Tricia, since you've kindly (and foolishly

) given me carte blanche to pick your brains -- could you tell me what kind of real-life road situations the cone weave, slow ride, etc are meant to mimic?
(The slow ride mimics riding in slow traffic, to avoid you having to keep stopping and putting your foot down, after a while this becomes tiring. Also being able to judge your arrival at an intersection or roundabout, so that the gap is there at the same time, makes for smoother riding. When I used to commute to auckland city on my bike, I could ride the entire way, through about 16 sets of lights, motorway, 50 k zones, and not put my foot down once!)
And could you give me technique tips for what you do if you're blatting down the road at the hoon-speed of 70 kph and you suddenly see a pothole or bit of wood on the road?
(You should have seen it from way back, if you were using good scanning techniques.How do you swerve around an object at the last moment while going fast (well, fast to me) without going into the ditch? As said before you should have seen it from way back, however if you haven't don't look at it, cos the bike goes exactly where you look, or you can countersteer your way around it with a quick push pull on the handlebar. This is something that you should have practised first though. An excellent technique to have in your repertoire.)
With an L plate, I can't go above 70, but all the roads around me have a speed limit of 100. Other than my L plate, is there anything I can do to let car drivers know that I am NOT going to go faster just to make them happy, so they'll have to pass me? Should I ride way over on the left hand side?
(Riding over on the left side, is defenitely not the best place to be, cos they will squeeze by you, and then you don't have any safety bubble room left.Maintain a command positiion on the road, so that you have room in front, behind, to the left and to the right
When you do your restricted test you will be expected to ride on a piece of road at 100k.)
Finally, why does every single person in the North Island decide to take their car/tractor/bike/ute/lorry out for a drive on the afternoon that I decide to practice my bike skills on a quiet country road?

Cripes, I've never seen so much traffic on that road in my life!
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