Category: moto diaries

Awesome! After a couple of previous attempts, I’m now a qualified rider on the road! My goodness that took ages to complete. I started in May 2004 and only completed it now. Some people only took a few months to do it but I guess the important thing is, that I’ve eventually finally done what I’ve always wanted to do. So now I can put a tick next to my “to do list”

Initially, I was a little apprehensive. Judging by the dark clouds above me, it looked as if, it was going to rain. I dont feel confident when it rains – roads are more slippery and harder to manage.

I arrived the Bukit Batok driving center at about 7.50am, put on my number tag, 21 and was given a quick practise before the actual test. And just as expected, it was drizzing. I sort of fell off the plank and feeling a little peeved with myself.

Later on, me and 89 other testees sat in the room for our briefing and I quickly scanned the road map for a visualisation of the road that I’ll be going through later. I breathed in deeply, concentrated and then started my test.

The tester waved his hand, signalling that test was begining. I checked for oncoming traffic and did my blind spot and proceeded to the lane change. So far so good, I thought to myself. Let me just turn over at this junction and then go up the slope.

Hey not bad! Easy does it. Dont be gabra (panic) Be cool! Look for oncoming traffic and then go. Not enough space at the road? Just stay behind the traffic light. No problem. No gabra.

I observed the other people at the figure 8 and noticed that alot of the people in front of me didnt check their blind spot. I’ll try not to do the same mistake. And then I proceeded.

I felt so lucky that the bike that I was riding didnt give me any problems. A good bike would either make you or break you. Good bike! Good bike!

Then I proceeded to the plank. Easy does it Marina. Count. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Good … Now you dont need to stay on the plank any longer, thats fine. Carry on to the emergency break.

Speed up Marina. But not too fast. Now decrease throttle! Then clutch in! Good! You’re doing fine. Continue to the road.

Speed up! Speed up! You’re on public road now. Observe your surroundings. You can do it! Its a lovely day to ride. No problem at all. Car in front of you? Signal quickly and try to move away as possible. Wonderful.

I talked to myself and tried to motivate myself as much as I can. And at length, I completed the test and waited for the results.

It was such agony. The waiting. I was complaining to the guy sitting beside me. Just give me the results already! Fail fail lah! Aaargh!

Everyone around me are feeling the same, I was sure. They had the same sheepish/in agony/pained face as I had.

Eventually the testers arrived. And they called out the names of the people who failed. I watched as how disappointed they looked. There was even a guy who crushed his result paper in anger.

“I’m going to call out some numbers”, my tester announced. “19! 20! 21!”

Haaah? Fail again? 🙁

“19. 20. 21. You all pass”

Haaah? I pass? Bluff lah. I dont believe.

“You passed lah! Unless you want to come again next time” Said the guy beside me.

I passed? Really? Wow! Really? Unreal! Wow! Oh wow!

And I looked at the slip of paper in my hands. 8 points. Unreal! From 34 to 26 to 8 points. So amazing.

Woopee! I can ride on the road now. Unreal! Zoom! Vespa GT200 here I come!

SMOOCH!

Third time’s a charm, I hope. It would be nice to finally clear the traffic police test and get it over and done with so I concentrate on other matters.

I flunked my tp test twice already. The first time was due to the rain which made everything slippery and the second was a matter of pure carelessness by me. So I hope my third time would leave me more optimistic.

It would be so disheartening if I dont do well. But I’ll never give up. Went through so much just to let go when the end is so near.

Was back from the Bukit Batok Driving Center for a self practise. It wasn’t anything that I didn’t already knew. So why is it that I keep doing silly mistakes during the actual test itself?

Farid, a colleague of mine, whom I was replacing for the school found out that I was taking riding lessons too. He retold about the time when he was taking the traffic police test. The night before, he visualised the circuit and the road. What to do in every instance and every gestures.

I think I’ll give it a try too. What’s there to lose anyway.

Starting point.

• Signal the lights to the left and look out for the traffic.
• Look to the right, and then look to the left
• If all is clear, blind spot left and proceed
• Watch out for pedestrians at the zebra crossing
• Accelerate to at least gear 3

Before approaching the bend

• Signal right
• Blind spot right when touching the bend
• At the end of the bend, another blind spot
• Go in the right lane

At the junction

• Shoulders must be aligned to the white line
• Blind spot to the right and proceed.
• Avoid wide turning

After the junction

• Signal to the left
• Blind spot left
• Accelerate to prevent wobbling
• Change lane to the left

Before turning

• Blind spot to the left and look far.
• Stop at the stop sign and look out for traffic.
• Blind spot left at the middle of the junction
• Get to at least gear 2

Slope

• Kick down to gear 1.
• Signal right
• Hold rear break
• Open throttle, release break and proceed downhill
• signal left and look out for incoming vehicles

Traffic lights

• Front tyre must NEVER touch the yellow line. (instant failure)
• Check front road, left and right and accelerate
• Signal left as soon as you leave the yellow box

Figure 8

• blind spot left
• go to gear 2
• let go of clutch
• control throttle
• use read break to control speed
• Press the clutch slightly just when about to go out and look right

Crank

• Signal right before proceeding in
• Go to gear 2
• let go of clutch
• control throttle
• cancel signal
• look right

Traffic light

• Look left and right
• Signal right while in the yellow box
• Check blind spot
• Change lane to the right
• accelerate

T Junction

• Look left and right and repeat till lanes are clear
• Blind spot right
• Turn right and kick gear up
• Accelerate
• Signal left
• blind spot
• change lane to the leftmost
• Blind spot again as approaching the outermost bend and enter
• Cancel signal

Plank

• Kick to gear 1
• Look at the plank
• proceed and then look far
• Balance using rear brake

Slalom

• Kick to gear 2
• use rear brake to control
• Blind spot right when approaching end

Emergency break

• Accelerate up to 35km/h
• Go to gear 3
• When you see the red line, close throttle
• Break front and rear
• Clutch in
• Kick down to gear 1
• Check back
• Proceed to the road

Road is a little easier for me. Similar to the circuit, but you have to check with other traffic and the pedestrians too. Give way when needed and accelerate whenever possible.

Hope my assessment check-list doesn’t go up too much during the actual day.

It was exhilarating! What a rush! I love the feeling when you go down the highway at 70km/h. Whoosh!

For the uninitiated, I’m currently taking motorcycle license. Actually, I’ve been quite the procrastinator in the sense that I’ve been putting it off till I noticed that my enrolment will be ending soon so I’ve been trying to rush it and complete as many lessons as I can. I dont think I can finish it in time though, but I’d like to give it a shot anyways.

I went on the road today for the first time after passing my circuit test on monday. And after getting my Provisional Driving License, it made me a valid rider on the road.

I’ve been waiting to do that for ages. And now that I’ve tried it out, I love the feeling. Its really exciting. I just cant wait to get my license.

Ohh .. I cant wait to get my first bike too. I expect I could (try) to get it in June. Here are a few choices:

The Vespa Granturismo 200

I fell in love with this bike the first time I saw it. I came across this by chance when I was doing research for a presentation and it was love at first sight. I love the shape and how aerodynamic it looked. However, I’m not fond of how heavy it looked. If I cant push it, or lift it to main stand, I dont see the point of getting it though.

The Honda CB1300

Well, I’m not sure what the model is, but it looked something like this. I like Honda’s because its quite comfortable, and relatively light to carry. I dont like big seats. And I wouldnt get a scrambler type of bike as its much too tall for me. Plus Honda’s are more affordable since they are Asian made. I’ll just have to look around 🙂

Cant wait to pass!

Havent taken riding lessons for a while, I think I’ve been a little rusty. Well, I could start the bike and move it, lol at least thats something eh? However, I’ll have to try again to get my turns perfectly. Keep forgetting my signals and blindspot checks .. bleh. Just a little bit more and I can start to practise on the main roads .. I can do it. Just stop day dreaming already! LOL

A few months back, I started on the small circuit and then the instructor brought us to the main and bigger circuit. Shift to gear two!! He shouted. NO! I screamed back to him. Gear two!! Gear two!! And I found myself speeding (well, it seemed pretty fast to me) at a high speed, at that moment didnt think about letting go of the throttle, and nearly bumping to a car that just decelerated suddenly. All that I was thinking of, was why in the heck did I decide to take the motorcycle license. I’m gonna die. I’m gonna die. I’m gonna die.

While now, I wouldnt bat an eye if going at a high speeds. Its just a matter of practise for me then, I have to practise more to get it perfect. So even if I dont get it right the first time, I shouldnt give up. I should just try again 🙂

Anyhow, the reason as to why I took up riding lessons was mainly because I’ve always been interested in it. And the desire got even more when my best friends julie and hema and I went to thailand for our vacation. There wasnt that many public transportation there and the only way for us to move around was to either rent a van or a scooter.

I didnt know how to ride, neither was julie but we were very keen about it so we actually went up to a scooter rental kiosk and decided there and then to try it out. And after 5 minutes of lessons and seeing that we didnt fall – the person seemed satisfied and we went off.

Of course we were still wobbly then. I had trouble starting the kick start. Julie nearly ran someone down. And after having hema as my pillion, she absolutely refused to ride with me anymore. But we really had fun and I vowed that I’d start my license as soon as I could. So I shouldnt give up now. Its really really something that I’d love to have. Plus it would be useful, 1 hour bus travel is really no fun at all.

Anyhows, look at what I found from sgforums

Mmmm … mmmm mmmmmm … I’d love to go – I’ve asked close to everyone I knew to go to it. Well, even if they dont go for some reason or another, I think I’ll go there by myself! *chuckles*

However reading the fine print … Its only Monday – Friday 11am – 6pm. There’s no way I could go … unless I played hookey. Which I dont think I could do now : Dang.