Been lurking on this forum since a few of my friends dragged me off to the Motorbike Show at the NEC in November. At 46 I considered myself too old to learn how to ride until I spoke to a biker who started when he was 60 (now 69). So I booked my CBT, bought the books, watched hours and hours of CBT instruction on YouTube and felt reasonably competent. Today was the day, so off I went with a mates old but serviceable gear; Jacket, trousers, gloves (I had my own lid). Started on a Duke 125, and really struggled with throttle/clutch control. Instructor suggested I try a MSX as it tended to be more forgiving for new riders. It was better, but I just kept stalling, over-revving even whilst braking. I was the only complete newbie and I felt at times that I just wanted a great big hole to open up in front of me and swallow me whole! By lunchtime I couldn't tell my left from my right, which foot goes where etc and to save my own sanity I called it a day. I was nowhere near ready to go out on the road as my confidence was completely shot. Trudged back to the office and rebooked CBT for next Saturday (4th Feb) because I really enjoyed the morning, it just seemed my body was doing the opposite of what my brain wanted. Pulled off my gloves and the instructor said "are those not a bit big?" I said I don't know, they fit but I really struggled with fine control on the levers/throttle. He looked at the size, XXL Winter gloves and passed me a pair of gloves that fitted....well like a glove, which were a medium. He asked if I wanted to carry on with proper sized gloves and I replied that my head was a mess (even more so now that I realised my mates gloves were completely unsuitable, my hands were moving within the gloves whilst riding so no wonder I had such poor control). Moral of this story... get sized up for gloves before your CBT