Lovely old job

I Spent the day with Met police traffic officers on Friday. Booked myself on a Bike Safe day to have my riding skills observed by those whose assessment I would respect. There were 7 of us, including Fazerman and we met at ‘The Warren’ near Bromley, in Kent, about 25 miles from home.
What a really informative, fun and well-organised day. We started with coffee/tea & biccies in a conference room, and were shown a powerpoint presentation with a talk on the major causes of bike accidents, positioning on the road for the best view ahead, how to anticipate potential hazards, filtering wide to have a better chance of being seen, optimum positions for cornering, road surfaces, general awareness and loads of other stuff too. The facilitating officers were really good at putting us at our ease so that we had lots of laughs along the way. We needed to forget that they were police officers in a way, and just think of them as experienced bike riders who had vast knowledge that we could benefit from.
After the talk we got paired up in groups with the traffic officers who were in uniform, and on police bikes, though being the only one on a Harley I was taken out on my own by two officers, (one of whom was learning the ropes and routes), and we were off for the morning ride. I’d ticked on my form that most of my riding was done outside of towns, so I was taken down into Orpington for a ride through the high street, which was slow moving and required constant smooth clutch, brake & balance adjustments, as well as acute all round observation of potential hazards. Knowing that my skills were being assessed resulted in a few nerves too, and because they were behind me I wasn’t riding my usual position on the open roads, I was riding as if I was part of a convoy.

On our return we had a debrief, my assessor, (Nick Brown), said, “Your experience showed as soon as we rode out of here, I can see that you are really comfortable with your bike, great ride, fantastic, lovely old job" - (one of his favourite phrases). Wow, how encouraging is that! The only thing he added was that during the afternoon ride he wanted me to concentrate on optimum road positioning for the view ahead.
One guy didn’t make it back, took a corner too wide and came off, wrecked his bike but was not injured. Apparently it was the 4th time off the same bike in 18 months. He was used to old British bikes and the Jap bike was too differently powered for his experience of riding.

Buffet lunch was included in the price of £30, and we chatted bikes as we munched through the feast provided, then off we rode for the 2hour country ride. I was paired up with the only other female and we headed out to Westerham and on to Ide Hill, lovely lanes with great windy hilly roads requiring full-on concentration. I found that I could forget about who was behind me, and just think about my positioning for cornering and best view ahead. It was fantastic, such a buzz. I missed a couple of over-taking opportunities through over-caution on unfamiliar roads, but made up for it on others, so I returned on a high for our debrief back at The Warren. My assessor asked if I noticed the difference now that I was positioning for the wider view. I had felt liberated from the responsibility of bothering about the bikes behind me and just got on with my ride, so yes, I sure noticed the difference. The traffic officer that was learning the ropes then took my bike out for a spin, he’d never ridden a Harley before. He came back with a big grin actually.

For me the day was well worth it, my skills as a rider have been honed by the experience and as my assessor said, “You never stop learning.”

I’m looking at an advanced riders course now, lots of opportunities for day rides out in different counties with good riders, then I’ll be entitled to an insurance discount too. Lovely old job.