It seemed both like forever and not nearly long enough, or for the more prosaic a few days, before my class and I were moved to the lot portion of our training at Pacific Riding School.

Sitting on the bike for the first time, I a voice in my head screamed, “What are you doing!?!“

That only lasted a second, because soon the instructors were giving orders and I needed to use all my brain power as they put us though the drills and worked us harder than I thought possible.

The lot training covered starting the bike, clutch and throttle control, braking, shifting, turns and curves, stopping, body positioning, balance and more.

Motorcycling well has a lot to do with a calm and controlled mental state, because of this we were trained for many common situations that you’d encounter on the road. I admit it was a bit of a surprise when my instructor barked, literally, at me while I was trying to navigate traffic cones. It was even more of a surprise when one jumped out in front of me to see if I knew my emergency braking technique.

These guys enjoy their jobs a frightening amount it seems.

It’s in the lot portion of the course that we did our BC motorcycle licence skills test, a requirement here in BC for your full motorcycle licence. I was very, very tired I took skills test and, like many riders, did not pass the first time.

To their credit PRS did not give up on me, rescheduled me immediately and greeted me with a big hug the next day when I arrived. They were incredibly positive and worked with me until the skills were so ingrained in me it was automatic.

After two days of intense lot work we were taken to where the big kids get to play – the roads. Whoo hoo and scary at the same time.