Grown & developed as a rider
Remembering my CBT day like it was yesterday
I was inspired initially to ride a motorbike by my brother. We had enjoyed brother/sister trips abroad however in 2011, stating an intention to move to Australia, my opportunity to have pillion adventures was going to end.
I therefore took up the challenge of learning to ride and can remember my CBT day like it was yesterday – unlearning patterns of being a car driver with hands and feet doing completely new things! ‘Foot off the brake’ was the repeated advice from the Instructor!
How on earth was I going to be able to master this new skill! So post CBT, my biking adventures had just begun and meanwhile, my brother had headed off on an old 250cc Honda – taking just over 2 years to bike to Australia – travelling across the world on two wheels and experiencing beautiful countries such as Iran, Nepal and Indonesia. I wanted to experience more of that excitement on a bike
Completed my training with a local motorcycle school
I completed all my training with a local training school, culminating in November 2012 and enjoyed developing my riding skills with a range of instructors. Being a Freelance Management Training Consultant myself, I have high standards and expectations of what I want to achieve from all my learning, whether in a corporate training room or out on my bike. Through my CBT, Mod 1 & Mod 2, I received endless encouragement and positivity – just what I needed!
It was following an organised group ride one Sunday morning, one of the Instructors said ‘you need to do some advanced training’ and this is where my ERS adventure began. Naively I had applied the ‘I’ve got my licence, I just need to practice’ thinking – just as I had done once I’d passed my driving test at age 17. But on commencing my advanced training, this was where the real learning began and thank goodness I didn’t continue to learn and develop my biking skills by riding like some of the people I had ridden with going to local bike meets. I’ll say no more.
Prefer to ride with people who have completed similar training
I’ve completed training in cornering, IPSGA, riding in groups, motorway riding, making safe progress and riding abroad and the key things I’ve learnt during these modules is the priority for safety – positioning for view, riding safely in pairs and groups. So much so, I always prefer to ride with people who have completed similar training as I know we are riding to the same rules.
To date, I’ve now completed three organised training tours to France. Next year I’ve committed to further ‘Riding Aboard & Group Rider’ training with the same company, this time heading to Seville (Spain) in May and Auschwitz (Poland) in September. I also plan to undertake further ERS modules and having sat on loads of bikes at the recent NEC bike show, hope to upgrade my trusty Triumph Street Triple to something which will happily take me into my next phase of learning and adventures.
I’ve hugely enjoyed my ERS training
Overall, I’ve hugely enjoyed my ERS training and plan to continue as I believe the more I do, the more enjoyment I will have and the safer I will be. I thrive on learning and self improvement, but most importantly I love to have fun and I’ve had this in bucket loads!
Training should absolutely not be boring, negative or critical and the ERS training I have received has been confidence giving, inspirational, stretching and packed full of knowledge. I have grown and developed as a rider and look forward to continuing this journey.
Even if you’ve been riding for tens of years, there will always be something you need to improve – whether you know what this is or not. Undertaking any of the ERS modules will no doubt shine a light on something new to work on. So go on – give it a whirl and have fun in the process too!
