Flawless Cowboy

Today we ran a lot like yesterday, albeit a few inconsistencies on my part.  The good news is, I can do a pre-trip inspection and operational check almost completely from memory.  The bad news was, for some miraculous reason I suddenly couldn't double clutch worth a damn on the first morning ride around town.  After repeated attempts things just snowballed.  After and hour when I popped over the curb making that 70 degree left I nailed yesterday, I was about ready to park it for the morning.  But I putted along single shifting or not; I didn't drive way the hell out here to quit, even if its only for an hour.  I came back to the truck from lunch early and just sat and ran through the motions.  Once we started again I took a few spins around the range, and like flicking on a switch I was good to go, almost perfect every gear.

Things get tense when you have a new skill almost down to a science and suddenly the next day you're just not feeling it anymore.  I'm not the only one it happens to here, in fact almost every student gets that domino effect when they miss a move on the road.  I've been good about putting mistakes in my rear view up until now, but today I couldn't get over how I could do it perfect yesterday, but drew a blank every time this morning.  We were all told repeatedly on day 1 that we were going to be our own worst critics here, but I totally forgot that today.

To sum up, week 1 is behind me, and I'm on par with all expectations.  If we end up testing on Wednesday, I'm ready.  As promised, here is my first warranted self-importance shot with a special appearance by my favorite motivation dispenser.  Like a BOSS.