The Vent and Rant Thread

[Stitchawl]

Today the instructor said to me; "Let's play Follow the Leader" and led me through some high speed Lock-to-Lock minimum radius Figure-8's, then ultra slow speed minimum radius Figure-8's on the side of a steep incline. No problem staying with him. Then he went over the 12" wide bridge 35 feet long... sloooooly.... No problem.

But when he hit the slalom course, he just walked away.
Nothing I could do to keep up with him. Nothing. I've been working on this all damn week. I've shaved two full seconds off my time. 37 feet long with 6 pylons. I can do it now in 6.5 seconds. But when he hit the finish line I was barely at the third pylon.
I CAN'T KEEP UP WITH HIM!!!! It was like I was stuck in glue! We went around the course 5 times and the same thing happened every single time! DAMN IT! He just sails through it and I wallow!

Stitchawl

[Sparrow]

Originally Posted by mrscoach

.... So you know he was paid to live there and register to vote and vote FOR the propositions.

Is that legal?

[mrscoach]

Originally Posted by Sparrow

Is that legal?

Evidently it is. It has been known for a couple of months that Ryan Latham is the only voter for that water district or whatever it is he is considered the voter for. It has also been known that he was hired to 'watch over the land' for Williams Energy, and that his father is COO for that company. Also known is that Ryan works for an attorney, who is representing Williams Energy in a dispute between Clayton Williams and the city of Fort STockton, because he wants to take the water from the land he owns there and pipe it to Midland. Apparently Fort Stockton objects to him taking water from them. Hmm, wonder why?

I think the whole thing smells like a barrel of rotting fish, but no apparent laws have been broken. The land is owned by Clayton Williams and Williams Energy, yes, and Ryan lives on the land and is paid to live there, yes, but there is no thing wrong with that according to the law.

[Roger Parkinson]

Originally Posted by mrscoach

Evidently it is. It has been known for a couple of months that Ryan Latham is the only voter for that water district or whatever it is he is considered the voter for. It has also been known that he was hired to 'watch over the land' for Williams Energy, and that his father is COO for that company. Also known is that Ryan works for an attorney, who is representing Williams Energy in a dispute between Clayton Williams and the city of Fort STockton, because he wants to take the water from the land he owns there and pipe it to Midland. Apparently Fort Stockton objects to him taking water from them. Hmm, wonder why?

I think the whole thing smells like a barrel of rotting fish, but no apparent laws have been broken. The land is owned by Clayton Williams and Williams Energy, yes, and Ryan lives on the land and is paid to live there, yes, but there is no thing wrong with that according to the law.

If he really was paid to vote a certain way that would be illegal in some places I think. I'm pretty sure it would be illegal here in NZ. Any kind of coercion of voters is a serious crime here. It is one reason we don't have exit polls on voting day, people aren't supposed to mill about voting booths for any reason. Proving he was actually paid to vote a certain way as opposed to paid for something else, however, might be tricky.

[SneakySnake]

Originally Posted by Stitchawl

Today the instructor said to me; "Let's play Follow the Leader" and led me through some high speed Lock-to-Lock minimum radius Figure-8's, then ultra slow speed minimum radius Figure-8's on the side of a steep incline. No problem staying with him. Then he went over the 12" wide bridge 35 feet long... sloooooly.... No problem.

But when he hit the slalom course, he just walked away.
Nothing I could do to keep up with him. Nothing. I've been working on this all damn week. I've shaved two full seconds off my time. 37 feet long with 6 pylons. I can do it now in 6.5 seconds. But when he hit the finish line I was barely at the third pylon.
I CAN'T KEEP UP WITH HIM!!!! It was like I was stuck in glue! We went around the course 5 times and the same thing happened every single time! DAMN IT! He just sails through it and I wallow!

Stitchawl

maybe if you shave off your beard you could shave your time.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by Stitchawl

Today the instructor said to me; "Let's play Follow the Leader" and led me through some high speed Lock-to-Lock minimum radius Figure-8's, then ultra slow speed minimum radius Figure-8's on the side of a steep incline. No problem staying with him. Then he went over the 12" wide bridge 35 feet long... sloooooly.... No problem.

But when he hit the slalom course, he just walked away.
Nothing I could do to keep up with him. Nothing. I've been working on this all damn week. I've shaved two full seconds off my time. 37 feet long with 6 pylons. I can do it now in 6.5 seconds. But when he hit the finish line I was barely at the third pylon.
I CAN'T KEEP UP WITH HIM!!!! It was like I was stuck in glue! We went around the course 5 times and the same thing happened every single time! DAMN IT! He just sails through it and I wallow!

Stitchawl

Sorry. You'll get it....he's had lots more practice!

[Stitchawl]

Originally Posted by SneakySnake

maybe if you shave off your beard you could shave your time.

Today I tried leaving my cell phone, keys, coins, yo-yo and frog in my locker to try to reduce weight... didn't help.

Perhaps I will shave for tomorrow's class...

Stitchawl

[Stitchawl]

Originally Posted by kennyc

Sorry. You'll get it....he's had lots more practice!

I've now put in 12 hours on just this one challenge. Yes, I've reduced my time by two seconds, but I can't get it any lower! I've been stuck at this same time for the past three days! Today, I even knocked over a pylon on one run, ran off the course on another, almost dumped the bike countless times trying to bank hard enough... Well, actually, I did get down .2 seconds from 6.5 to 6.3. But that damn instructor can do it in 4.5 and I WANT TO BE ABLE TO DO IT TOO!!!!!!!! This is what it 'should' look like;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mp-ZRiVslbM but not even close to what mine looks like!
I've got 4 more hours of lessons left to get it right, then I take the test on Wednesday...


Stitchawl

[SneakySnake]

You need to get your weight down lower. If your shoulders are too heavy you will wobble trying to lay the bike over enough to get round. Cut the ends of your footpegs to prevent scraping. I used to just scrape them off on the road, but I was not training for the cops team.

Be a woman (even if you are a man) with balance and you will do better Good luck!

[Stitchawl]

Originally Posted by SneakySnake

You need to get your weight down lower. If your shoulders are too heavy you will wobble trying to lay the bike over enough to get round. Cut the ends of your footpegs to prevent scraping. I used to just scrape them off on the road, but I was not training for the cops team.

I have to use the school bikes for the lessons and the test center bike for the test. These bikes are wired with special lights front and back so the instructors (and test proctors) can see which breaks are being used, what gear your in, if the clutch is being pulled or even feathered, etc. besides the regular turn signals. Besides, my own bike is a cruiser. The pegs are so low down, and the wheelbase so long that even the instructors couldn't get it around the slalom course in less than 10 seconds! The pylons are only 4 meters apart. I'm lucky to be able to use the school's bikes!

The real problem is the timing of the throttle. To do the course properly, I need to use ONLY the throttle. No rear break (of course no front break! ) and no clutch. After throwing the bike over and diving into the turn, I need to use the throttle to make it stand up again before the next turn. If I'm too early I hit the pylon. If I'm too late my speed is down. If it's not enough throttle, I go down. Too much throttle and I go off the course.

Be a woman

I've been abroad for the past 20+ years.

Good luck!

Thanks! The test is Wednesday morning and I really, really want to pass it.

Stitchawl

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by SneakySnake

..
Be a woman (even if you are a man) with balance and you will do better Good luck!

[kennyc]

Methinks they are way to overboard on these license tests!

The skills competition is kinda cool though. Gotta have something to do in Japan I guess.

[pshrynk]

Originally Posted by Roger Parkinson

If he really was paid to vote a certain way that would be illegal in some places I think. I'm pretty sure it would be illegal here in NZ. Any kind of coercion of voters is a serious crime here. It is one reason we don't have exit polls on voting day, people aren't supposed to mill about voting booths for any reason. Proving he was actually paid to vote a certain way as opposed to paid for something else, however, might be tricky.

Well, this is Texas we're talking about.

[Stitchawl]

Originally Posted by kennyc

Methinks they are way to overboard on these license tests!

The skills competition is kinda cool though. Gotta have something to do in Japan I guess.

Waaaay over the top! In 35 years of riding I've never needed to negotiate a 11" wide 35 ft long bridge. I can understand them being picky about turn signals, proper breaking, checking left and right before turning, but there isn't any reason to speed through a slalom course!

Stitchawl

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by Stitchawl

Waaaay over the top! In 35 years of riding I've never needed to negotiate a 11" wide 35 ft long bridge. I can understand them being picky about turn signals, proper breaking, checking left and right before turning, but there isn't any reason to speed through a slalom course!

Stitchawl

Gotta be ready to dodge those bicycles perhaps.



Good Luck with the test! I'm rooting for you!