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Stocky

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Posts posted by Stocky

    Fell off my bike today

    in Motorbike Chat

    Posted

    In the wet wherever possible (check your mirrors and over your shoulder before entering) cut across lanes to straight line or apex your roundabouts rather than sticking in your lane, so you are not leaning the bike if you don't have to, or any further than you have to.

     

    Don't just do that in the wet, do it all the time. It will soon become second nature, just be careful to back off a bit if you're behind someone else that still insists on going the long way round, as otherwise it looks like you're trying to overtake them.

    bike intercom

    in Clothing, Luggage, Accessories and Security

    Posted

    Interphone Urban for me and Mrs S.

    Good quality sound at all speeds and battery lasts for ages.

    Wouldn't be without one now when 2 up, we're not constantly talking but they are great for junctions if nothing else. At a T junction she'll look one way and me the other, and she'll give me a running commentary about what's happening. If the road is clear she'll repeat, clear, clear, clear........ until I pull out.

    Licence query

    in CBT, Test and Advanced Training Information

    Posted

    the back of your licence looks just like mine, so to me your've got your full licence.

     

    I agree, that's the same as my bike entitlement and I've had a full bike licence since 1979.


    Edit - I then spotted that my licence has 01 in column 12 - turns out that's because I can see sod all without my glasses and so should be wearing them. (which I do all the time) :oops:

    Blood Bikes

    in General Chat

    Posted

    Transporting blood, as in whole blood for transfusion, is only a very small part of what we do.

    We are an out of hours courier service for the NHS trusts in the area we cover.

    Two of the three trusts we serve, have a pair of major, general hospitals and then a number of satellite hospitals, most with just one ward.

    Common jobs are:


    Samples from smaller hospitals to the laboratories at the larger.

    Medication and equipment from the larger hospitals to the smaller.

    Samples to major hospitals out of our area, for tests not carried out at the local labs.


    However we will transport anything that the NHS wants, providing that it will fit in the panniers, or strap onto the rack, of our bikes.

    Blood Bikes

    in General Chat

    Posted

    As with my previous answer I can only reply for our group.


    We split the week into 2 shifts with the handover times being sometime before 19:00 on Wednesday and Saturday at 19:00.

    During the week the vast majority of the work is 19:00-23:00 so on a lot of duty nights you can still get 7 hours sleep. Occasionally you will get an 03:00 or so job and then you will be a bit jaded the following day, but it is always the rider's right to turn a job down if he/she thinks they won't be safe, in exactly the same way as if the weather is unsuitable in the middle of winter. The coordinator could be 40 miles away and have completely different weather.

    How often you commit to our rota is up to the individual but a lot of folks settle down to one duty, half a week, about once a month.

    Blood Bikes

    in General Chat

    Posted

    Yes I do for Severn Freewheelers the group just North of you, see one of our bikes featured in the first two photos posted for the 2017 UK Challenge 100.

    As others have said, the induction process varies from group to group and therefore I can't give you any detail about the Bristol lot.

    Just as an example we require all riders to be 30 years old (well the insurers do) have an advanced riding qualification passed a maximum of 3 years before, IAM, Rospa Silver or a police qualification. This also has to be retaken every 3 years.

    In addition all riders have an annual check ride taken on one of the marked up bikes.

    When riding you wear the charity high viz over your bike gear, and must wear a white crash helemt. Flip fronts are favourite so you don't have to take it off when going into the hospitals.

    Although a fair number of our members are retired I'm one who isn't and I have been doing it for over 6 years now.

    Another thing, often overlooked, is that you have to be OK with long rides at night, whilst raining and cold. For at least half the year the only time you will see daylight on the bloodbike is at weekends.

    Neighbours and noise fed up

    in General Chat

    Posted

    What's your routine when you set off?

    Do you get the bike out and start it and then put your lid on, do your jacket up, put your gloves on etc etc.

    If so try getting everything ready before you start the bike so you can ride off immediatley.

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