Maybe it's too much, too fast

I spent yesterday, from 11ish to 5ish, learning to ride a motorcycle. I am really, really tired today. The class starts up again at 11ish today, but I am not sure I'm going to make it, for several reasons including the following:

1) I think it's going to rain.

2) I need to write a paper.

3) My hands and shoulders are super sore, probably because I was too tensed up yesterday (also, I was really surprised by how much the motorcycle weighed and how much you have to control that weight)

4) I value my life.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not giving up on the motorcycle thing, I just think I need a little more time to process it all. I'm not sure I would agree this is a course for beginners, unless you are a beginner that has your own bike to practice on/have been practicing a bit, or are a beginner who is a regular driver of a car that is stick shift. That is really what it comes down to, and I am not either of these things. The exercises went pretty fast. I had never even turned on a motorcycle before, and within a couple of hours we were speeding around in big loops, accelerating, braking, and shifting between second and third. It seemed a little quick to me. I'm pretty good once it gets up to speed, great at shifting gears up and down once I get going, and not bad at all with the steering and swerving and weaving in and out of cones. Unfortunately, I struggle with the clutch, and kill the bike about 35% of the time I try to take off. I could also be smoother with the stops.

I know it's just a timing thing and requires some practice, but my tendency to kill the bike at take off gets me all flustered and unable to focus. Plus, I would not describe the male instructor (there were two with our group, a man and a woman) as incredibly supportive or nurturing. I would actually describe him as kind of an asshole. So, while it's really not that big a deal to kill the thing, especially when you're learning, his impatience made me feel like I totally sucked. Being embarrassed and flustered is not conducive to concentration.

Today (day two of training) we're supposed to be refining our basic skills. Practicing things like tight turns, driving over obstacles (I think we have to drive over 2x4s), and taking our final test. I want another day to practice the basic stuff, so I think I'm going to reschedule the Saturday/Sunday combo for next weekend and have three days of training all together. Part of me feels like a weenie, but I would rather feel confident on the bike than just barely pass and feel like I rushed through the whole thing and only got the gist. I want to do it at my own pace and feel good about it. Even though yesterday's lessons were a lot of work, and yeah -- kinda hard for me -- it was also super, SUPER fun when I'd master something well enough to loosen up and enjoy it.