Advanced pleasure from advanced training

[SVS]

Hiya,

Have others found their advanced training makes driving more enjoyable? How has your training made your motoring more pleasurable?

Refocussing on my roadcraft recently made me notice how much more fun I have now. Advanced training has enhanced the sheer life-affirming joy of riding I would found it hard to believe riding could be even more fun, but it is!

However, I struggle to put into words why advanced motoring is more enjoyable motoring, so over to others here ...

Edited to wonder if, depending on replies, this could become a sticky as a tonic to BGOL discussions ...

Edited by SVS on Tuesday 19th July 15:12

[MC Bodge]

I don't think that 'advanced training' makes riding or driving more enjoyable in itself, but being made aware of the various techniques (by whatever means) and then implementing them successfully can be enjoyable.

I always aim for good observation and positioning.

Sometimes I'll try to drive with minimal use of the brakes and other times I'll brake late, turn-in and drive through bends briskly whilst trying to keep the car balanced throughout.

As far as basic car control technique is concerned, I sometimes decide to practice avoiding brake-gear overlap for a journey, even though I'm not convinced of its merits and other times concentrate on heel-toe. Other times I concentrate on push-pull steering, although I'm more of a fixed-position and pre-positioning kinda guy.

[Don Palmer]

There is no question about the truth of driving enjoyment. Looking back at my driving, it was dangerous in the beginning. My first driving course was thirty years ago and I absolutely loved it.
I am now searching for what it is that is the ultimate benefit of driving well. Is it excitement or satisfaction.
Do I have to know what I want to do and measure myself or is it enough to just drive somewhere?
Driving these days is much more about exploration of what's possible for others.
Driving on the road rarely does it for me, although I just bought an old car with low grip and lots of grunt - its fun.

[R0G]

Before I passed the advanced test I was blissfully unaware of the antics some other drivers did - now I tend to see too much!!

As to whether it is more enjoyable then for my own driving - yes - but for what I am noticing - no

[waremark]

Don Palmer said:

I am now searching for what it is that is the ultimate benefit of driving well. Is it excitement or satisfaction.
Do I have to know what I want to do and measure myself or is it enough to just drive somewhere?

I think that training and practise has helped me to work out what I want to do, enabled me to get closer to it, and so to derive great satisfaction from it. But right from the incompetent beginning of my driving career I loved the process of controlling the machine, and (perhaps relating more to your comments in another thread) in particular obtained both thrill and satisfaction from driving fast. The need to drive fast has diminished with age and with the better understanding of how I want to drive and of the ability to do so.

On the too rare occasions when I have slid the car under control (some of them with you) I have loved both the sensations and the satisfaction when it has worked right!

It is not enough to just drive somewhere.

[MagicalTrevor]

R0G said:

Before I passed the advanced test I was blissfully unaware of the antics some other drivers did - now I tend to see too much!!

As to whether it is more enjoyable then for my own driving - yes - but for what I am noticing - no

I also find this, I think I've said before that a negative aspect of having the benefit of advanced training is that I notice what other drivers do and don't do.

[The Black Flash]

Although I've not had any training, just reading roadcraft, ROSPAs guides and the various threads on this forum, has made driving more enjoyable for me.
I had become a bit stuck in a commuting rut, but becomming more aware of what I and others are doing has made even the trip to work interesting and enjoyable.

[SVS]

Don Palmer said:

I am now searching for what it is that is the ultimate benefit of driving well. Is it excitement or satisfaction.

At least personally, excitement and satisfaction are only part of the pleasure. Advanced training has brought me a number of benefits:

• 'Flow': After a critical mass of advanced training, I discovered I could more easily access a state of 'flow' when driving (or riding in my case). Obviously my driving is safer when in the flow, speed feels slow, everything is smooth and hazards dealt with easily. Above all, however, being in a state of flow is very pleasurable.
• Heightened satisfaction: I found that "satisfaction" doesn't do justice to the great pleasure from a smooth, accurate and flowing drive; I feel a certain sensory pleasure from such a ride. It may be partly a kinesthetic pleasure, but I'm not sure. (Again, I only found this after a critical mass of advanced training and practice.)
• Artistic pleasure: I find a certain visual pleasure in flowing from line to line. I don't know if regular track day enthusiasts get this, but it came to me when I could ride the 'roadcraft' line with unconscious competence. Certainly I find it more so on the bike than in the car, I think because the positioning is heightened on the bike.

Whether or not others notice anything similar, I thought this thread could be an antidote to the usual BGOL!

[WhoseGeneration]

It's a more intellectual approach to driving and riding than that presented to the majority who meet the basic standard.
"Intellectual" implies thinking and decisions about any situation and that, I feel, is the essential difference.
Meaning, as others have suggested, consciously deciding how one might approach the next bend and which gearchange method might be appropriate.