Well, today marked the day I had been anticipating the most since Day 1 of CDL school, so it pains me to write today's update. In my own estimation, I performed horribly today. My instructor seemed a little surprised when he learned I had never spent any time in the seat of a truck, save for a coupling/uncoupling exercise, and had never backed anything other than a car or straight truck, nothing with a trailer. That's what school is for, right? To learn those sorts of things; so outside to the range we went.
I spent the majority of the time trying to unlearn everything I knew about driving a stick-shift, something I've been doing for over 30 years in a four wheeler. Probably the concept I'm finding hardest to grasp is how little the clutch needs to be activated to change gears, particularly when downshifting. And, according do my instructor today, downshifting is easier than upshifting. Repeatedly I kept pushing the clutch in, way too far. As experienced drivers know, that doesn't allow you to shift quickly and just slows the truck down and below the target RPMs. That was driving forward.
Backing up proved to be even more challenging for me. I picked up straight-line backing fairly quickly, thank goodness. Made very small movements with the steering wheel, something I'd learned from advice gleaned from this site. The off-set backing? Well, I know basics, such as turning the wheel opposite the direction you want the trailer to go, but I just wasn't able to figure out how the trailer is going to react to the movements I was making with the steering wheel. Swinging the trailer back in front of the trailer. Fuhgeddaboudit. I did complete it several times, but not on my own. If the instructor had stepped out and left me to my own devices, I'd probably still be out there, making my 10,000th pull-up.
At this point this entry seems pretty negative, but I'm already doing what I can outside of the truck to make my next session go more favorably. Using my carry-on luggage, I pulled out the telescoping handle, positioned it behind me with my arm extended straight out backwards, my hand gripping the handle, acting as the 5th wheel. And I backed my little suitcase all around my room trying to better understand the tractor-to-trailer relationship. It helps, a little bit. While walking I'm stopping and tapping the ground quickly twice with my left leg while slapping my right leg/side in unison with my right hand, trying to learn or teach my muscles a quicker rhythm that I'll use when shifting. My goal is that when I have my next session on the range, which isn't until Friday, I'm going to surprise my instructor with the biggest improvements he's seen.
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| me w/George, instructor extraordinaire |
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