How I obtained my JP license (Full Review)

The time has finally come. I finished my ride and was waiting for the announcement from the examiners. Two of them were still chatting while I was taking off the body protectors. Then one guy came over and asked if I was the one taking the big bike test. I said it was me, and then he said "Gougaku desu" (you passed) and then he realized that I wasn't showing any emotion on my face so he said "you should look more happy" and walked away. Actually, I wasn't trying to be cool and calmed, but somehow, more than half of me was awaiting to be mentally ready if it was indeed a bad news. So, my reaction was slow, but of course, I was happy and relieved with the good news.

I told myself that if I have passed the test, I'll write a full review of the entire motorcycle test experience. So now it's time to go back and reflect on the whole thing.

Back in March, before I took my first test, I received some notes and cheat sheets from people who had done the test before. I thought those weren't enough information so I did more search on something more specific about the place I'll be taking my test. Luckily I found one good site with flash animation and even live video that guide me through the whole process. So I studied them carefully and basically just ran the full course in my head without any actual practices of any sort.

My first test was in March 11th. The moment I sat on the bike I felt the weight immediately. At that point, I was not comfortable but somehow, I trusted in my past experience and took off for a half course test run. During the test ride, I was confused with the gear change and kept pushing down the gear to shift up. Of course that didn't work and before I knew it, I was in front of the balance board ready to start. The guy told me that "Koko kara wa honban da zo" (from this point on it's the real test) and that's the moment the nervousness really cranked up. I passed the balance board alright, but went too big on the U-turn, and barely passed the slalom course, and then finally hit one of the cone in section 4, the 90 degree S road, and was immediately called off by the examiner.

More than disappointed, I was more of trying out the test course than aiming to pass the test. So I thought the reason of failing the test was because of my inexperience with the course and believed that if I have one more try, I'll pass the test.

Therefore, after the test, I still did not get my hands on a bike. Instead, I went on youtube and found myself more skill videos of bike riding hoped that after seeing more actual ridings will help on my image training. This is the time that I encountered the term "counter steering", which I've never heard of before. The theory basically says that whichever direction you want to go, simply push the handle bar forward, not pull down, to that direction. It all makes great sense when I saw the demonstration, but then I started to get really confused with the whole concept. Relying only on imagination, it was no way that I can feel what it'll be like to ride on a real motorcycle. And all these unsolved confusions happened the night before the 2nd test.

A week later, March 18th, I had my second test. Before the test, I remembered what the examiner told me after the first test that I should do more slalom like runs during my test ride to relax myself. So I did. But in the test, again I went too big on the first U turn, which caused me to barely make it to the slalom course, and when I entered the slalom course, the whole counter steering thing suddenly came to my head and all of a sudden I was reluctant to turn the handle bar because I was afraid that the bike will fall and whether or not I should push or turn the handle bar. Next thing I knew, I hit the cone straight up and was out of the test again.

This time I was frustrated and embarrassed. When the examiner walked me to the building, he kindly recommended me to get some practice, which was what I had in mind, I knew I needed some practices badly, and had no faith in image training anymore. I don't believe it'll work without getting some real practices. So, after I left the test site, I called the riding school and registered for the 4 hour "paper driver course" (refreshment course.) During my first 2 hours of the lesson, I was still not comfortable with the weight of the bike. Then during the practice, I was still nervous about making U turns and turning the handle bar. At that time, I wanted to practice more on making turns, and asked some questions about how to make turns. However the young instructor didn't seem to be able to explain his idea clearly. He kept telling me to have my legs on the tank and use clutch and rear break. But really, at that point, I've completely forgotten the things I've learned back in Canada. Even though he seems to tell me the right things, I didn't see how all the things connect to break my fear of making a simple turn. So, without really getting any beneficial results, the lessons were ended that day.

The next two hours came a day before my third test. The guy was a more mature instructor and better at explaining ideas. After I told him that I wanted to put more effort on the slalom course, we practically spent 3 hours on just doing slalom maneuvers and U turns. By doing that, I really nailed down the techniques of clearing the slalom course. By hitting the throttle, bikes will get up straight. He also reminded me of not to use the front break while making turns. Only use rear break to adjust speed, or else the bike will stop too sudden and the balance will be lost. However, I was still nervous about making U turns. I started to get nervous every time I make a turn and the bike starts to incline. At the end of the lesson, we did the figure 8 course and I was still not comfortable with turns. Even though he told me to look where I'm going, I was not in the habit of doing that, and the idea wasn't registered into my head. But I did learn the fact that I can turn my bike in small circle. And the wrong idea that I was told by friends before to never lock my handle bar turned out to be a misleading idea. As long as there's speed and with good balance, you need to lock the hand bar to turn tight circles.

Then comes the 3rd try on the following day. Because of the actual practice with a real 750cc, I was not nervous anymore when I sat on the bike. Although I was comfortable with the weight, I still not smooth with turning my head to the direction of where I was gonna go. So, the test ended up with yet again a bad U turn and went out of the course in the 90 degree S road. But this time, the examiner was nice enough to let me at least finish up after the figure 8 course, which was about 2/3 of the overall test, before he called off the test.

Now I was familiar with the weight and had the technique to clear the slalom course. What I needed to work on were turns; especially U turns. I didn't want to go back to the driving school again because it costs a lot of fortune to practice. And I didn't want to borrow bikes from friends coz I didn't want to risk others' properties. So, I thought since all two wheelers obey the same principle, a bicycle will work the same as a motorcycle. Therefore, I got a bike from my ex colleague two days after the test and right away I started to practice on my head turns and figure eight maneuvers. Also, the big turning point was that I talked to my brother. The ideas he reminded me and advices he gave me were really the core idea of the whole thing. Rock'n roll, clutch and throttle control, turn your head and look where you are going. Everyday I spent about an hour just to ride around the neighborhood and kept practice making tight turns. I finally started to feel more comfortable with head turns and U turns. And for the first time, I felt confident in myself because I finally had the hour of practices that I desired.

Just when I thought the I will sure do well on the 4th test, I was too excited that I made a perfect U turn after the balance board, and unexpectedly ran into the slalom course too soon, was freaked out and the brain just went blank for a moment and slightly hit the slalom cone again and was out of the test. This time I was really mad at myself. I remembered that the moment I hit the cone, all I was thinking of was " Oh no, this is not happening!"

Luckily enough, this time I didn't have to wait a whole week to do the test. The coming Thursday was available so I booked the test again and spent the afternoon and the next day really working on more head turns, more U turns and more figure 8. In addition, I tried more slalom maneuvers in downhill, so I can experience what it's like to maneuver my bike in high speed.
At this point of the stage, I started to use image training, because now I've had my actual practice, image training will help to take away some unnecessary nervousness in me.

On the 5th try, I finally managed to finish the whole test. I knew it wasn't a perfect run, but somehow I was hoping that I could pass. But that didn't happen. I was told not enough shoulder check; especially checking rear before and after the balance board. I was not accelerating fast enough on open road, and in one turn accidentally ran into the other lane. Although I was expecting good news, I wasn't frustrated with the bad news at all. I was happy that I finally was able to go all the way and the practices did pay off. I've improved each time I came to the test. Thus, to pass the test, I just need to watch the small things. Like my brother told me afterward, it seems my skills are back.

So today, I did everything I did in my last run and made sure I took care of all the little things I failed to do last time; rear check, fast acceleration, and that little tight turn after figure 8 course. And even though it was pouring rain out there, I still managed to pass my test. Afterward, I walk passed the test course and saw the rest of the test today, I can now see who's going to make it and who's not. Because I've been through what they are going through right now.

Now I look back to the whole experience, my ego at the beginning brought me the whole pressure when I failed to achieve what I wanted. I thought that with my short 3 years of riding experience, and my record of excellent riding back in the riding school in Vancouver, I should have passed the practical test with ease. And when I didn't get the result I wanted, I didn't look into my problems carefully enough and instead I was hoping things will just turn out better the next try. A lot of clues that I could have found back then but I didn't. Practice is the key. You just need to get comfortable with the machine and then naturally you'll get comfortable with the test. The key is patience and never give up. Be true to yourself and so you can get into the problems quickly. Look for little details and ask yourself if you can really do it. And most importantly, image training won't work without actual practices. Or else, the feeling of excitement will just take over everything. If you can overcome that excitement with fast instinct, maybe you have the chance of coming through, but the chance is fairly low. In the end, it was the belief of "never give up" that kept me trying.


"Keep changing your approach until you get the result you want."

and

"The only time you fail is when you quit."

Both quotes are from Anthony Robbins and during this motorcycle test experience, I can really tell why the ideas are so vital to success.

Look at this record below. It was tough to go through all the mental setbacks back then, but it sure felt great when I finally came through :7