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| #1  02-Dec-2005, 19:51 | ||||
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| Bike Safe Just got home from a Bike Safe day which started at the Ace cafe at 8.45 this morning. We had lectures on road craft, safety, filtering etc till about 11.30, at which point it was discovered that I didn't have insurance! Well, so the police thought. I ask you, would a biker walk into the lion's den without making sure she had insurance first? The problem was, I hadn't received any written confirmation for the day, possibly due to me having booked in February, been advised of the date for my day in October, and had moved house in the interm. Clearly, the redirect (£60 odd quids worth to the Royal Mail) hadn't worked (how many more things have not been redirected!!!) so I didn't know I was supposed to take an insurance certificate to prove my bike was covered. Got it sorted eventually but with all the faffing about I missed the morning's ride. However, it was only short and mainly involved riding through Chiswick so I don't feel too bad about that. Included in the price for the day, £30, was tea, coffee, cold drinks, and lunch. Jacket potato with chile, my favourite. Then out with an instructor on a 2 to one ride. The guy I was paired with was on a BMW GS. Massive thing. And he had a face like that boxer, Henry .... you know wha' I mean 'arry, that one, anyway, he was quite a bit slower than me, I thought. It didn't seem like any time at all but must have been about an hour and a half, possibly 2 hours. I tried to forget the fact that I was being followed by a police man and rode as I normally would. Unfortunately, this meant I got told off for speeding but praised for smoothness, control, observation, using life savers (which seems like I was trying to be teacher's pet but actually I realised I use lifesavers a lot without even thinking about it). I even got praised for not braking into a bend that "99% of riders brake into". However, I did mess up in the single lane twisty countries. The ones with grit, mud and stones all over the road and absolutely no vision whatsoever. Maybe because I'm not used to the bike yet (yes, a bad workman blames her tools) but I slowed down too much, used the brakes too much and for some reason didn't change down gears when I should). I was aware of all this as I was doing it but I just hate roads like that and that overriding dislike causes underriding reactions in me. Anyway, overall not bad and I got the certificate so apparently I can get a discount on my insurance. We'll see if that's true when my renewal comes up! Back home now and trying to warm up. Chucked a bucket of hot water over the bike. She was fantastic in this wet windy weather. I'm much happier with the headlight than the one on my 996. I wore a fluroescent gillet on top of my jacket, my new Held gloves, trousers and Shoeberth lid were excellent and I now feel very confident that the bike can cope with bad weather and slippery roads. I certainly enjoyed myself and think I learned a fair bit, positioning and safety being the two main things that I felt I needed tuition on. So now I'll be booking advanced riding lessons. I rode home in the pouring rain, splashing through huge puddles in Hemel and chucked a bucket of hot water over Minnie before I brought her into the garage and shammied her shiny bits off. Very pleased I went. Good day and very good value.    |
| #4 02-Dec-2005, 20:05 | ||||
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| Oh no!!!!! ST4. Seriously ?????? Oh man, I thought I was being so good. I NEVER washed bikes in the past. I'm only doing this bucket of water thing because Skidlids said do it. I've made matters, haven't I   |
| #7 02-Dec-2005, 20:54 | ||||
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| I learnt that the Met are prepared to sell dodgy DVDs for A pound!!!  I paid £1 of my hard earned cash for a DVD of some Courrier/GP racer/Advanced rider switching riding scenarios stuff and the blinkin' DVD doesn't work. And it's not user error. The DVD player says it's not in there  Anyway, calming down now... what did I learn? Positioning. One of the things I've always done is move out of the overtaking lane back into the inside or middle lane because, if not overtaking, why be in the overtaking lane? From observation of the other rider out with us I realised you just cannot be seen if you are sitting in traffic in the inside lane. Get out there, in the outside lane, move in if something fast comes up behind you and is breaking the speed limit and you're holding them up but otherwise, be out there. Be visible, it's not illegal. Also, I already knew about moving position on the road, I move left, right, wherever, to get a better view of what's coming up but moving right out, onto the other side of the road, to see round a bend ... that's not something I would have considered. Now I will. And probably the most important thing I learnt today was about the safe positioning. Not sacrificing safety for position. If there's a right hand bend with a road joining from the left, it's the traffic potentially turning onto that road from the left that could wipe you out, not the right hand bend. This was brought home very graphically by the safety lecture after the ride in the afternoon. There was a horribly negative message at the end of the day. That is, people who just ride their bikes for fun are likely to hit a lamp post at some stage, or an oncoming vehicle, or ... whatever. It's dangerous. I came away thinking I need more tuition. I am taking my life in my hands every time I get on my bike and go out on the road. I don't know enough. I don't see enough. Yes, I can ride a bike. Potentially, I can get killed. I need more skills at my fingertips to survive. That's my new project. Ambition 2006 - be a safer rider. |
| #9 02-Dec-2005, 21:28 | ||||
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| Quote:
Yes please. I had lit the fire, poured a glass of wine, was all ready to get stuck in and the DVD wouldn't work. Dodgy gear! You have the opportunity to make up for the Met's failings here. Go for it. Did I see you saying you would come to the BHC Christmas Dinner? You could bring it then or I'll U2U my address for you to post it. |
| #10 02-Dec-2005, 21:33 | ||||
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| I was looking to come.........but duties etc! I can post one if you like.......... Thats not a dodgy dvd......you wanna see some of em...............................  |
Jools
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