I've Had my First IAM Observed ride

[MC Bodge]

The story of my IAM motorbiking from start to pass:



I went for my first IAM ride the other morning and here are a few of my thoughts.

The assembled bikes at the meeting place featured a large number of BMWs (of various vintage), only one Pan! (with large rear reflectors), a selection of other dual-sports, tourers and a Gixxer 1000.

I was assigned an observer who was a friendly bloke and we set off with me in front. The first few minutes felt like a driving test, but I relaxed into it.

I rode mostly as I would normally the most difficult bit was sticking religiously to all speed limits. I'm not a speed-freak, but some of the 30 & 40 limits on good visibility roads around here are ridiculous.

I then followed the observer for a bit.
-He was very competent, but there wasn't anything radically different to my own riding. It was noticeable that he didn't use the brakes very often, less than I would have, although he was riding a bit slower than I would have been.

At the coffee stop I was please to hear that I was riding well, with only a couple of reservations:

Give a slightly wider berth to parked and over-taken cars

Always pull away with the right foot on the peg to allow rear braking(I hadn't thought it necessary when leaving a car park with visibility 400m in each direction, but can do it for the IAM if that's what they want)

Always Be able to stop in the distance you can see (I had pulled away from the observer on the twisties, but he said it was because of the 'stopping in the distance you can see' thing)

Put a bigger gap between my bike and oncoming cars (he really did stay right over to the left when I followed him).

oh, and get into position slightly earlier before making a turn to the right at a T-junction.

-Fair enough.

I was encouraged that there were no fundamental issues and nothing and he gave me a good report.

The observer (also a Rospa man) did seem to believe very strongly in the speed limits, rather than just for the purposes of the course, although my view is that many of the 40 and most of the 50 limits are a little arbitrary.

Overall, having had some driving tuition, reading a lot of books and paying attention to my riding and driving, I didn't learn anything that was actually new, but it was good to be scrutinised and I'll work on his comments.

It was quite enjoyable though and I rode on some new-to-me roads, although, as a safety course, the emphasis wasn't particularly on having fun.

The next one is in a fortnight with a different observer.

Edited by MC Bodge on Wednesday 14th July 09:16

[Thesius]

Sounds like you had a good ride, well done

A large part of the riding isnt neccessarily where your bike is on the road but whats going on imbetween your ears. Forward planning will help you to put a plan together and help you get into position earlier and hopefully smooth out your riding.

Hopefully the next observer you have will be more fun and will help you enjoy it more.

[MC Bodge]

Don't get me wrong, the observer seemed like a good bloke.

It was worth doing to confirm that I was (mostly) doing what they regard as the right thing.

Edited by MC Bodge on Wednesday 5th May 13:34

[MC Bodge]

Thesius said:

Forward planning will help you to put a plan together and help you get into position earlier and hopefully smooth out your riding.

I agree, although I can't imagine that the difference will be too dramatic.

Going by some of the observer's anecdotes, I suspect that I'll get less out if the course than many others have!

[Thesius]

MC Bodge said:

Thesius said:

Forward planning will help you to put a plan together and help you get into position earlier and hopefully smooth out your riding.

I agree, although I can't imagine that the difference will be too dramatic.

Going by some of the observer's anecdotes, I suspect that I'll get less out if the course than many others have!

If you are an experienced rider who has spent time developing their riding style then you would probably get less out it than others. Personally I signed up to do the course a couple of months after buying my first bike and have benefited hugely from the course.

Some of the observers say one of the hardest leaps is getting from being a 'B' rider to an 'A' rider as its the subtle little things that give a polished ride.

[MC Bodge]

Thesius said:

Some of the observers say one of the hardest leaps is getting from being a 'B' rider to an 'A' rider as its the subtle little things that give a polished ride.

Do you mean the grades on the observer assessment sheet?

I'll see whether or not the next observer makes similar comments and whether any of the grades go up or down.

The criteria that were given the lower grades can be easily resolved.

Edited by MC Bodge on Wednesday 5th May 17:26

[Thesius]

MC Bodge said:

Thesius said:

Some of the observers say one of the hardest leaps is getting from being a 'B' rider to an 'A' rider as its the subtle little things that give a polished ride.

Do you mean the grades on the observer assessment sheet?

I'll see whether or not the next observer makes similar comments and whether any of the grades go up or down.

The criteria that were given the lower grades can be easily resolved.

Edited by MC Bodge on Wednesday 5th May 17:26

The difference in the run report forms between my local car group and the bike group are very different. The car one is rather basic whereas the bike forms are a lot more involved and you get an overall grade after each run. Generally speaking for our group a 'C' would be someone who has passed a DSA course, a 'B' would be a more experienced rider who is demonstrating and putting into use the IAM techniques and an 'A' is test standard.

You should find that the grades stay consistant and as you iron out the things the observers work with you on the comments will reduce and then the grades will go up.

Let us know how it goes with the next observer, it will be interesting to see if their comments change or if they are fairly similar to the observer you had for the first run.

[MC Bodge]

Thesius said:

Generally speaking for our group a 'C' would be someone who has passed a DSA course, a 'B' would be a more experienced rider who is demonstrating and putting into use the IAM techniques and an 'A' is test standard.

Cheers for that. I got A's & B's -and 2 Cs(for daft things that I can easily rectify now that I know what they're looking for).

I'll let you know how the next ones go.

[MC Bodge]

Question:

The DSA way is to make observations when entering a new speed limit.

Roadcraft suggests 'considering' a blind spot check.

I looked in my mirrors on my observed run, but is a blind spot check one of those things that should be done to show that it has been considered?

As an aside, in 16 years of driving/riding I don't think I've ever been in a situation where this check was/would have been of any use use for safety, but there's no reason not to look in the mirrors.

Edited by MC Bodge on Monday 10th May 15:38

[Thesius]

MC Bodge said:

Question:

The DSA way is to make observations when entering a new speed limit.

Roadcraft suggests 'considering' a blind spot check.

I looked in my mirrors on my observed run, but is a blind spot check one of those things that should be done to show that it has been considered?

As an aside, in 16 years of driving/riding I don't think I've ever been in a situation where this check was/would have been of any use use for safety, but there's no reason not to look in the mirrors.

Edited by MC Bodge on Monday 10th May 15:38

I personally dont bother with lifesavers when going into a new speed limit. A mirror check is always a good idea so you have an idea of what is happening behind you, but if your going from say a 30 into a NSL you really want to be looking where you are going when you crack the power on.

In reverse, dropping from a NSL into a 30, if you come off the power nice and early and let the engine breaking do the work you give yourself a chance to put a 'riding plan' together. Again if you do a lifesaver after going through the 30 posts and havent seen a junction or a car turning you will be in all kinds of trouble.

If you make it obvious you are checking your mirrors your observer should be ok with that, if you are unsure have a quick chat with him/her about it.

[ScoobyChris]

Imvho, the blind spot check is about change of position rather than change of speed. If you're not planning to change position (eg overtake), I think a mirror check will give you all the information you need about what is going on to the rear and chances are that on a bike, very few things are likely to attempt an overtake. If someone has "disappeared" from your mirrors, a blind spot check is probably worthwhile to locate them again.

So, you always consider one, but may decide the situation doesn't warrant it

Chris

Edited by ScoobyChris on Thursday 13th May 10:40

[Thesius]

ScoobyChris said:

Imvho, the blind spot check is about change of position rather than change of speed. If you're not planning to change position (eg overtake), I think a mirror check will give you all the information you need about what is going on to the rear and chances are that on a bike, very few things are likely to attempt an overtake. If someone has "disappeared" from your mirrors, a blind spot check is probably worthwhile to locate them again.

So, you always consider one, but may decide the situation doesn't warrant it

Chris

Edited by ScoobyChris on Thursday 13th May 10:40

I would agree with that, if you are turning right into a junction its worth doing a lifesaver to make sure there is nothing overtaking you on your right for example.

I dont think you are expected to do a lifesaver when overtaking, again if you have closed up to a 1 second gap in anticipation of overtaking the last thing you want to do is be looking behind you as the car may have a change in direction or may break.

[ScoobyChris]

The last thing I'd want is for the chap behind me to already be (committing to) overtaking when I was moving from following (2 seconds) up to offside contact (1 second) so I'd personally use the lifesaver prior to changing from the following position

Perhaps I'm overly cautious

Chris

Edited by ScoobyChris on Thursday 13th May 17:00

Edited by ScoobyChris on Thursday 13th May 17:01

[Thesius]

ScoobyChris said:

Perhaps I'm overly cautious

Is there such a thing when on the road, be it on 2 or 4 wheels?

[MC Bodge]

Thesius said:

Let us know how it goes with the next observer, it will be interesting to see if their comments change or if they are fairly similar to the observer you had for the first run.

I had the second observed ride today.

We began with a u-turn in 1 x parking space long x 3 parking spaces wide. I managed it and then offered to demonstrate doing it in a box 2 spaces wide and failed (despite confidently declaring that I would ). I suspect that I couldn't actually walk it around in 2 spaces.

The ride observer (observer 2) was a good bloke again, although a bit more relaxed than the previous one. He was a similar age to me and appeared to be more keen on 'making progress' than the previous chap.

There weren't many comments.

I did try to address some of observer 1's comments about positioning and cornering speed/vanishing points which resulted in observer 2 asking why I was often so far over to the left and why I was making good progress on the straights and not always carrying speed through the corners -You can't win!

He reckoned that there was no need for a shoulder check at a speed limit change.

It was also suggested that I sometimes took an unnecessarily wide approach to bends, although I would argue that a wide entry, quick turn-in, rolling-on the gas and a late apex was good practice, even if the speed limit has been arbitrarily lowered by the council.

On the way back I just followed the observer which was more relaxed than being in front and matched his making progress from a safe distance.

Edited by MC Bodge on Monday 17th May 09:01

[Thesius]

Sounds like its going well, the main thing is that you are enjoying it and if things arent clear questioning them is healthy.

MC Bodge said:

Thesius said:

Let us know how it goes with the next observer, it will be interesting to see if their comments change or if they are fairly similar to the observer you had for the first run.

There weren't many comments.

I did try to address some of observer 1's comments about positioning and cornering speed/vanishing points which resulted in observer 2 asking why I was often so far over to the left and why I was making good progress on the straights and not always carrying speed through the corners -You can't win!

He reckoned that there was no need for a shoulder check at a speed limit change.

It was also suggested that I sometimes took an unnecessarily wide approach to bends, although I would argue that a wide entry, quick turn-in, rolling-on the gas and a late apex was good practice, even if the speed limit has been arbitrarily lowered by the council.

have a look at this: http://www.maxrider.co.uk/corneringclinic.htm

The vodcasts help to illistrate what your observers will be looking for. As you will see for a right hand bend the rider sits in the gutter, the reason for this is a, it opens up his visibility so makes it safer b, it is a wider turning circle so he can go faster (not as fast as you can corner on a track but you will never get that advice for riding on the road) and c, when the bike is banked over to the right his head is no where near on coming traffic. For a left hander, the rider site just left of center this is again a, to open up his visibility so he can chase the vanishing point and so he knows the road ahead is clear b, its a wider turning circle so its easier to maintain good speed through the corner and c, if there was a wall or something in the hedge your head is as far away from danger as possible.

Edited by Thesius on Monday 17th May 12:22

[MC Bodge]

Thesius said:

Sounds like its going well, the main thing is that you are enjoying it and if things arent clear questioning them is healthy.

The vodcasts help to illistrate what your observers will be looking for.

Edited by Thesius on Monday 17th May 12:22

Cheers. I am aware of the reasons for approaching bends 'wide', but yesterday's comments referred to me doing it unnecessarily when the view ahead was good in low speed limits. I wasn't told that it was 'wrong', just a comment.

Observer 1 obviously likes to keep a long way to left to keep away from hazards/oncoming vehicles, but that is presumably his preference and I won't do it quite so much on the assessed ride.

As for the compromise between "carrying speed through corners" and "being able to stop in the distance I can see", well I'm just going to strike a happy medium.... On ride 1 I ended up leaving the observer behind on the twisties and on ride 2 I slowed up for corners and made sure that I waited for the observer. Both of which resulted in comments.

Who knows who/what ride 3 will bring?!

Edited by MC Bodge on Monday 17th May 15:59

[Thesius]

MC Bodge said:

Cheers. I am aware of the reasons for approaching bends 'wide', but yesterday's comments referred to me doing it unnecessarily when the view ahead was good in low speed limits. I wasn't told that it was 'wrong', just a comment.

Sorry, I didnt realise you where talking about lower speed limits, in 30's and 40's you wont gain much of an advantage by moving over to one extreme or the other. You are also not leaning the bike over that much so dont have the same level of safety concerns to worry about.

If you are going through a village with a very tight left hander for example it is worth getting out to a decent position for vision/safety, if its a normal town or village and there isnt much of an advantage to gain from moving over then dont (i.e. if you can see round the corner there is no point changing your position).

does that help? In essence, I guess the idea is that if you gain an advantage from moving to 1 extreme or the other then do but if you can see round the corner and there is no advantage to be gained by moving, then dont.

[MC Bodge]

Thesius said:

In essence, I guess the idea is that if you gain an advantage from moving to 1 extreme or the other then do but if you can see round the corner and there is no advantage to be gained by moving, then dont.

I think that was the general gist of it. Nothing wrong, but not required. The previous observer hadn't mentioned it though.

[MC Bodge]

I had my third observed ride today.

The observer was a good bloke and rides one of those K12(3?)00r beasts. A trainee observer also followed the observer.

The route was the best so far, with a good section of hills and twisties, including hairpins, around the North Peak. It was very wet though.

It was the best and most enjoyable ride so far. We made good progress and the observer(s) were enthusiastic.

I basically split the difference of the previous observers' comments and got a good report. It's now just a case of polishing things slightly, apparently, although I'm happy with the fact that I was of a reasonable standard before I started.

I rode back with a few of the group, which was also good. One of the blokes in the group had a KTM 950 SM -I want one.

Edited by MC Bodge on Monday 7th June 08:54