May 23 to June 5
2 weeks of motorcycle mayhem. (aka instructor school)
Week One.
I think I may have mentioned before how difficult it is to get into an instructor course. All the motorcycle schools around here will only teach instructors that they plan to hire to work for them. That in itself would be ok except….they expect you to work for them for three years. They will charge next to nothing to take the course and in return you work for crummy wages to work off the cost of the course. I actually did try all the schools, however….either they were full (ICBC allows only 4 people per class) or they wanted people with many years riding experience. It did not matter to them that I had experience as a trainer already….they wanted people with more than 30,000km under their belt. (I had 30,000km at the time)
So-o-o-o……I had to go out of town for 2 weeks.
It was a very expensive 2 weeks. The course cost $3500, the ferry both ways and extra gas and food etc….and a 2 week loss of pay. Thankfully I have a friend over in Victoria I was able to stay with.
My friends Doc and CC accompanied me to Victoria for the day trip on the Saturday. They got to meet my friend and vice versa. After I unloaded my gear and spent some social time, the 3 of us rode around and to see a few sights and then went for late lunch.
Here are CC and me.
And then me and CC and the women at the restaurant. (I got doc to take the picture)
I then escorted them to the highway so they could ride up island to Nanaimo for the ferry home from there.
I did a ride through Esquimalt to reacquaint myself with the location of the school. I had lots of time to myself because my friends were out at a wedding and would not be home until late.
They left early Sunday for a few days so I had the house to myself most of the time. Their adult daughter came and went ..mostly went……
I rode from my friend’s place to the school on Sunday so I would know how much time to allow getting to the school on Monday. I had a frustrating hour trying to maneuver around the one way streets and restriction signs until I finally figured out how to get there.
Monday morning. Up early and out the door….sigh…..I got lost again. However, due to the early time I left and the closeness of the school. I was on time.
I got to meet the school owner/instructor and the other 3 students. We all did a brief intro (none of us were local...well J was almost local. He had over an hour to commute back and forth each day);and then the teacher got to work. Day 1, 2,3,4,5 were all very intense classroom work. We wrote tests and prepared lesson plans…(in between going for coffee and lunch breaks)
Here we are after day 1.
Yes, we were rather a motley crew.
It was hard getting them to cooperate...ie...all look in the same direction for a second or 2.
Day 5 we had to do a practical.
3 of us passed. The 4th person was going to do his practical again on Monday. Apparently you get three chances. His biggest problem was his nervousness. He knew the material.
After class on Friday three of us went for a ride. Our first stop was the parking lot where we would be convening on Monday morning. Mr. Kawasaki Concours was not paying attention to the road signs and got us into the wrong lane. I had been to Victoria enough times that I was able to lead them another route to Ogden Point. After checking out that location we stopped into the dive centre café for a bite to eat. When we were finished I led them on a little tour of Beacon Hill, Oak Bay via the ocean view overlooking the Olympic peninsula.
Here is one stop along the way.
We finally parted ways at the university district after a couple of hours of good camaraderie. HD man (who failed) and I made an arrangement to meet on Sunday so he could practice his lesson plan.
I was looking forward to a nice relaxing weekend off.
Saturday I rode out to Langford to the Harley Davidson dealer. (He happens to be my cousin). Wow…what a big new place.
He showed me around and then his sister and Dad showed up. What a great coincidence. I had planned to go visit my uncle, but now he was here. So…I took another tour around the place so we could chat while he toured.
He told me that when he was a young man he had a delivery job using a Harley Davidson with a sidecar. It was he who got his sons into motorcycling. The old guy still likes them. His walker has a huge Harley Davidson sticker on it.
I rode home via Goldstream. It looked like a really nice community. After getting back into Victoria I parked my bike downtown. I visited the big local bookstore and bought a couple of motorcycle books. Then went for ice cream and then shopped for a birthday present. I was standing by my motorcycle when the parking enforcement guy came by. He was relieved to see I had a Yamaha. LOL…..He has one. He chatted for about a half hour before he went on to check parking meters. I’d bet a few people got a reprieve from a ticket that day just because he was yakking to me.
I finally went home. I made some supper and then soaked in the hot tub and watched a little TV.
Sunday I called HD man. He was on his way home. He had some sudden health issue and the doctor told him to get to a hospital. So, he went home instead so that he could be seen by his own doctor. He ended up in the hospital for a few days. They think he had a small stroke. Cripes…..it’s fortunate he didn’t have an episode while riding home from the island.
So for week 2, the three of us carried on for a grueling week during a record breaking heat wave.
Week 2 coming soon.