Student Feedback
The most important people are those who attend our courses. We go to great lengths to get feedback
from our students. Its really important to us that we give the best training on
the market. If its good then that's great if its not then we change and are
happy to accept constructive criticism. I'm glad to say there hasn't been much.
Top Course. Top day, top fun - totally loved it thanks Warren Pole RiDE Magazine
A superb day - I think you
have the balance of informality/concentrated input just right Bob
Phipps
The very best level of instruction from an expert rider, superb
value for money Dave Footitt
A really fantastic day. Can't praise it
enough David Sunter An excellent day, great fun, I can't believe the
difference in my riding after just one day Mark Vincent Learnt more in one day
than 20 years of riding motorcycles Simon Grant
BMW Owners mag
This appeared in the
BMW Owners mag having been written by the mysterious "Flash" "What ME?
Training! Ha!" Wednesday 21 July, Police Rapid Training, Advanced Course.
Somewhere off Jct 14 of the M1. Met my instructor ("P") yesterday morning at
0900. Cup of tea and pre-briefing out of the way we put on the radio kit and
set off, me on the RT and P on a R1100GS (with K1200S wheels and the widest
rubber seen off a Ducati). details.
We left M.Keynes and passed the first National Speed Limit sign. Off I shot in typical
Flash "Oy-you-get-out-of-my-way mode" and led a charge for about five miles
before he pulled me over. "Aggressive, too fast, bad positioning, aggravated
weaving, unaware of hazards" were some of the nicer things he said about what,
until now, I had laughingly called my "style". "So apart from that it was OK
then?" I quipped, desperate to extract a smile from Mr Granite-Face....to be
fair to myself (and who will be if I'm not?) I had not been riding to my normal
standard. The fact of being followed by P, trying too hard, and coming to terms
with the radio had all combined to overload my common-sense chip. P set
off ahead of me for a demo ride...and deep inside me what was left of my biking
vanity rolled over and expired. He was brilliant. Poetry in motion. Following
him, we caught up with some cars about to enter a right-hander. He was so far
over to the left that I feared for the safety of the hedgerow. All the while he
was keeping up a non-stop "pursuit" type commentary and I heard him say "Exit
visible, going for overtake" and he was gone. Disappeared. He'd gone from the
extreme left hand side of the road , half-way round a bend, to a slippery
smooth rocket-assisted overtake while I was still sitting, flat-footed, waiting
to see past the cars and around the corner. It's the image that stays with me
now and the one that did the most to effect my riding for the rest of the day
and who knows to infinity and beyond. I bulldozed my way back up behind
him, shoving articulated trucks and pram-pushing pedestrians into the
undergrowth. I'd managed to follow P while he had been keeping up his
commentary ("Low-flying aircraft above, possibly US Presidential hope" "Beware
of falling pound" etc). Back in the lead. I'd taken on board the fact
that it would be a "good thing" if I were to use the left hand side of the road
more and so I did. I was smoother and more in control of my destiny and,
although it felt as if I was going slower, I was probably faster overall. We
silked and smoothed over the Cotswolds (GOD! What biking roads!), strictly
observing the 30, 40 and 50 speed limits and enjoying ourselves elsewhere. P
had started to smile occasionally and agreed to remove the handcuffs from my
throttle hand. Watching him in the mirrors he never stopped rethinking the
position of his bike on the road, always looking for the optimum line of
observation. I began to emulate and to relax and enjoy myself. At the
end of the day things had come together very well indeed. P thanked me for a
fast and enjoyable run and (praise indeed) told me that he wouldn't have been
over those roads any faster had he been on his own. Criticism? There
were still some. My tendency to go into bends too fast was still surfacing
occasionally, most noticeable when, after a series of fast, sweeping, bends, we
would come to a series of hairpins. He was right and talking about it with him
I realised that it's something I do deliberately to get the maximum angle of
lean. I'll do it to the point of tightening up, half way round a bend, just to
get the buzz. It's not big and it's not clever and it will actually slow you
down by breaking the optimum line. "But it's FUN" I exclaimed. He pointed out
that, although he had backed off more than me before the bend, he was back with
me again at the exit "And I'm safer" he said "and sometimes you're going too
fast and miss the apex" (insufferable boy). It's something I'm going to have to
work on. But I think I'm going to enjoy doing it. Smiley moment for
both of us? A guy on a Monster who caught us as we roadcrafted through a
village at 30mph. P said he thought he was being followed by an Astra van with
a broken exhaust. We emerged from the village and wound it on in time-honoured
police fashion and watched as the Ducati disappeared off our radars. Lovely stuff. If you haven't done it I can't recommend it enough. I returned home
completely knackered, the fatigue caused by the total concentration required to
ride at that level. I love these guys!
