Sparkzz

Hi, can I ask that when you suffer with your anxiety and need the toilet, yes you actually go but if you're distracted then you don't? (hope that question reads right) The reason why I ask, is I have been suffering from anxiety since I was 25 years old (now 41), and it all started with the toilet thing, when I was in the fire service, So I would go to the toilet just before line up, and literally 10 seconds into line up I would be desperate for the toilet again!!! As soon as we were out of line up and then doing the checks on the Fire engines I was fine until I was in another situation" The CBT is very relaxed and there will be plenty of opportunity to feel relaxed (i.e. chances to go to toilet) If you want to talk private about the CBT and ways to hanlde it, please feel free to PM me.

Thanks, yes its over 2 days, so day one in a car park with the instructor, then day two MOD 1. Time is flying by, cant believe its only a week away now!.. Been over to the local bike shops looking at which bikes my first big boy bike will be!.. all very exciting

I know I know!! I absolutely nail the shoulders checks, no issues there... I hate tests and cant wait for this to be all over!.. you should have seen me when I took my emergency fire appliance driving test (EFAD) and HGV test! OMG!!!

This is pretty much exactly what i have been doing, on the commute home from work, doing the E.STOP, and stopping in a give way painted area as the box, practising the stopping and pulling away for Mod 2, etc.. and down the train station with the cones. Would love to use an area the same size and layout, but maybe its not needed, its just i am panicking a little, i have my test in under two weeks! arrrrrgghhhh

I have a question, I am currently practising for the Mod 1 down a train station car park using the little football cones. Now this does give me good practice in u turns etc, however I would love to use the actual same layout and size of the test but cant find anywhere big enough to use. All the industrial estates don't have open areas which could be used away from traffic or without getting turfed off by the Police. This got me thinking, is there any actual places you can go to that has the layout for practice officialy. Also would it be good if there was, would it get used if i could find somewhere and maybe promote it to others?

ah gutted.. I have mine coming up in 3 weeks (if I get through mod 1 in 2 weeks), I am so nervous as a lot of things that can go wrong could be out of your control! good luck on your next attempt Thanks mate, next attempt for me is also in 3 weeks. Best tips I can give for mod 1 (even though your probably been told it many times is): Obviously always do shoulder checks but remember check your left first then your right, some examiners give minors if you check your right then left 1st exercise moving the bike manually is damn easy, but do not forget where you park it is where you will start off for the slalom, so park it in a place where you will find it easier to ride up to the slalom. For me I parked it up to the edge of the parking bay giving me the best and widest angle of approach Slalom/figure of 8 - Never look at the cones look at the gaps in between, when doing your figure of 8's keep that head up revs high, if you feel like the bikes about to drop, pretend your legs are glued to the pegs only way out is by adding more revs! Slow manoeuvre, although it is easy remember where you park up is where you will start the U turn. So park it in a place comfortable for you. For me I did not park it next to the white line as when I did the life saver I sometimes wobbled in practice causing the bike to touch that white line, so I gave room for the wobble. When your about to execute the your turn always keep your head up do not look at the floor, do not focus on the white line or you will probably go over it, know where it is but do not focus in on it. Controlled stop, again, although it is easy you can use the exercise as a guide of how fast you are approaching that speed trap, try to go through it like you will in the emergency and avoidance. Because for this exercise you are allowed to ask the examiner what speed you went through the trap. If he tells you 32 then great do the same for the other 2 exercises, if its too slow/fast then you know what to do next time Emergency brake, be aware that when you pass the yellow speed trap cones he will probably put his hand up straight after that, so you can already be ready to brake, before he even raises his arm Avoidance, get settled on the corner, do around 20mph, when you come out start picking up that speed, I worked out with the bike I was on if I went full throttle after the turn - when I reach the first set of cones I would be doing 37mph, so I'd down the throttle at the first set so at the trap I would be on 32-33, once your in the trap look through the middle of the two cones you want to avoid never look at it, use counter steering i.e. if your avoiding right push forward on the right handle bar, once avoided, you can add some rear brake, when the bikes upright introduce the fronts and park up Might sound silly but before each exercise you find hard I found it helps to take 2 deep breaths before starting, then think of what you will do for that exercise i.e. if it was emergency brake, I'd take two deep breaths then tell myself remember, throttle off, then rear and front brake on, squeeze progressively then aggressively then I would take another deep breath shoulder checks and off I go The Examiner..........pretend he is not there, never look at him when doing your thing (apart from emergency brake ), even at the figure 8 where he is supposed to wave at you to stop, do not look at him, yes he will wave but if your not looking then he will just be forced to shout at you. I'd rather him shout at you to stop than you look at him and then loose balance and put your foot down. I for one made the examiner shout me over haha. Oh yea after the emergency brake normally your heart is beating fast so you are highly likely to forget your shoulder checks before moving off. So remember them haha. Good luck mate. Hey mate, Thanks a lot for taking the time to write that!, have taken it on board!.. I think the hardest bits is just to try and stay calm, like you say deep breath. This may sound crazy but I had to do this on my theory test, I was so nervous and had to take some deep breaths as I was sat at the desk.

Yea you can but as I did it on a turn he decided to deem it as a loss of control just so he can fail me, even though I was in total control and did it intentionally. Just one of those things I guess . ah gutted.. I have mine coming up in 3 weeks (if I get through mod 1 in 2 weeks), I am so nervous as a lot of things that can go wrong could be out of your control! good luck on your next attempt

I thought you could cross the white line for a moment if you were clearing potential hazards like door openings!, especially if the road was narrow?

This morning I passed the Theory, so just the Mod 1/2 to go!!! Fingers crossed should be all done by the end of this month!