that for so long before it all goes pear shaped, which of course it did, and it left me totally shattered- no confidence, no will even to get back on a bike. If I'd not bought a bike already, there's no chance at all I'd have gone back, I was that bad.

But, I'd bought a bike, so I had to press on. The next 3 were just about repairing the damage, sorting out all the problems I'd created for myself- I was too nervous to go on the road (the instructors wanted me out on the road, I refused), really more like basic lessons than a CBT proper. Finally got it, and in fact totally walked it on the 5th try, then did my DAS about a year later and walked that too.

And look at me now- I'm s**t! But I'm s**t with a licence, and thus I win! But, I would never have guessed how much biking would come to mean for me, it's really changed my life, and it pretty much horrifies me how close I came to walking away from it.

The End.

(epilogue- I went to the same school every time- the trainers there were ace, it was totally my head not the school that was the problem. I've since found that if I'd gone to the other local school, I'd almost certainly have passed first time due to their lax standards and ridiculous target-based pay system, and been let out on the road with no ability to ride a bike... I'd have ended up a statistic. Sometimes it's better to fail!)

Thanks for the advice everyone

Think the thing that just tipped me over the edge on the day was the whole humiliation aspect of it... would rather have not had an audience when i was being told off lol!