Bikesafe Bikesafe Course Wirral - Day 1

[Fiddlesticks]

Bikesafe has been on my list of things to do for a while now. For a subsidised £65, the opportunity to take part in two days' training seemed like a pretty good deal, so I signed up online a little under two months ago.

So here I was, at a quarter to nine on a Saturday morning, on an industrial estate on the banks of the Mersey.

Wednesday had been a very late one after driving to London and back, via Surrey. Up for work on Thursday then out at the pub quiz till gone midnight. Friday, same again, only this time sitting for three hours in a soft cinema seat watching Christopher Nolan's masterpiece Oppenhiemer.

Great film. Terrible timing.

Full of self-recrimination and lower back pain I very gingerly parked the bike and moved with all the speed and agility of a ninety-five year-old arthritic into a hangar-like building. It's used for various training exercises for the emergency services, but today it was home to a motorcycle safety course led by Merseyside Police and IAM RoadSmart trainers.

There were about 12 of us taking the course. We started the day with a brew in the canteen. This is England, after all. A few forms to complete, then it was time to decamp to the conference room for the morning session.

This was led by Paul, a serving motorcycle police officer with experience in both the North West, and also on assignment to London for events such as the Queen's funeral and the Coronation. Also Dave, an IAM Trainer with a wealth of experience to share. These guys give up their weekends to deliver the course, and are passionate about riding well and being good ambassadors for motorcycling.

It was all quite informal - we went around the room and introduced ourselves, bikes, experience, and what we wanted to get out of the weekend. We were encouraged to ask questions as the day progressed.

We had a couple of sessions to cover road positioning, braking, overtaking, the IPSGA system, cornering, group riding, junctions, filtering and general roadcraft. With the aid of PowerPoint and a couple of whiteboard illustrations it all seemed to make sense.

The sign in the canteen promising all kinds of French pastries was in all likelihood decorative, rather than a menu as such. In any case, the cheese and pickle sandwich that came in the complimentary packed lunch was most appreciated as I'd not thought that far ahead when I'd staggered downstairs earlier in the day.

Lunch done, we donned the fluorescent vests of shame for an afternoon jaunt to North Wales. Wait. It's not a jaunt when you have a police motorcyclist behind you taking mental notes to fire at you later. Best behaviour, lads...

I was in the lead. PC Dave in the middle. My new Triumph friend at the back. The other groups in similar formation. No comms, so we were relying on my sat nav, my ability to watch Dave's indicators in my mirrors, and my goldfish-like memory. I only balloxed it up once, by going all the way around a roundabout and back the same way!

We were heading to a bike shop and cafe. Half way there we stopped for a minor debrief and switched positions, me bringing up the rear. This gave me a good opportunity to see how PC Dave used his positioning. Mental note made to use more of the road.

At the destination we had a good review of the ride: "That lady who pulled out on you.. Dealt with it well... Why didn't you filter there? Good, three lanes going into two, not the best plan to squeeze between lanes one and two..." And so on. The key thing was, what was the thought process behind the decision making.

After a good look around the bike shop it was time to do it all again in reverse (not literally, you understand, we're not on Honda Goldwings!) and back to the centre for the final verdict.

Just one opportunity for an overtake on the way home. On a long straight with no oncoming traffic. It was a little slow narrow roadsweeper. "Did you put that there on purpose so we had something easy to pass?" PC Dave denied it all.

Once back at the centre I was surprised not to get a stern talking to for pushing the amber-turning-red light at a roadworks. I deserved one, really, keeping with the riders ahead isn't an excuse. Instead, a positive report showing improvement in positioning throughout the day (as per my mental note) and some good feedback.

All told, a good day. Back tomorrow for more...

 

Edited July 30, 2023 by Fiddlesticks