IAM / Rospa or an advanced rider training day

Rather than re-hashing all the good advice already given do you ride off road?

How about getting yourself a small dirt bike or failing that doing an off road course. It'll teach you how to get loads of feel for your bike, to be relaxed on it. You'll learn subtle, precise throttle, brake and clutch control and get to feel comfortable on a bike that's moving around under you.
Then there's stuff like observation; looking ahead in ruts, forward planning to pick out a route through knarley stuff. Moving your weight around for grip, obstacles etc.

Oh, and it's great fun to boot :thumb2

Andres
 
Flipfly said:
.....I've given up trying to be the fastest, I dictate the pace I'm happy with and that way I enjoy rather than scaring myself silly.
Click to expand...

My personal experience is that the best riders aren't (quite!) the fastest. If I look back over the years at some of the great work riders I've had the privilege to ride with and learn from, the ones that you look at with awe, have a golden touch to their riding. They have this ability to time things to absolute perfection, the most wonderful sense of pace and what I call 'float'. They mostly look like they're asleep as they ride and they just never seem to put a foot wrong. They're still blisteringly quick, but they have the most beautiful sense of rhythm and pace. (This is 'float' - acceleration sense, in like a Lamb out like a Lion, judging overtakes to perfection etc)

I can think of one or two fucking quick riders! Quicker than above, but sometimes just that extra 5 mph would take a layer of polish off and spoil an otherwise brilliant ride.

Safety system smoothness speed .... :D
 
Best of both options

Adventuredon, I saw your initial question but haven't read all the pages of replies to this thread, so forgive me if this is repeated. I've done track skills courses and advanced road training, both IAM and rospa. Both are well worth it but are very very different. Advanced is all about pushing your observation skills much further than the average rider so giving more time to read the road and plan the ride. The track courses are about the physical skills of bike handling.

Don't let anyone tell you IAM or rospa are any better than each other in what you get. The primary difference is just Iam is initially twice the price of Iam. Rospa want retest fees of you every 3 years but it's not compulsory you do those tests. Iam don't retest anyway. So Iam is £139 for the course and rospa is £74.

Then with that saving there's spare money for a track skill day. Hopp training people run courses at Cadwell for around £200 but they also do the track work for the Lincs road safety skill day called performance plus. As well as the Hopp team the Lrsp days are designed and run by ex police bikers and crash investigators. I've done a few of these and they are heavily subsidised at £99. There's a link in another thread with the date for 2016 on 4th May. Those skills days will help you decide whether you want to do the other more expensive course with Hopps.

I think you can have the best of both options and not have to decide!
 
Outtomunch said:
Rather than re-hashing all the good advice already given do you ride off road?

How about getting yourself a small dirt bike or failing that doing an off road course. It'll teach you how to get loads of feel for your bike, to be relaxed on it. You'll learn subtle, precise throttle, brake and clutch control and get to feel comfortable on a bike that's moving around under you.
Then there's stuff like observation; looking ahead in ruts, forward planning to pick out a route through knarley stuff. Moving your weight around for grip, obstacles etc.

Oh, and it's great fun to boot :thumb2

Andres
Click to expand...

And all the truly great enduro riders have a trials background, that's the foundation for bike control:beerjug: .... not oh, I missed an overtaking opportunity:blast:rolleyes:

;)
 
Nice article and much sense made. What an interetsing life you have had Sir. Must remember to chat more to you next time!
 
Good answer and a well balanced argument. I must say I think some of the other posters missed the point I was trying to make...A desire to learn, improve and use the skills gained from whichever course. But to know I made improvements and not just to be told how to do it, but to actually feel the improvement, safely. Hence the possibility of doing road training in a track/safe environment. My aim is not to be a track god, knee down etc. I do all my riding on road, enjoy making progress but there is always room for improvement. Be that in technique, gearing, braking or observation. As mentioned already, with limitless funds and time I'd do every course out there. So I think the way forward might be to first do a Rospa/IAM and then go to the road riding courses. And if a lottery win comes around, another course! I have read up on the HOPP days and they seem like great fun as does the Lincs road safety course. As for off roading..I live in London, too far to get to ride a trail of any length, however much I want an offroader, the geography and hassle that goes with storing trailers, another bike etc don't quite work at the moment Andres. Nice thought though. My first bike was a Honda 200XR. Loved that sound!
riggerdigger said:
Adventuredon, I saw your initial question but haven't read all the pages of replies to this thread, so forgive me if this is repeated. I've done track skills courses and advanced road training, both IAM and rospa. Both are well worth it but are very very different. Advanced is all about pushing your observation skills much further than the average rider so giving more time to read the road and plan the ride. The track courses are about the physical skills of bike handling.

Don't let anyone tell you IAM or rospa are any better than each other in what you get. The primary difference is just Iam is initially twice the price of Iam. Rospa want retest fees of you every 3 years but it's not compulsory you do those tests. Iam don't retest anyway. So Iam is £139 for the course and rospa is £74.

Then with that saving there's spare money for a track skill day. Hopp training people run courses at Cadwell for around £200 but they also do the track work for the Lincs road safety skill day called performance plus. As well as the Hopp team the Lrsp days are designed and run by ex police bikers and crash investigators. I've done a few of these and they are heavily subsidised at £99. There's a link in another thread with the date for 2016 on 4th May. Those skills days will help you decide whether you want to do the other more expensive course with Hopps.

I think you can have the best of both options and not have to decide!
Click to expand...
 
I'd recommend some time spent with Giles :thumb2 not only will it improve your riding,it will also keep him busy so less time for him to share his photographic talents with us :D
 
You are turning into a bigger cock than Timothy ..... :D
 
Norfolk Tiger said:
I'd recommend some time spent with Giles :thumb2 not only will it improve your riding,it will also keep him busy so less time for him to share his photographic talents with us :D
Click to expand...

At least he's good at something :comfort:D
 
Giles said:
My personal experience is that the best riders aren't (quite!) the fastest. If I look back over the years at some of the great work riders I've had the privilege to ride with and learn from, the ones that you look at with awe, have a golden touch to their riding. They have this ability to time things to absolute perfection, the most wonderful sense of pace and what I call 'float'. They mostly look like they're asleep as they ride and they just never seem to put a foot wrong. They're still blisteringly quick, but they have the most beautiful sense of rhythm and pace. (This is 'float' - acceleration sense, in like a Lamb out like a Lion, judging overtakes to perfection etc)

I can think of one or two fucking quick riders! Quicker than above, but sometimes just that extra 5 mph would take a layer of polish off and spoil an otherwise brilliant ride.

Safety system smoothness speed .... :D
Click to expand...
My dad was that kind of rider in his day. Effortless.

I'm still shit, but doing my best to stay safe first and foremost.

Who really cares how it got here?
 
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