With over 40 million registered cars for its 80 million odd population, the traffic system in Germany is dominated by 4-wheelers. The motorbikes are more sport-gadgets than a regular means of transport and the bikers are considered the adventurous and daring or even fool-hardy types. To quote a colleague, they are “the guys who always carry their organ donation card with them”! But a bike, in addition to being a necessity in India, has been a statement of being free, of being alive, of being in control for me. And so, feeling the wind in my face and chest, as I ride on some of the most scenic stretches in Europe has been one of my dreams.
So I set out to get both my 4- and 2-wheeler licenses done together mid last year, the former – a must-have, the latter – a nice-to-have. But when I was done with the two theory tests, my driving trainer recommended that I first focus only on clearing the 4-wheeler practical exam. With this license I could get used to driving a car in the German traffic system and then the 2-wheeler exam would just be a matter of additionally keeping my balance! All in all, it sounded like a plan.
And the plan seemed to be working quite well. I cleared the 4-wheeler exam at the first attempt in autumn last year and decided to give myself the months till summer this year before taking up the 2-wheeler part. Once we bought a car, I even got a hang of driving on the “wrong” side in no time. However, an extended winter, work pressure and just laziness made me put off starting the riding classes until it was almost too late. The theory test result is valid only up to a year and my planned India visit advanced the deadline by a month. Some confusion with the driving license authority due to incorrect entry of the allowed 2-wheeler class resulted in further delay, leaving me with less than 5 weeks to successfully take the exam before catching my flight home.
After considering some alternative driving schools, I decided to stick with my previous trainer, in spite of my forgettable car driving classes with him. Mainly because he instilled the confidence in me that he would take me past the finish line in time, a decisive factor given my optimistic time plan. Another plus in his favour was his flexible timings, which allowed me to get more hours on a bike in fewer days. When we hit the road, me looking like an astronaut in the protective gear on a powerful Suzuki Gladius, followed by my trainer in his Audi, I made very few mistakes compared to my first car hours. But the few that I made, mostly silly ones were awarded with mix of static and admonition over my walkie-talkie ear piece. Some things never changed! By now however, I had grown a thick skin to his exaggerated and at times undeserving criticism and focused on where I had to get my act together. After 6 riding hours, he announced me good-to-go and booked an exam in the following week.
The 2-wheeler exam is more than just the 4-wheeler exam on 2 wheels. The “more” are the 6 handling exercises to be performed on some deserted road ranging from zig-zaging around cones, to avoiding obstacle, to emergency braking. Although I initially had trouble with 2 of them, I eventually practised enough to manage all 6 comfortably. And the riding in different speed zones part was not an issue, owing to my sufficient car driving experience. So on the exam day, I felt more relaxed and better prepared than on the 4-wheeler exam day previously. Although the test started quite well, it was one of the unusual suspects among the exercises that would literally bring my downfall.
The ‘zig-zaging around cones at less than 7 kmph’ exercise is essentially a play between the idling engine, the delicately applied clutch, the sparingly used foot-brake and the steadily maneuvered steering handle. The accelerator and the hand-brake are meant to be silent spectators, who could be show-stoppers if they play any role. Challenging as it was, this exercise was never under my trainer’s scanner as I had managed it flawlessly during each practice run. In the exam however, it was a combination of things that went wrong. I approached the cones too fast and at too oblique an angle, making the skewed trajectory very difficult to correct. The knock-out punch was delivered by applying the hand-brake together with sharp counter-steering at the 2nd cone. I lost my balance as the tyres skid sideways and the bike tilted over. As my trainer helped me get the bike back up, the examiner gave me the thumbs-down. He would have given me another shot at it, had I just given up after the wrong start and begun all over again, without ending up with my hands to the ground. Shit happens, the time tested “fight till the end” approach did not end well!
So now the time was right for some panic! With a 2-week gap before I could attempt again and 3 weeks left to the deadline, it would go down to the wire. Also, this was the first exam I had ever failed, so there were some self-confidence issues to deal with. It would be so to say, my ‘first second’ time.
In spite of a thorough training session a couple of days back, I could not get sound sleep the night before the take-2 and woke up with headache and a bad tummy. As I waited for my turn at the exam center, I was not as up to it as during the first attempt. But I had my work cut out – do or never do. Going through the whole process again from scratch after my vacation, with the theory test and everything was not happening. But as the exam got on the road, I surprisingly got my concentration in place. I faired perfectly in all the exercises in the first attempt and gave no chance to the examiner to point a finger at anything during that hour. As I received the ‘green’ report card from him, I mentally wiped the sweat off my forehead. Phew!
With the ‘license to chill’, the route for our first bike trip is a done deal. Although my reluctant darling is yet to be convinced to ride along, the scenic ‘Schwarzwalder Hochstraße’ (the Blackforest Highroad) awaits us.
