1st Mod 1 fail.

[Spongefinger]

Title says it all. Went to Gillingham test centre today. Really nice examiner , actually wasn't overly nervous. Went in did manual handling , set off to do slalom as I'd done successfully dozens of times before and clipped second cone. Head is now all over the place confidence shot managed to get round figure of 8 and onto my nemisis the u turn I think because of where my head was at I'd already convinced myself I couldn't do it so as a concequence I did foot went down. Test stopped as 2 serious rider errors. Funnily enough I wasn't that bothered. Sure next time be ok. Guy who was with me was on his 5th mod and he passed he was so happy it cheered me up.

 

Onwards and upwards !

[Slowlycatchymonkey]

Well it sucks but good on ya for framing it in a positive light. Everyone will tell you mod ones just one of those things that enters the twilight zone once the gates shut! Let us know when you get a date for the next one and Ive said this before and probably will again, when you finally have those pieces of paper in your hand it’s all the sweeter for it

[husoi]

worth checking youtube for videos on how to ride at slow speed. 

things like this bloke

 

[Spongefinger]

4 minutes ago, husoi said:

worth checking youtube for videos on how to ride at slow speed. 

things like this bloke

 

I'll check it out. Annoying thing is I was doing u turns ok literally at end of training at 5pm last night but lostbit today. As I said I don't think I got back in the right headspace after I heard the cone go .

[dynax]

Better luck next time

[onesea]

Mod1 can be a bit down to luck - it would take an instructor or a big ego to say I can do a Mod 1 now and pass defo...

However as some one once said the more I practice the luckier I get...

Seriously keep at it, you know what mistakes you made, much of it is mind set, not being bothered maybe the best way forward..
 

[Bender]

You can watch all the vids you want but it don't beat practice and confidence, I hated mod 1 and it hated me right back  

I have no doubt I would pass another one tomorrow now.

 

Chin up good luck for next one  

[KiwiBob]

Don't beat yourself up about it!

There's a Japanese proverb .. さるも　き　から　おちる saru mo ki kara ochiru

Which translates as .. Even Monkeys Fall From Trees!

It means that regardless of how capable or skilled anyone is, sooner or later, we all lose our balance and make mistakes!

 

.

Edited December 10, 2020 by KiwiBob

[Slowlycatchymonkey]

1 hour ago, Bender said:

I have no doubt I would pass another one tomorrow now.

That must be all the confidence you’ve acquired from practising 

[Bender]

3 minutes ago, Slowlycatchymonkey said:

That must be all the confidence you’ve acquired from practising 

It was only ever the u turn that I had issue with, I still practice them now I've done a couple with the wife on the back on single track roads.

 

[Marino]

Late night, empty parking lot and exercise, use parking lines for u turns, as well for figure of eight,

slalom ,don't use cones, place some paper cups, few pebbles inside to not fly away, 

[TimR]

Put it this way ..

At least by putting your foot down you saved your self from sprawling on the tarmac potentially injuring yourself .

And unable to undergo a retest for a  longer period etc

[Shepherd]

Feel for you, I know how long it's taken you to finally get it booked.

You can take a positive from it though - you now know the u turn area is a bit bigger than where you were practising,  and you can use more space than you thought for the figure 8 section.

 

As an aside, I got the knack of both on the evening before my Mod 1, when I raised the revs and gently rested my foot on the brake pedal. Trail braking apparently,  whatever it's called it worked for me, and just in time.

[Shepherd]

Just remembered that when I did my Mod 1, the guy who went with me did the same as you. The instructor and I noticed that he didn't start between the 1st and 2nd cone, he tried to go round the first cone which made the turn much tighter than needed. It was just nerves making him forget the basics.

Keep it as simple as you can, you can almost forget the first one and give yourself room to manoeuvre for the second cone.

Edited December 10, 2020 by Shepherd

[JustinW]

If you have been doing things on instinct, that's where things can go wrong on examination day. Nerves kick in and instinct gets shot. You need to have a physical drill you follow. For example, on u turn shift weight left and look up high at a predetermined object over your right shoulder. Likewise, for slalom physically shift body weight from side to side and keep head up. Shifting weight and head up really help your balance and stop the dreaded foot down. 

[techniques]

Similar to the above post, I found it helpful to have a check list of things to tick off in my mind, so when the nerves kicked in, I simply - remembered my training. For example, U-turn was; shoulder check, move off, throttle, final shoulder check, turn this f@*^ing bike, look where I want to go, and stop. 

Clipping a cone and foot down sounds like you succumbing to test pressure, which is a symptom of your lack of confidence in your own ability, which suggests not enough practise. Do the U-turn 100 times before your next go. By the 30th, it won't be your nemesis anymore. By your 60th you'll be bored with it and know how to do it well. Really well. Come test day, you'll still have nerves but it'll be stored in your muscle memory and you'll be doing it for the 101th time

Also, get good with your clutch control, use of back brake, setting the throttle. I feel like this is what mod1 is truly testing. Can you brake, swerve and control your bike at slow speeds using the clutch to feed the adequate power needed to keep the bike up. 

Good luck. The effort is worth it in the end. 

[Spongefinger]

13 hours ago, techniques said:

Similar to the above post, I found it helpful to have a check list of things to tick off in my mind, so when the nerves kicked in, I simply - remembered my training. For example, U-turn was; shoulder check, move off, throttle, final shoulder check, turn this f@*^ing bike, look where I want to go, and stop. 

Clipping a cone and foot down sounds like you succumbing to test pressure, which is a symptom of your lack of confidence in your own ability, which suggests not enough practise. Do the U-turn 100 times before your next go. By the 30th, it won't be your nemesis anymore. By your 60th you'll be bored with it and know how to do it well. Really well. Come test day, you'll still have nerves but it'll be stored in your muscle memory and you'll be doing it for the 101th time

Also, get good with your clutch control, use of back brake, setting the throttle. I feel like this is what mod1 is truly testing. Can you brake, swerve and control your bike at slow speeds using the clutch to feed the adequate power needed to keep the bike up. 

Good luck. The effort is worth it in the end. 

Yep that's definitely it. The thing is I've nailed the slalom and 8 dozens of times....at the end of one session my instructor said about the u turn "once you are moving you are literally just doing a quarter of a figure 8 and you can do that easily". Next test in a month so plenty of time to get practice in.

[Foundy]

I passed mod 1 and mod 2 last week after 2 fails on mod 1. The second fail was on slalom, nerves got the better of me and I missed out the last cone and went straight into figure of 8 to save putting a foot down. The examiner let me carry on so I wasn't sure if I'd passed or failed until he gave me the bad news at the end.

I got back on my 125 and practiced the slalom, figure of 8 and u turn with some football cones but I set them out at 1 metre shorter distance than they are on test and just kept doing it over and over. Passed a week later with flying colours

Good luck 

[Guest Swagman]

Nice one well done.