The Mission: learn to drive a standard transmission car (a.k.a. a stick shift).
The Goal: drive all the way to 7/11 without stalling the car or severely injuring anyone.
The Tools: Standard transmission Mazda 3, teacher/owner of the car (Carly Parkinson), determination.
The Time Period: Three days (three Newspaper periods).
The Reward: Coca-Cola Slurpees
Ready, Set, Go!
Day 1: I started out thinking it would be a breeze. I figured I would be cruising and I’d have my Slurpee in hand sooner rather than later. This would be too easy, and I’d have the whole rest of the week to brag and relax, right? Wrong.
I was terrible, and by terrible, I mean seriously awful. For those of you who have never driven a standard before, the difference is that you have to change gears manually and there is a third pedal (the clutch), that you have to engage and disengage every time you change gears up or down.
This may sound pretty simple, but I can tell you it is most definitely not simple or easy in any way, shape, or form. From a stop in first gear, you have to let off the clutch at the same time you press down on the gas to start the car moving. In addition, you have to let off and press on each pedal proportionally every time, otherwise the car will jerk and lurch forward and can even stall, giving you equal amounts of whiplash and embarrassment. I had plenty of both of those the first day, and I only got into second gear twice, but I was determined to get that Slurpee!
Day 2: After a first day of almost complete failure, I was hoping practice would make perfect and I’d get it right by the end of the class. I started off with the same technique I had used yesterday and that did not work well at all. After a while, I began to figure out tricks for using the clutch and gas the right way, and my starts and stops started getting a little better, though they were still pretty jerky.
I even got into second gear for real a few times and managed not to stall the car at all. It wasn’t as scary the first day and I started to realize that I was overthinking it and I’d do a lot better if I just felt it out instead of trying to think about how to do it. Overall, I improved, but there was still a long way to go.
Day 3: Today, in preparation for driving again, I read up on how to drive a stick-shift because if anybody knows how to do it, the internet does. After reading a few articles, I felt like I had a better idea of how to go about this.
I began the day of driving with more confidence than last time and I knew it was make or break since it was my last day. Right off the bat, I was way better at starting, stopping, and shifting, thanks to previous practice and my research. Soon, I was out of the school parking lot and into a nearby neighborhood.
I was regularly shifting up into not only second but third and fourth gear and learning to shift down around turns and at stop signs. Somehow, something magically clicked and I was learning fast and getting much better than I thought I would. Near the end of the lesson, my teacher decided I was ready to tackle Estates Parkway, stoplights, and fifth gear, and make the journey to 7/11.
As I got out on the road, I was a little shaky, but I soon got my shifting under control and sped up to the speed limit. I felt a lot more in control than I thought I would, and by the time I turned into the gas station parking lot, I was very confident in my driving skills and thought I had earned my reward. I walked out of the 7/11 a new person, one hand clutching a Coca-Cola Slurpee and the other raised in a fist of triumph.
