Rupert Paul - Bike Magazine 2007
Urrgh. My legs hurt. My knees won’t bend properly. My forearms feel like wood. And after 48 hours my brain is still stuck in an endless replay, running over corners and lines time and again. I’m buzzing and happy, in the way that you only can be when you’ve had an experience that’ll stay with you for years.
And no, it wasn’t a club race. I’ve been on an advanced motorcycle course.
Like most people reading this, I began my motorcycle career as a fully-rounded expert. There was nothing about riding I didn’t already know, so I didn’t need training – which was just as well, because I didn’t get any.
But later (OK, 28 years later) there comes a moment when you look in the mirror and admit you are not Valentino Rossi after all. And that’s OK. And with that little hurdle overcome, the rest of your life opens up in front of you. And hey – maybe I could take the day off work and learn how to ride these tricky contraptions we call motorcycles.
In truth, the idea had been stewing for a while. Back in the early 1990s I’d met a Nürburgring instructor called Jon Taylor. Not only was he staggeringly fast and safe around that most lethal of circuits; his whole approach to riding bikes seemed admirable – the same kind of humility, simplicity and discipline I’d once witnessed in a fifth dan Karate master. Jon had won a couple of club championships, and he was also a police rider, though he didn’t fit my idea of one. Up to that point, I’d never met a copper who was faster than me. We stayed in touch over the years, and eventually I plucked up the courage to book a day’s training with the outfit he works for, rapidtraining.co.uk.
It couldn’t have come at a better time. Two months into living with a barking mad GSX-R1000 (p???), I was beginning to wonder if I’d lost all my reference points. It wasn’t the bike that bothered me; just the mismatch it created with the rest of the world.
My instructor turned out to be occasional Bike contributor Gary Baldwin. Like Jon, he combines a lifelong love of bikes with a respectable racing career and a Police Class One certificate. This mix of skills turns out to be more or less standard at Rapid Training, even if it is rare as hens’ teeth.
The format’s simple: initial chat, rules of engagement, assessment ride, debrief, demo ride by Gary, debrief, then ride and review until the day is done. To spot how sharp your hazard perception and road reading is, Gary stays immediately behind you. How he can ride so close safely all day I can’t imagine, but he does – and the result is extraordinary. With Yoda on your tail there is literally nowhere to hide. Your riding – warts and all – is laid bare.
‘Ride exactly as you do,’ he told me before the first session. So I did, mullering the Suzuki in an authentic reproduction of my somewhat frantic riding style. Too bad his new 600 Hornet wasn’t even run in. And only a 600.
After about 10 miles we stopped. Gary’s advice? Try smoothing out the peaks and troughs by just a few mph. Concentrate on flow.
Wow. I’d spent so many years testing bikes I’d unconsciously developed a ‘road test’ style of riding. Sure, it’s smooth from a machine control point of view, but it forces the bike to do its stuff in an exaggerated way. It had never occurred to me to work on my mental smoothness instead. Trying it out on the B-roads of Berkshire, Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire was like discovering a different rider.
Helpful details? Those too – among them: drivers look at your distance, not speed, when judging if it’s safe to pull out of a side road. Forget indicating to pass cars: it leaves more brain spare for other stuff. Point the whole bike right before turning right out of junctions – it’s smoother. And I can now hit 30 and 40mph limits without checking the speedo.
I came away massively impressed, and brimming with confidence. (Gary’s mastery of giving constructive feedback to the fragile male ego is, if anything, even more astounding than his riding.) And I can’t remember when I last had so much fun on a bike. Best 140 quid you could ever spend.
Advanced training - Worth it or is it just for old men?
Wozza from Superbike spent a day out with
Rapid, here are his thoughts.
ADVANCED TRAINING? YAWN. Surely there
must be some kind of mistake? I mean, what on earth would a subject so
seemingly dull be doing nestled within the pages of Britain’s rootingest,
tootingest sports bike mag? Well, simple fact is that done right advanced
training ain’t dull and is the quickest way of becoming a faster rider
this side of, well, anything really. And at the same time, it’ll reduce
your chances of crashing and could even save you money on insurance.
The course I did was with Rapid Training,
They are a top bunch of boys I first met a few years back when they transformed
me from a fast and very dangerous road rider into a faster and slightly less
dangerous one. Thanks to their easy-going teaching methods (you ride around a
load of top roads and stop for a chat every now and again), I've been back a
few times since for general brush-ups on my road riding and to make sure I'm
not slipping into bad habits. Just having someone who knows their stuff analyse
your riding is a useful thing in itself.
In
the last year, I've done a stack more track riding than I used to but living in
London my open road riding has slipped somewhat, so I reckoned a trip back to
Rapid could be what I needed.
Sure enough,
instructor Mark picked me up on being too aggressive with traffic (essential in
London, but pointless in the sticks), and peeling into corners too early
(perfect on the track where the apex is all-important, but too extreme on the
road where your view around the bend should take priority), otherwise I was bad
habit free.
All in all, a good day out
thrashing about the Buckinghamshire countryside with like minded bods.
Instructive into the bargain too. It doesn't matter that Rapid’s
instructors are all current or ex-traffic cops because not only can they ride,
they fit into the ever-decreasing minority of ‘good’ traffic cops.
Warren Pole
RiDE Magazine Review
Not long after
Rapid was formed, Ride's Deputy Editor Damon l'Anson tagged along on a course.
This was for an article on Advanced Training. This appeared in the magazine, it
followed seven different training schools. To say we were chuffed with the
article is the understatement of the century. Damon's verdict on our
course read, "An excellent day course. Both students were of a higher than
average standard and take their riding seriously. The roads chosen weren't too
busy and nearly all were national speed limits in pleasant countryside. The
briefing in the morning and frequent updates meant the riders were getting what
they wanted from the course, which is what it's all about". Our thanks
go to Mark Edwards for putting his neck on the block, to Mike Hardy and Neil
Whatley from the Wey Valley IAM for allowing Damon along for the ride, and for
saying nice things about us. Copies of the article are available from Mark's
bedroom wall, or his mum.
Bike
Bike was next with Martin
Child being the reporter In the news!! Advanced training with the police?
Martin Child was convinced he'd go down for a long stretch.I turned up for
my advanced riding course looking like a Honda Mac instructor - Black Arai, red
and black Belstaff. Instructor Gary Baldwin wasn't too alarmed, the Mac lads
(sic) are ex-police officers and all nine instructors at Rapid Training are
current Plods. Don't let this put you off, though. All were bikers before they
became coppers, the only lead pipes were in the heating system and I was free
to leave when I wanted. Which, considering the force-8 gale and lashing rain
outside, wasn't high up on my agenda. But 180 miles later I was brought back in
for questioning. I confessed all (coffee, no sugar, thanks). Had I learnt
anything? Did I enjoy it? Well, sort of, and yes. The inch thick cack on my
Fazer indicated the trying conditions we'd been forced to endure all day. I was
wet but happy and I'd been re-introduced to many a safety point I'd
forgotten. Only one road crash in 15 years of riding means I must be
doing something right, yer honour. Gary's charge revolved around my tendency
towards 'comfort braking'. I'll hold my hands up to that one. But the real
surprise was the overall pace of the course. This is no kill-joy, ride slower
course, exactly the opposite in fact. Pace is dictated by the suspect (sorry
pupil) and cautions are only given to improve your performance.
Whatever level of skill you have and how ever long you've been riding,
a day's fun riding which will teach you something, whether massive or minute,
has got to be worth doing an eight stretch for (hours, that is). You'd be stir
crazy not to. Rapid also has plans to do some track days. Suppose they'll be
looking for some circuit Judges then. Martin Child, HMP Peterborough From Bike
Magazine.
Mark Hamilton PB
Nov 2004
PHIL CURTIS pays his mortgage by wearing a fluoro jacket and instructing other coppers how to ride motorbikes, but today he's showing me the finer points of how to ride more safely and smoothly on the road - which should hopefully translate into getting from A to B quicker.My main problem is hammering up to bends, then bottling it and grabbing the front brake. So Phil says he'll concentrate on cornering. There aren't any strict rules as such, but this off-duty copper says he won't cross double white lines or exceed speed limits in 30, 40 or 50mph zones. Fair nuff. But he also says he's not going to nick me for a bit of "enthusiastic riding".
Phil follows me for the first 20-30min and wants me to ride as normal,
so he can assess my riding. When we stop he points out a couple of
things for me to look at: road positioning and overtaking. While I
thought I was setting myself up properly for a corner, it turns out
I was sticking pretty much to the centre of the lane, give or take
a few inches. And as for overtakes, I was barrelling up behind cars
and then getting stuck behind them. He gets me to concentrate on setting
myself up properly for a bend (to the nearside for rights and the
centre of the road for lefts), well before you get there. It's obvious
stuff, but makes a difference when you make sure you're doing it right.
The "Thirds Rule" is next up, where you break down sections of the
road into bite-sized chunks. You treat your exit from a bend as the
first third; the straight as the second, where you start setting yourself
up for the next corner; and the final third is the corner entry itself.
This lets tiny brains like mine process the information from the road
ahead without getting overheated. This advice has an immediate effect
on my riding. By using more of the road, you get a much better view
round a bend, so you can go round it quicker. The next step was making
sure you get as good a view round vehicles in front as possible, which
again has a lot to do with road positioning. Generally, out to the
centre of the road and not right up the chuff of the bloke in front.
Again, fairly common sense, but the new bit for me was on left-handers.
If you're sitting in the middle of the lane you can't see a lot past
the vehicle, so the trick is to fall back and into the nearside, and
look through the inside. "Sometimes all this shows you is that you
can't overtake, but at least now you know why," says Phil.And this
is where the planning bit comes in, always trying to maximise the
view you get round a car or truck in front, so you go past traffic
as early as possible without having to slow down. The System, as the
cops call it, is about using simple stuff like this to maintain a
decent speed for a sustained period. The idea is to get into a flow,
rather than stopping and starting all the time, and getting stuck
behind traffic without being able to see past it, or going for risky
overtakes.There are other ways of getting from A to B quicker on
the road, but only by eating into your safety margin, which means
that sooner or later you're gonna get hit by something. So even if
you're already a fast road rider, you'll benefit from this course,
~ 'cos it'll almost certainly make you safer and smoother on the road
- it certainly worked for me and has transformed my road riding.
Good points: made me safer, smoother and faster.Bad points: avoid
if you've any outstanding warrants.Overall: tailored for you, so even
fast road riders will get something out of the day.
Simon Weir Bike Jan 2005
A spill can damage more than your bike, as I found out in June. Rebuilding the Ducati ST3 after my first crash for years took a month. Rebuilding my riding took longer. I was hesitant, my positioning was not particularly precise and I was backing off more than was necessary. Steps had to be taken. Enter Andy Morrison of Rapid Training, a former police Class One instructor, racer and current training guru who spent a day giving my riding a set-up. After an initial assessment ride, Andy showed some lines with his FireBlade, then coached me over the following 150 high speed miles. The result? I'm back to my old riding self - if not better. Invaluable.
