Ducati Sporting Club UK > General > Idle Chat > Bike Safe

[Redruth]

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.