Why learn Advanced Riding Skills?
I ask: Do you know how to be faster & quicker when riding along any road remaining safe to yourself and everyone else and with remaining legal?
If you do, then perhaps you are already an advanced rider, if you do not, would you be interested to know how?
What is Advanced Riding to me?
Advanced riding has many aspects the greatest of these I believe is giving yourself “time to react” this is achieved by being observant and using the information around ourselves to give us the “time to react” by adjusting our ride to keep away from hazards so we can travelling along the roads that is there for all of us enjoy unhindered.
HOW CAN WE ACHIEVE THIS?
#. In most cases it is due to the lack of observation skill of the rider of what can be seen and failure to act upon the information received to change, speed, and position to name two, speed is the biggest killer and no second chance if you die.
You might be right in saying to me “I do not need any help, its others that need help not me” but when your dead or seriously injured, you say to me “there I told you so, “it was there fault” or “I indicated” or “I had right of way”, big deal, bad way to prove a point when you’re dead or seriously injured and the other(s) involved are alive. So could you have done anything different to change outcome and have the odd’s in your favour?
I would now ask the rider who was allegedly taken unaware, why did you keep on the same speed and course, WHY? If you are so great at biking observing all road users and everyone else’s is at fault at the point of killing you, if you could have changed something! WHY didn’t you?
#. Ride so that you are able to stop safely on your own side of the road in the distance you can see to be clear, think about that and see if you can!
#. Without a willingness to learn no matter how much training one receives, the person receiving the training will not reach there own full potential.
#. At times competent riders may miss the obvious and fail to truly perceive and recognise what is seen and act upon the information to ride better and with more confidence.
#. My view is the IAM RoadSmart & RoSPA are about “riding in a safe manner within the limitations of the rider and conditions whilst making progress in a safe and courteous manner” That does not mean speeding, it means looking well ahead and flowing in through and around obstacles; be they vehicles, traffic controls, junctions and any other hazard etc, without interrupting other road users movements or cause them to move and adjust just of you. It’s not right that any user of the road has to change course or direction because of your actions.