8.01

After a quick island holiday with friends in Bali, came back to itchy rusty hands for 8.01. However, it was a disaster to say the least. To give a quick summary, I have enough demerits to fail this subject twice over.

I (still) do not know if its because I was the first rider of the pack or simply because it was my first time and nerves got the better of me.

Whatever it is, I made so many mistakes that my confidence after was totally wiped. And it was a session 8 (30th Sep) which meant the lesson cost me a cool $60. I just wiped and flushed it but I guess I am that much wiser. 

Went back home, got a hold and told myself, "I am not that bad." I booked another one for 2 days after (2nd Oct), today.

Anyway, this subject is not just test route assessment but also an assessment on defensive riding with the public road route as the circuit. An instructor will follow you one on one and you don't need to stop at any "regrouping" points. He will then assess you based on 3 rounds. So even if you get a pass in TP evaluation, you will not pass this subject unless you can ride "defensively".

And I passed! But of course not without a few glaring mistakes. I have a feeling the instructor passed me out of compassion but I would like to think I was generally ok and those one-offs were plain bad luck and bad timing, which will happen when I ride for real anyway.

It is a bittersweet feeling. I know I have to do better but now I can sit back a little and not worry about having to meet that 2 weeks deadline to pass 8.01 before the TP test.

Incidentally, there was this guy who has repeated this for 3 times, in our same session. Turns out, you can just speak to the administration and they will grant you grace for 8.01. He was given 5 days before the TP test to pass 8.01. I guess the 2 weeks deadline was set to encourage learners to be more active in learning, which means more $$ for the school. 

However you want to look at this, it can only be good for you to brush up on the skills before the test and not waste time and/or money.

Skill = safety, in my opinion.