Passed my restricted this morning!!

**Gman71** · 5th May 2008, 11:54

Woo Hoo!!!

sat it up at Northcross and all my prayers and anti-rain dances paid off, becuase after yesterday i thought I may have to sit it riding an Ark!

But blue skies and rapidly drying roads, not too man enough to admit I was pretty nervous. ok, very nervous.

Got an ear piece, tester was friendly, perhaps because I'm a bit older and not a spotty yoof in a Nissan Sylvia that goes "pshhhtt" every gear change.

thanks to whoever gace me the route up there, but he took ne a completely different way down all these nastry steep little roads and cul-de-sacs, then his master-stroke....

a steep down hill narrow little fucker of a road "pull over and do a u-turn and go back up"

Now I have been practicing my u-turns. A lot! On the flat.

Very wobbly, managed it with at least 2mm to spare, very very tricky.

The rest was a doddle, up the motorway, already discussed 70 didn't apply (i bought it up before hand)

Knew we were on the way back and just cruised.

checky bugger comes up to me afterwards and says "trick U-turn eh?" with a BIG smile.

bastard. we had a laugh about it, he confirmed quite a few people had droped their bikes doing it there.

But I passed, ' good ride" he said, and "Happy Birthday" ('cos it is

)

promptly whipped out trusty leatherman- Detached silly yellow thiing and placed carefully in the bin

Thanks to;
-thse that have offered words of enouragement here as I start out
-Riderskills (Peter) out in Te Atatu for the BHS and 'Rider confidence' course
..and my kids for the cool new Diadora boots.

see you out there!

**Joliet** · 5th May 2008, 11:57

Woohoo! Well done

I guess I've got all of that to look forward to when I start getting my motorbike licences.

*Edit .. and happy birthday!

**chanceyy** · 5th May 2008, 11:59

Happy birthday & Congrats on the restricted its a damn awesome feeling for sure

just had a text from another kber who also passed their restricted this morning ...

:banana

..

**mowgli** · 5th May 2008, 12:00

Awsome, well done. Great work on the u-turn. All that practice paid off.

**chubby** · 5th May 2008, 12:21

Well done and good on you. Its a great feeling eh.

PS you should've kept that L Plate as I believe there is a market for them in Welly.

Now go and ride like the wind... ok so try and actch up to the wind... ok next time riding, pass wind.

**Nasty** · 5th May 2008, 13:14

Well done, congratulations ... and that is sooooo cool!!!

**Riderskills** · 5th May 2008, 15:50

Congratulations GMan.

Nice riding with you, keep it safe!

Philip

**gijoe1313** · 5th May 2008, 15:54

On ya matey patatey! Now you got that done with, ride on safely there yeeehaaa!

**Stromble** · 5th May 2008, 16:25

Well done!, you certainly picked the right time for it!, I had no such luck with the weather on my full last week..

**russellg** · 12th May 2008, 20:39

Do you have any tips for practising u- turns

I practise them from a standstill and a slow moving start.
I particularly battle on rounded contoured rounds and i am embarrassed to say i fell over once.

**Gman71** · 13th May 2008, 09:18

all I can suggest is practise them on hills, and that road you where you dropped it, becuase if your tester is anything like mine, ne ain't gonna pick a wide flat road.

the slower you can do them the better.

something i discovered worked for me, was to go forward a metre before turning, don't just launch straight into it- gives you a chance to get balanced.

**sweetp** · 13th May 2008, 13:49

well done that is super. Enjoy the freedom on non L plate riding....

**kanny** · 13th May 2008, 21:11

Well done and happy birthday.

**90s** · 15th May 2008, 13:14

Tricky tester eh? Well congrats. Now you are on a bike and he's still a git.

I reckon he's not a motorbike rider (they don't have to be to test them I think) and doesn't realise quite how pleasant it is to drop a bike.