Bronz Riding Course

[Anonymous]

#2940

Yesterday I and another 14 chaps and chapesses did the Bronz RRRs course. It was held at the old Air Force  Hobsonville Airbase here in Aucklandistan. Interesting course with 15 riders from all sorts of experience… not all newbies and a range of bikes from Vespas to HDs. In fact there were Vespal Virgins as well as H/D'ollies. Quite a useful day out if for no other reason than for a confidence reason: i.e. I know that I am safer the the dick-wit with the jandals and t-shirt, so the statistics are trending in my favour. If you are new: do it. It will pay back big time, especially when you have to do an emergency stop for the first time… the first time in anger that is. A number of us old bstds  not having been in the sadle for a while... and the same applies to our bike riding.... it was helpful. That was until the lady on the HD fell over and finished up with the  HD on top of her finger which was munted... but hey you it was training so better there and not on the highway. [Finger 'bout it...] Not everyone is a rock star bike rider straight off.... even though some think they are. Oh and the ABS on BR4 was brilliant.... as I stopped in much shorter distances from every one our fellow atendess... a good feeling of: ' I have done the right thing by getting this BMW ABS thingy.'                          Ka kiteLoins

[Dave Ross]

#12001

I've done the course three times. It really is quite good, apart from a couple of things which were a bit stupid. I hope they've changed the exercise where an instructor points left or right at the last moment to direct a rider into one cone alley or the other. When I did it the guy stood in front of the cones, ready to get nailed by the first indecisive participant. I still recommend it to anybody experienced or not. Where else do you get to try out all this stuff in a pretty safe environment.

[Nick Taber]

#12002

Sounds good.  Can anyone point me in the right direction for signing up for it?

[Dave Ross]

#12003

Sounds good.  Can anyone point me in the right direction for signing up for it?

The contact details are in every newsletter under 'other events'. You can download one from the website, if you don't have one handy.

[Anonymous]

#12004

Here's the site.http://www.rrrs.org.nz

[Anonymous]

#12005

Yes they did do the ride up to the marshall in the middle of the marked out lane, and get an indication to counter-steer at the last moment to go left or right. However I did the sensible thing and decided which side I would go in advance. Well I still had a 50/50 chance of getting it right! (But didn't!) Cheers Loins

[Anonymous]

#12006

I haven't struck a newbie yet that has come close to getting me with this exercise, but some born again riders have had me on the toes ready to zig if they zagged.People who have been taught to ride from the start, and given an understanding of countersteering do far better at the "moose test", "counter-steer evasion", call it what you will, than do us old farts that climbed on a bike about a hundred years ago, "taught" ourselves to ride, and then found out about countersteer far too much later.Sure, we all use it, because despite all the other theories about what turns a road bike, Keith Code's elegant test track experiments have proved beyond reasonable doubt countersteer is THE physical force, above all others, what does it. BUT, us old farts, in a pinch, tend to go the wrong way first: the pause is very, very short before our instinct that something wrong is happening takes over and applies countersteer, but it is there in a helluva lot of cases.My wife had countersteering thumped into her when she started on a scooter (and it is hard to teach someone on a scoot, because they are SO responsive, very small control inputs required). In some ways she is an even worse rider than I am, but faced with the "moose test" in the wild, she zigs around and zags back without any detectable "hang" in the manoeuvre. (The "hang" is the giveaway that your initial input has been the wrong way.) I am really proud of her when I watch her do it, and really proud of myself that I didn't actually thump her during the learning process: it was a close run thing sometimes. 😮 😮 😮

[Nick Taber]

#12007

Here's the site.  http://www.rrrs.org.nz

Thanks.I'll need to read the newsletter properly next time.

[Dave Ross]

#12008

I think the exercise is brilliant, I just question the need to stand in front of the cone, closest to the oncoming rider. I would have 3-4 cones in front of me, to get me a fighting chance for the person who can't make up their mind.

[David]

#12009

I thought the team leader standing to the front of the cones put reality into the exercise and showed whether a rider could make a proper, prompt decision or not. If you cant…..dont ride!

[honeybear.2399]

#12010

I think the exercise is brilliant, I just question the need to stand in front of the cone, closest to the oncoming rider. I would have 3-4 cones in front of me, to get me a fighting chance for the person who can't make up their mind.

Chicken!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Dave Ross]

#12011

😀  Let's call it a sense for survival.

[Anonymous]

#12012

There were actually other exercises such as going around tennis balls in very small circles. This was very handy and I will be using it every time I zoom up Stanley Street. Seriously, though, it was a good course for not only newbies but people who had been riding for a while but were not so 'I know everything' that they recognised that there was still stuff to learn. Tiger Woods still has a golf coach. The other great thing as that when we do the stats about who has wiped out or worse…. I like to make my chances better, newbie or not, by giving myself that advantage of benefitting from a bit of the knowledge that those who have not done the course don't. ka kiteLoins

[honeybear.2399]

#12013

😀  Let's call it a sense for survival.

I have done the course. It is very good.  But you know you do not shoot till you see the the whites of their eyes 👿 Phil

[Author]

Posts