When Did it Click for You?

It happened in an empty parking lot in an industrial park in Portsmouth, NH. The moment where it all made sense. Just what happened? That parking lot is where driving a standard finally clicked for me. 

As I wrote in my previous article, the first time I drove a stick was in a 2004 Beetle Convertible. That would be the last time I would drive standard for a while, though. It wouldn’t be until college that I would try out a stick shift again. My college roommate, Three Pedals founder Cody, drove a six-speed Outback at the time. We took it out to practice with me, Cody, and Taylor, one of our other roommates. The three of us motored around parking lots on campus, and Taylor got the hang of it quickly. Taylor is not into cars, so it was a bit ironic that I was the one who struggled the most. I have a tendency to overthink most things, and this is what happened that day. I eventually said that I had had enough and we drove back to our apartment.

Fast forward four years, and I was back in Cody’s car. The Outback was gone, replaced with a six-speed Wrangler. This time around, Cody took me and Sam (yet another of our college roommates) to practice driving a stick. It was the summer of 2018 and Sam and I were visiting Cody in Portsmouth. I had made the decision that I was going to finally buy a car with manual transmission, and was determined to finally figure it out. Sam was along for the ride, much like Taylor, having a passing interest in wanting to experience driving a manual. 

The Jeep’s transmission was very different from the Subaru. There was a lot more play than the snickety-snick of the Outback’s gearshift, which ended up to be in my favor. I could be more sloppy in my shifts and the Jeep was much more forgiving of my imprecise shifts. This allowed me to focus on what was happening with my feet. Prior to this, I was struggling to concentrate on both elements as if they were separate entities. The more I drove, the more I began to see the connection between the two components. 

Up until that point, Sam and I had each been struggling with different steps in the shifting process. I was still being flummoxed by getting the Jeep into gear and rolling smoothly without stalling. Sam had little issue with getting the car moving, but was struggling to shift up or down smoothly. He was either over-revving or not giving enough gas. For me, I was good to go once the car was moving. It was the stopping and starting that kept getting to me. 

I was beginning to get frustrated and Cody could tell. Not wanting me to give up, he had me focus solely on getting the Jeep rolling and putting the clutch back in. He had me repeat this motion a dozen times or more. He had me take careful notice of what was happening with the clutch, gas pedal, gearshift, and the movement of the vehicle. Practicing this motion over and over and over, my mind began to wrap around what it was supposed to feel like. I could at last see how the puzzle pieces all could fit together in one beautiful, smooth shift. I must have spent 15 minutes just letting out the clutch, moving forward, putting the clutch back in, and repeating. 

To some this may have seemed monotonous. To me, it felt like a revelation. It was the footwork that was boggling me the most, and now I could see how it was supposed to work. It was a thrill to roll around that parking lot as much as I did. The motions all felt right for the first time. I was actually getting the car in gear and moving! No stalling! Victory! 

Wanting to keep this forward momentum going, Cody calmly told me to now pull out of the parking lot and onto the road. What now?  I can remember thinking. Or overthinking, as I mentioned before. The main road? With other drivers and traffic? What?! I just got the hang of getting the car moving and stopping. This seemed like a bit much, but Cody would not hear of it. Once Cody pushes you to do something, there is little recourse. This has served me to mixed success over the years, but on this particular day I am glad to have been bold and steered the Jeep out of the parking lot. 

The roads leading out of the industrial park were simple enough. There were stop signs to give me additional practice with braking and getting the car moving again. Soon though, the road opened up into multi lanes of traffic with stop lights. I can remember seeing my first red light ahead and the line of cars sitting behind it. As I came close, I depressed the clutch and came to a stop behind the last car. It was a tense few moments as I waited for the green. I glanced in the mirror and-to my horror- another car came up behind me. And another. And still another. Now the real challenge had arrived. Get the Jeep moving and up to speed with the pace of traffic. No mercy here from any of the other drivers. 

The moment of truth came: the light turned green. There were three other cars ahead of me, so at first I just sat there. Cody reminded me to begin giving it gas and slowly get the car moving ahead of the traffic leaving the light. Giving it slightly more gas than necessary, the Jeep began rolling and I let off the clutch. It jerked into gear, but I hadn’t stalled it! We were moving! With that drama over, I shifted into second and we coasted through with the traffic. There were other stoplights ahead, but I had overcome the first hurdle. Now I had a baseline to replicate with the incoming stop-and-go scenarios. 

After making a loop back to the parking lot, Sam took a turn in traffic and did equally as well. For Sam, he was excited to tackle a new challenge and see how he would do. For me, the stakes were higher. Feeling confident in a manual was the prerequisite if I was to buy a car with a manual. I finally felt confident after that day with Cody and his Jeep, and began my search for my first stick shift. I’m grateful for Cody’s instruction, which is something he would fine tune over the years to grow into Three Pedals. His guidance allowed me to go through the whole experience and connect all of the dots. 

Visit threepedalsnewengland.com for more information on how to learn to drive a stick shift!