The second Wednesday night class was run by a different instructor and he expressed his desire to move quickly and get done early … We went through the rest of the BRC Handbook and immediately following took the written test … The “written” test consists of a booklet of questions with multiple choice answers and you fill in the corresponding circle on your answer sheet … I flew through the test not second guessing any of my answers … There are a total of 50 questions worth 2 points each … You need an 80 to pass (so doing the math, you can get 10 wrong out of 50) … I finished, took a walk outside and when I came back in I was shown my score, 94 and he said “See you Sunday.”
I got to the range Sunday early (as suggested by the web site and all reading materials associated with the PAMSP) … We went in and rode around in circles for a while to get used to riding again (for those that don’t have their own motorcycle) … There were some more riding exercises and the first one was the tight U-turn … That’s what they called it, but a lot of people knew it as “the figure 8” … It’s true, if you listen to their direction, you will get it right … That is the most difficult thing to do in the riding test … Very tight turns … After some more cornering exercises (the most important part of riding), a couple breaks, we line up to take the “official” riding test …
One at a time we go through and do a U-turn box into a swerve maneuver … Then it’s the quick stop, and finally turning … Once you’re done, since we’re the last class, we drive the bikes up to their storage shed and line them up ready to be put away … We wait for the results … Miraculously, we all passed … People I was sure would NOT pass, passed … So, my permit is signed and serves as my proof of a Class M license … I will receive a supplement to my Driver’s License that I will have to hold until my current Driver’s License expires and I get a new photo … At that time, they will add the Class M directly to my license and I will have only one license … For me, that’s in January 2008 …
So I go home and tell the family the good news, that I passed and decided to go out to dinner … I took the motorcycle and met them there as I planned to do a little riding for the first time legally in the dark … Dinner was good and we parted in the lot … Bike was warmed up and I dropped it in 1st and was on my way, for about a foot … STOP! I left the front disc lock on … I had to shut off the bike and use the key to remove the lock … It was dinged up pretty good and was difficult to get off … I couldn’t put it back together, so I just put it in my pocket … Started the bike up again and begun to go on my merry way again, but wait, did I put the side stand up? I look down, no … Sheesh … First day with a license and I am making all these mistakes … Good thing they weren’t there to see this, and they can’t take it back …
Once I figured out all that nonsense and made sure no one saw me, I was underway … Cruised around in the cool night … Lots of lights at night, and I was looking for a dark road … I finally got to the one I wanted, and there was a car in front of me the whole way … Oh well, there is always tomorrow night … and the next … I’ve driven over 500 miles (not counting the BRC range miles) …