Monday Driving Report [cars]

[rebeccmeister]

It was 40 miles to get up to the college where I gave a talk this morning. I got there like an hour early because I was so anxious about driving and figured I'd want extra time to decompress. It was nice to walk around the campus a bit before getting into seminar mode. I stalled out three times on the way there, but only ONCE on the way home!!

I really like having the warning magnet on the back bumper ("Learning to drive stick shift / Please stay back!"). It at least provides some context for when I do dumb things while driving.

I figured out that if I want more certainty about not stalling out, I have to err on the side of revving the engine extra and doing a little bit of a peel-out. Not my default inclination, but the overall muscle memory is coming along, so that's reassuring. And really, all of the highway driving was totally fine, and that's my general plan for this vehicle anyway.

scrottie will understand the significance of this photo:



My lab reports didn't all magically grade themselves while I was gone, sigh. Back to work, I suppose.

Comments

[annikusrex]

good job! i may need to start a dreamjournal when i get my car so i can solicit similar encouragement. :)

[rebeccmeister]

Ya know, I think you should!!

[scrottie]

That makes me slightly anxious even without the manual factored in. TinyHouse is hard and the plastic cowling is plastic.

Also, it would be handy if we could just borrow the hitch from TinyHouse.

But nice work. You're learning how to baby the clutch. When we had TinyHouse out, I should have had you practise partially engaging the clutch and driving along at sub-first gear speed then, now that I think about it. And I know I told you not to use the clutch to gently rock the car while waiting for traffic lights as that causes extra wear in the long term, but thinking about that more, that's probably useful for getting a feel for the clutch in the short term.

You're closer to TH than TH is to the garage. And I bumped the garage.

[rebeccmeister]

To be completely honest, this was the result of an exceptionally well-timed stall-out. :^D

And yes, I do realize that a metal hitch is going to fare far better than a plastic bumper.

I did figure out, after the fact, that I was taking you far too literally on clutch management. That's a big part of why I have been stalling out a lot.

[scrottie]

What were you taking me literally on?

[rebeccmeister]

Partial clutch engagement, or, the avoidance thereof.

[scrottie]

Hmm. I'm remember in TinyHouse when I first monologued on that, that I said that while we try to minimize partial clutch engagement, since the clutch connects the engine to the wheels and the car doesn't start moving instantly, a few moments of partial engagement while the car gets moving is unavoidable, and that we can worry about minimizing partial clutch engagement later. And I remember several times encouraging you to let the clutch up slowly when you were having trouble but that may not have been clear that I was referring to partially engaging it. And I remember saying "once the vehicle is moving, you can let the clutch all of the way up" (which is also a bit of simplification, but things get weird with trying to add more gas with the clutch partially up and I was only trying to avoid that at that moment).

I'm sure I said too much when trying to explain things and some of that may have gotten lost mixed in with everything. But then after that when stalled a couple of times on the drive back, I didn't realize you were trying to go all at once and was just saying "don't worry about it, you'll get a feel for it". So I guess I didn't realize that I hadn't adequately driven that point home and you were trying to go instantly. You were also doing a pretty good job in TH and when you first first took off on the test drive so I kind of assumed you had that theory and didn't need it again. When people are learning something, hearing theory repeated they already know can be frustrating to them, when the theory isn't the problem and they just need the practise.

[rebeccmeister]

I actually think what I've most needed is time in the vehicle by myself, after having a refresher on what to pay attention to vis-a-vis gearing. :^D

[scrottie]

Haha... yes. Absolutely.

This reminds me of CSC, but everything does. But I can bore you with that later.