The (first) Finish Line!!! (part 2)

My first shot at the road test was about mid-morning.  First thing that morning, I went with my instructor and we tried all sorts of roads and turns.  I only made 1 mistake; everything else I nailed!  Annnnd then, I promptly failed the road test on the actual exam!!!  I was like, what the heck just happened?????  Again, it could have been nerves, but I also suspect that I was just plain confused.  See, there are things one has to think about with a manual transmission that one simply glosses over with an automatic transmission.  

Oh, and did I mention I had to double-clutch???  I had to learn to press the clutch in slightly to come out of gear, then press the clutch in slightly again to put it into the next higher gear.  To downshift, do that and then add in a quick engine rev in the middle just for kicks and giggles.  Not gonna lie, the manual transmission was kinda my arch nemesis during class.  I was convinced the clutch was just a tricky extra brake added to big rigs to drive people insane.  I couldn't figure out when to use it, when to avoid it, or WHY.  I just wanted to rip the stupid thing out of the truck, and send it sailing out the window!!!!

I failed the first time because I tried to upshift, missed the gear, couldn't get back into gear, lost speed in neutral, and then was unable to start from an uphill incline without rolling backward toward the line of cars behind me.  Yup, on that particular section of road, I failed with flying colors!!!!  I was pretty irked that I had just driven on that road 2 hours prior to testing with literally no issues (that wasn't even where I made my 1 mistake that morning!!!), and them proceeded to screw it up when it actually counted.  

However, I took great solace in the fact that the exam about which I was most confident (the pre-trip) ended up being the exam on which I not only did the best, but I knocked it out of the park!  The mistakes that failed me on the road test were completely related to driving manual, and they were things I never understood to begin with.  If I had to fail because of anything, I failed because of the right things.  That was of great comfort to me haha.  Additionally, out of the 6 people who graduated in my class, 3 of us failed our road test the first time - it wasn't just me!

I tested on a Thursday, and we didn't have classes on Fridays, so my next chance to drive was on Monday.  I wasn't overly thrilled at the delay in getting back into the truck...clearly, I needed to practice.  But, perhaps equally important, I needed to rest.  I needed to get my mind focused on the fact that I only had 1 more test.  I didn't need to keep practicing for 3 different exams, just 1.  The break was actually quite useful and restorative for me.  When I got back on Tuesday, I was laser-focused.

My instructor, a guy who was there to refresh before testing, and I all went out in the truck (affectionately called "Betty White" because she's old, but just won't quit <3 ) to practice.  I watched the other guy like a hawk.  He had been driving for months on his permit in his dad's tractor-trailer, and he was good!  As I watched him and asked questions, I started to understand those last pieces of the clutch's purpose that had eluded me up to that point.  When I got into the driver's seat, I was able to put those things into practice, slow down, think, address my cornering issues, and timing of my downshifts, and started to understand how to recover lost gears.  Those were the things I needed to work on the most, and I was finally getting them!

My instructor and the other guy were cheering me on, and really believed in me!  After we got back to the truck yard, I decided to head on home.  Once I understand something solidly, there's really no point in continuing to review.  Further practice actually sometimes seems to make things worse.  I didn't sleep well that night, but that wasn't really that unusual lol.  I definitely had a lot on my mind.  Whereas on my first attempt on the road test, I didn't feel like I was very nervous, just confused and uncertain, on my second attempt, I was NERVOUS!!!