Follow me through Central Refrigerated training

Sorry I did not post until Sunday, went to the Orange Show Speedway saturday night and did not get back till 11...

Day 6

We are now officially down to 10 as one of the people with some previous truck experience had to leave due to a family emergency. We started out with 6 in the hotel and now there are only 3.

Today we worked with Roz all day just continuing work on our pretrip test practice. The first half of the day was all walk around practice, I'm still finding myself forgetting certain things to note about various parts, and I'm not sure how much that'll hurt me in the test as I do not know how strict they will be if I forget to mention a certain thing about a part.

After lunch we practice Air Brakes and in cab for the rest of the day. I only went through my incab once as there are only 11 parts and really it is the easiest part of the three. I feel I am actually pretty proficient at this point with my Air Brakes, as its actually an applied test, rather than the walk around where its just remembering what to say. One of the people practicing in the truck with me was doing okay but as soon as Roz got in the truck with us he completely fell apart and was not able to remember the smallest step. Hopefully he will be able to compose himself when he is actually being tested on Monday.

My roommate from the night before was supposed to be getting his truck back, but he turned up again and said they told him the truck won't be ready until Monday. This is a little disappointing as its pretty much a view of what can happen to you when you're out there. He can't even submit anything to get his $50/day for sitting until he gets his truck back..

 

Day 8

We started out by doing a quick once over of our pretrip inspections and very shortly in they called the first one of us away to do our PreTrip test. While that was going on Roz took us over to start showing us straight line backing. We would drive around the yard in low gear and then through the sets of cones. We'd have to get our front bumper over a white line. We then had to pull up further and have the rear of the trailer over the white line. After that we had to back the trailer straight back between the cones until the back of our trailer was between the first set of cones. Shortly after my run I was called away to take my PreTrip test with Juan. It really does get nerve wracking when youre sitting there with him judging you. I passed my pretrip with a -4 so I was very pleased. in the end 8 of the 9 of our group passed their PreTrips in the first go. The one who didn't was not feeling well which caused him to make mistakes on his Air Brake tests.

After lunch they split the groups based on who had and had not yet done their PreTrip tests. Those of us who did finish were once again with Roz as she started having us do more straight line backing and then go into docking. I did another round with the straight line backing, which then followed with a right turn and then having to get our left side catwalk steps as close as we could to the dock cones. The first time she decided my steps were too far away so she had me swap out and someone else did a round (I was the first of my group so I didn't have anything to base off of). As I did my second run I did everything well, although as I was doing my last back for the dock, Kelly was there saying to keep my foot off the clutch, but Roz and I both agreed that that'd cause me to go into the dock too fast and possibly cause a danger.

After Roz took the truck over and had those of us inside it unhook the trailer, we sat back down and Ramon and Kelly looked over our paper logs-- they were a disaster. Things we didnt think we needed were getting marked-- I dont think anyone listed their truck or trailer number up to that point-- also most people were not marking the time they spent backing as driving on their logs. I also made the mistake of putting a '0' for hours on the sunday we had--

My roommate who was supposed to get his truck back Saturday-- and again Monday morning-- once again was back at the hotel as his truck was still not yet ready at Cummins. He is hoping it will be ready tomorrow. Sounds like we chose a good week to go through the school as I guess Central does a driver appreciation BBQ at the terminal the week before Christmas, and we'll get to get food there. Tomorrow I think we are working more on our backing including parallel preparing us for our Skills test.

 

However they want you to run your logs is up to them, but generally yard time is on duty and not driving. I work at a mill and 90% of my shift is spent inside moving and dumping loads. Its all logged as the on duty unless I actually drive on a road.

 

Day 9

We started out in the morning with Juan doing backing practice. We each had a shot at the straight line backing, dock backing, and parallel parking. With Juan's instruction we all did much better than the day before where the instruction was not as good. The rain was coming down pretty good causing the yard to get pretty muddy. It is worth noting that I did not feel much of a difference between driving in the dry and driving in the mud.

We got a special hour lunch today and were lead over to the terminal where they had tables set up for a christmas BBQ. apparently the CEO was there but I did not see him. The food was fantastic by the way.

Upon returning from lunch the one member of our class who had a lot of experience already was called out and never heard from again. Apparently he was taken over to the terminal and given a job. So that moves our class down officially to 9. We piled back into the trucks with Juan and set out on the road. I was the last of the four in the rotation and got increasingly more nervous watching the other people go ahead of me. The upshifting is not difficult at all with the driving, and the right turns as long as you keep track of your marks is fine. The thing I personally really struggled at was the down shifting, which is pretty much the thing our entire group struggled most with. The stress and pressure I was feeling from that half hour of driving really caused me to feel a bit nauseous.

My roommate finally got his truck back today so was out on the road again. My new roommate just came in for an upgrade. However, he and another guy are going to be getting into someones truck and heading to Salt Lake which is where he will be getting his truck.

 

Day 10

One of the two people still needing to pass their pre-trip did not show up today, they apparently called in later with car problems-- but they're so far behind at this point I don't know how they can catch up.

We started out with four people in our truck taking some instruction from Kelly backing in the yard. Our braking was miraculously smoother, which apparently is attributed to the lack of mud in the yard. The wind was blowing pretty hard which made the cones constantly fall over. After our 8th person passed their pretrip, one of our four jumped out and jumped that person with Ramon in another truck also working around the yard. The other three people were with Bob doing driving out on the streets. Pretty much every member of our group had all three backing parts down and I expect us all to pass Skills testing tomorrow.

After lunch the two people I had been practicing with in Skills were handed over to Bob and taken out on the road. One of the two ahead of me seemed to pick up much better in the second half of his hour. When I got behind the wheel, the downshifting which had been such a problem for me the day before seemed like no problem at all. I don't know whether I can attribute that to getting a good rest and letting myself sleep on it, or if Bob's truck was just easier to downshift. I made a few mistakes, mainly forgetting to switch the paddle back down when going from 5th to 4th when coming up to an intersection.

I am much more confident for the up coming driving test now that I've had a relatively trouble free hour of driving. Tomorrow we will do our Skills test and more driving, which will lead to a lot of focus on driving leading up to the driving test Friday.

 

Day 11

Our class started at 13 and now with this day done, we were down to 7. One of our people failed the pre-trip test and was removed from the program. Another, who had actually just passed his Skills test, was pulled aside and had to go talk to his recruiter back at the school, Apparently he had a ticket or something he did not tell them about, and he was removed from the program.

We each took a turn practicing our skills with Juan and Rick watching over us-- everyone was suddenly having problems with the docking. We are not sure why people began having problems, they had moved the cones slightly so we attributed it to that. After every had had two shots at practice, we began doing our testing. Everyone passed their skills test in their first try. I actually had perfect scores on the straight line and docking, but when I did my parallel I ended up too far over on the initial approach and actually ran over one of the cones before even starting my parallel. With that one cone missing I struggled to line stuff up properly and messed up everything for my parallel (a part I had never had a problem with) and actually got 5 points on my parallel. You can get no more than five points on any of the three parts-- if I had gotten a sixth point I would have failed my skills test. As stated you can not get six points per part or 10 points total on the skills test. There is also only a certain number of pull ups you can do, although I don't remember the number for that.

After lunch we took three trucks with 2-3 people each in them out to the third route, out by Ontario Airport. Each instructor that takes you out is watching for certain things and at the end will give you a score. I went out with Rick and afterwords he was kind enough to tell me exactly what he wrote that I needed to work on. At this point it was a case of getting on my mirrors more and waiting to the right RPMs to shift, although my shifts were smooth. At this point he gave me a rating of 2.4. You are required to have a 2.8 before you are allowed to do your Road Test.

 

Day 12

Our 7 survivors were put in to two trucks (4 and 3) with Roz and Bob and taken out to the fourth and final practice route at Granite Hill. Granite Hill included a couple fairly tough turns (well, for us newbies) and our first time getting out on the freeway. We are all much further improved over where we had began, although some of us still struggled on certain things. Roz gave me a 2.8 for the morning session which relieved me greatly as it put me already at the number required to test.

In the afternoon we swapped groups and the people I was with in the morning went out with Bob. As we had already completed all the practice routes, Bob took us to various places, including the airport again. I made a few mistakes in the afternoon that I did not make in the morning which bugged me, but luckly the rest went well. Afterwards Bob gave me a rating of 3.0 and said I would be testing the next day. Three other people also got up to a 2.8. Then I think the other three had a 2.7, 2.6, and the seventh I don't know for sure but I think he was down closer to 2.3.

 

Day 13

Our final day in the yard and I was the very first person called to take their road test (I assume its because I had the highest rating in the class, as the other person who had a 2.8 through both sessions yesterday was the second called). I was testing with Bob, while the other person called was going to be tested with Juan. The road test was an hour and a half and while I felt I was doing very well, I was still nervous about doing something that could cause an automatic fail. If you stall the truck, run over a curb, coast out of gear or on the clutch more than 100 feet, run a sign or light, or do something that requires instructor intervention. One of the last turns in the test is a fairly tight right turn which could have been someones downfall if they cut it too tight. When I got back into the yard just a minute or two after the other student, I asked Bob if I had passed. He looked at me like I was crazy. I learned that I had missed 16 points, which is actually quite good, as you're allowed to miss up to 45 points. As long as you just drive smooth and don't do anything thats an auto fail, youll likely going to pass. The other student who was with Juan was apparently pretty jerky with his shifting and missed 33, but still a pass.

They tested the other 2.8s and both came back with a pass. Although they said I could leave, I decided to stay and check out how the others did. Also I was meeting my girlfriend in Disneyland and she wouldnt even be there till 5, heh. They next took out the person who had a 2.7 and he came back with a pass as well. The last tests were of the last two people, who had a 2.6 and a 2.3-- the 2.6 was with Juan while the 2.3 went out with Bob. When they came back I learned that the guy who had the lowest score also came back with a pass. (Admittedly I was not in his truck on Friday at Granite Hill or in the afternoon, but I was in his truck Thursday at the Airport and I would not have guessed that he'd have been able to pass. The 2.6 came back with Juan and while I don't know his score, he said he had failed. He apparently had began making mistakes which he was not making before. His sudden struggling does not surprise me as when we were practicing Airbrakes, he was doing very good until one of the instructors got in the truck to see how he was doing and he just froze up. I know he was going to go back out for practice again that day but I do not know if they were going to test him again on Saturday. I went ahead and left at that point so I do not know what happened with him. If he does not pass Saturday, he will have to come back on Monday. Because of Christmas those who passed Saturday do not actually have to be back until Wednesday when we will go in for orientation.

After I left the yard I went to K1 Speed Ontario. This is not relevant at all but if there are any go-kart lovers reading this-- this is a great place to go if youre stuck in Fontana over night and have a vehicle to drive a few miles down the road.

 

are the trucks 10 speed or 13?

 

So how was orientation? It seems like this thread just kind of stopped about a month ago. Sad really, as it was an enjoyable read from several different posters.

I have been talking to a recruiter from Central (as well as Swift). Central seems to have the more robust training program, while being shorter as well. I have applied and sent in all the necessary paperwork. I am concerned about one thing on the application, but I just answered honestly and I hope that doesn't hinder me from being accepted. If so, such is life. Hope to hear from you Aaron to see where you ended up!