Bikesafe. 19 May. Review

[Flatline]

I have finally decided to take the plunge and get some advice about my riding skills (ok! ok!...................... lack of riding skills!)

Seems a bit of a bargain, pretty much the whole day for £60

Would be good for newer riders as well as us "old uns"

I reckon it will be good fun and very interesting

Would anyone like to join in the fun?

Come on, you'll enjoy it.........just in time for "Op Yorkshire" the following weekend

Workshop: West Yorkshire, Operations Complex, Wakefield, BikeSafe

Address: Carr Gate, Bradford Road, Wakefield, West Yorkshire, WF2 0QD

Date / Time: 19/05/2013 10:00AM - 5:30PM

Price: £60.00

https://www.bikesafe.co.uk/Booking/Index.aspx

[BigVeeGrin]

I did a similar thing down here via the Council a couple of years ago - rozzers, rospa, IAM etc hosted it and was excellent. Mix of classroom and 1:1 riding and observation.

[Flatline]

Ooooeeer!

Just about to leave for this "ride out"

Weather is dry (so is my mouth!)

Starts at 10am, finishes at 5pm

Here goes........................

[benny hedges]

have fun mate - just watch the 30's and 40's

[geodude]

Ooooeeer!

Just about to leave for this "ride out"

Weather is dry (so is my mouth!)

Starts at 10am, finishes at 5pm

Here goes........................

Looking forward to hearing how it went

[Flatline]

What does it mean when they say " How did you survive 40 years motorbiking without dying" ?

Is that good?

[geodude]

What does it mean when they say " How did you survive 40 years motorbiking without dying" ?

Is that good?

Yeah. It means they want you to teach them or summin'

[Miztaziggy]

Full review flatty?

[callam_nffc]

Lookin forward to the review, I'm going to get myself on one of these this summer

[Flatline]

Having booked the course, the instructions are simple to understand and tell you what you need to take with you

Arrived at 9.20am for a 10am start having first gone to the petrol station to fill up

(Just like all you guys will do coming to the ride out this weekend)

Other guys were parked up waiting so we had a chat whilst we waited for the course tutor to arrive and collect us

Taken to the conference room and introductions all round with a "who are you, how long you been riding and what do you ride"

Most of the guys had been riding less than 6 years with a couple passing their test last year

Spent a couple of hours going through things like Hazard perception, filtering, position on the road and all those sorts of things

Really interesting and its a good recap on things you may already know but hadn't thought about

It also made you think about why you do stuff, and why it might be better to do it differently

I must emphasizs that during this period we were never told "this is how to do it"

We where shown a situation, like taking a left hand bend, and then a discussion about which might be the best way of doing it

During the discussion it became obvious which way was best

Break for a coffee and sandwich then introduced to the guy you are riding with

We had 7 on the course and 5 police riders, so the less experience guys got to go 2 up

The rest of us had a Police rider each

The way it works is this: He lets you know which way to go and follows you

When he wants you to turn he will let you know, so you make sure you keep an eye on your mirrors

Or he might overtake you and you follow until he signals you to go ahead again

After half and hour or so you get pulled over!

Of course, when this happens you can see all the other riders and drivers looking and thinking "Phewww, glad it's not me"

Then you have a chat about what went on, how you did, what you might do to improve

Its all about improving your riding, nothing prescriptive

They reallly emphasise that they are not there to instruct you, they are not trainers (or flip flops)

It's all about going out with a more experienced rider that has done plenty of advanced riding so has a good idea of whats needed on the road

And that was the way it went for the afternoon, about 4 hours of riding

The main thing to do is ride as you would normally, otherwise the guy is unable to offer any advice

So there you have it

It's all about going out for a ride with a more experienced rider, who rides to a certain standard

That way you know the advice is based on sound principles

I would certainly recommend it to anyone, no matter how good and experienced they think they are

And if nothing else, they guy tells you how good you are

[Virt]

Sounds like a good thing to do. I'll look into some local ones for shortly after I hop on the storm and have a go, sounds useful for a young'un with little experience Thanks for the review.

[callam_nffc]

Riding how you normally ride? Id be makin sure his bloody video camera is off haha

I'm going to look where my nearest force is that does the course is, because west mercia police do "their own version"

However they don't answer your bloody emails lol

[Flatline]

https://www.bikesafe.co.uk

[VTRDark]

Well done flatty. Did he pull you over with Blue lights As for riding as you do normally when out on your own, I couldn't do that with a copper behind me that would be madness, he would think I'm suicidal I guess the Bikesafe thing is good for those that are doing it as a part of breaking an offence like speeding and do it as an option to getting points, and as a little reminder of things. Glad you enjoyed though and it seems you got something out of it.

I want to do an IAM course and become a member of a local group ...well not local or that would be London and mostly riding in town/traffic, but maybe Surry or Kent. I really must get my butt in gear and sort that one out, I've been meaning to do it for years, even bought the books to revise beforehand.

(:-})

[Flatline]

Now then, that's a common mistake buddy

All people that attend bike safe are volunteers

There is no one doing bike safe instead of points as far as I am aware