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A few people asked me to tell them all about my MSF course this weekend - so here it is!
I'm taking it with Ironstone Ventures in North Andover, MA. The instructors are Bill and Tony (who may very well be on this forum) - both very cool, and helpful. Good feedback, etc.
It started at 7AM this morning and we actually started out on the bikes. It was FREEZING. 30 degrees and 30mph wind chills. My new jacket is awesome though - with the interior lining and leather/textile exterior I can't even feel the wind! (Thanks, Jim!) Fingers got a bit numb though, despite my beautiful new gloves.
I was on a Suzuki GN125. I picked it because it had purple handlebars . The bikes were obviously cold so they were all stalling out quite a bit. I had to leave my choke on a lot, and at one point I was told to put the fuel on reserve because there was concern that I may have been running out of gas. The bike just kind of died on me while I was coming to a stop after one of the exercises and wouldn't re-start. I went along with Tony's assessment that it was lack of fuel and not user error.
Most of the exercises were the same as the ones I had already done in my parking lot lessons this week. I'm relieved I had some practice time before the course, though, because most people seemed to pick things up pretty quickly. I'm glad I was able to keep up. A lot of people had trouble with stalling, but there was only one fall (not me). Nobody even saw/knew about it until it was brought up in the classroom later, though. A demonstration of the "don't use the front brake at slow speeds" rule, apparently.
I think the hardest exercise was the offset weaving, though I made it through each time without putting a leg down or hitting any cones. The quick stop is pretty scary, too, and I need to remember to downshift whilst doing so, but other than that it went pretty well for me!!! Hoping tomorrow goes just as smoothly (and hoping for slightly warmer weather!!!!)
Thanks for reading