Comment: 18 December 2006

  Last Chance for Xmas CDROMs and Gift Vouchers

If you're still looking for a last minute present, don't forget the CDROMs and Gift Vouchers - we can accept electronic payment and with a special download option for Christmas, you can buy a CDROM or Gift Voucher as late as Christmas Eve and still have it in time for Santa to pop in the stocking.

So, what's stopping you??

Comment: 18 December 2006

  Merry Christmas to all our readers

Astonishingly, Christmas is just around the corner and it's time to dust off the ornaments and polish up the tree for another round of festivities. It still doesn't feel particularly winter like here in Kent - the last two mornings have seen a frost, but there was still a butterfly in the garden as late as last weekend.

I'll get one more update in before the end of the year, but it'll be a quickie as I take a few days off.

Comment: 18 December 2006

  Ashes to ashes

Well, I turned the TV this morning on to catch up with the overnight action from Australia, and not surprisingly, Australia have regained the Ashes at the first available opportunity by winning the third test of five to make it 3:0.

I don't think anyone could argue that in the first three tests of the series England have been out-played, out-thought and out-managed. And by a hefty margin too.

The debacle of the first test put England firmly on the back foot. Whether they were underprepared and playing the wrong kind of cricket is a moot point, and I don't think there is any argument that Monty Panesar should have played from the start, but in my opinion, the decision that threw away the series was the early declaration in the second test.

Batting on in the final session and into the next morning, perhaps adding another 100+ runs which didn't look inconceivable the way England were going, would have made the follow on target 450+. From that position, the Aussies would have been fighting to save the game.

650, 700 would have put the game out of sight of the Australians and left only two possible outcomes - draw or England win. Even another 50 runs and an hour at the crease would have made a big difference to the potential outcomes.

551 is a good score, but it wasn't out of sight - it didn't just give Australia a wide open chance of saving the game, it gave them more than a sniff of winning!

To my mind, the other miscalculation was that with only 350-odd required to avoid the follow on, it put the onus on England's misfiring bowlers not only to take wickets but keep the score and run rate down at the same time, a double task they were unlikely to be able to do. It's easy to be an armchair critic, but given the way England had garnered runs, it doesn't seem to me that it should have been difficult to predict that the Aussie batsmen would easily beat that unexacting total.

Showing confidence in your players is one thing, but putting them under pressure is another. Another 100 runs and with no way to lose would have meant that wickets taken column would have been morale-boosting rather than runs conceded column confidence-sapping.

Worse than that, and probably crucially in a series which is won as much in the head as it is on the pitch, the declaration took the pressure off at a time when the Australian bowlers, particularly McGrath and Warne, were wilting against a torrent of runs, whilst at the same time denying Flintoff and the tail some vital confidence-building batting practice against tired bowlers and missing an opportunity for England's batsmen to say "whatever you can do, we can do better" by exceeding Australia's big score in the first test.

In the event, as the Aussies batted, the pommie bowlers aside from Hoggard toiled, the Australians virtually matched England's first innings total with relative ease, and with the best part of four sessions left, the Aussies had saved the game and re-established their mental superiority.

Throwing away that chance for a bigger lead and the opportunity of being able to pressure Australia almost to the end, meant the pendulum had swung back to Australia.

By now, there was only one team who could lose; England. And pressure was back on the England batsmen to re-establish command of the game against a rested and rejuvenated Warne and McGrath.

The rest, as they say is history. England's batting collapsed and with Australian confidence sky high, it left enough time for a quick-fire assault on the England bowlers - and this time Hoggard couldn't keep the runs down.

Comment: 1 December 2006

  All quiet on the Eastern Front

Just a quick update to let you all know that Survival Skills IS still around. I've had some family health problems over the last few weeks which have taken up a lot of my time, so there's not been an update to the website and some of the date specific offers in the side bars are now looking a bit tired! Suffice to say, I will get the site fully updated in the next few weeks and we WILL be around and raring to go next year. Scheduled courses will resume in March 07.

Other Plans for 2007

The new Advanced Instructors' Register is due to be launched next year. Having had a look at the scheme, I have to say that I'm less than impressed with it in many ways, not least the cost to me of actually joining and subsequently renewing my membership to be on the register. Particularly galling is that having been an "early adopter" of a proper training qualification via my BTEC, I'm actually now penalised because it's dated outside the cut-off and I'll have to re-satisfy the panel, whilst Johnny Come Lately's with less experience can walk straight in. Happy? Not exactly.

Aside from the training courses, I have a bunch of new projects to fill what spare time I am likely to have over the next few weeks, including migrating the site to new host - I've just about run out of space on the old web host servers! I don't think I ever envisaged the site growing to this size when I started writing a few tips for people on the web!

The existing 75+ articles in the Riding Skills section have been put together into e-book format and I plan to make these available for free download when I transfer to the new host.

I've also got plans for some cheap downloadable e-guides to specific topics - slow control and cornering technique are two of the topics planned.

Watch this space for news as it develops!

Tarmac Tactics update

Meanwhile, there are some people out there wondering what happened to the "late October" delivery of the new 'Tarmac Tactics' CDROM after they pre-ordered the CDROM.

Well, as in the last installment, there was a bit of a delay due to a bad cold and subsequent chest infection that sent me to bed back in October, and then unfortunately the family problems have taken a big chunk of my time last month.

But, aside with the excuses, the writing has gone on where possible and the good news is that it is FINISHED! I'm just tidying up a few rough edges as I write and v1.0 WILL be shipping by the end of next week! So if you are still looking for an Xmas gift for your riding partner or best buddy, do them a favour and give them a CD on top biking skills. There's plenty of reading in there - about 200 pages if it were a paperback plus dozens of on-bike still photos - to keep you busy over the holidays and the winter when riding is not so high on the agenda.

Gift Vouchers

And lastly, don't forget the Gift Vouchers - there's a strictly limited quantity of the full course price vouchers with discounts and they are going fast - when the stack in the corner of the office has gone, they've gone.

France Training

Having run a number of training courses in France in the second half of this year, as soon as the weather warms up, and the clocks do their spring forward adjustment and we move into the longer evenings again, we'll be back over there for more courses.

I've found an excellent gite not too far from the coast, at a perfect distance for 2 days steady riding, and I can't emphasise how good the riding is over there, compared with the south of England, even given the effort I've put into finding empty and challenging roads in the UK. I've found a route with a dozen hairpin bends so if you've never ridden abroad and are planning a trip to the Alps, Pyrenees or any of the other mountainous bits of Europe, a 1 day 'Bends' course, or the 2 dayer with the overnight stop at the gite would be an excellent way of warming up for the longer event, not least as I clearly explain the french Priority to the Right system, something few people (including the motoring organisations in this country) seem to fully understand.

The gite is run by a anglo-french woman and her italian husband, a couple who ran a restaurant in Brussels for 20 years, so I can promise you the home cooking for our evening meal is a treat. On our trip down there in September, the home made bread and goat's cheese starter was matched perfectly by the main dish of fresh fish from the quayside, and the zabaglione made whilst we sat and and chatted over a couple of bottles of wine.

With Eurotunnel still doing crossings for under £30, it's an excellent way to spend a couple of days riding.

Survival Skills on Tour 2007

Finally, keep your eye open for the annual 'Survival Skills on Tour' dates as we travel around the country. As has become usual over the last few years, we'll be visiting Montgomery in mid-Wales, Grassington in Yorkshire and Dartmouth in Devon.

In the meantime, if I don't manage another update between now and the festive season which is looming ever closer, I'd just like to wish all visitors to this site as well as all the folk who have taken courses over the last 10 years a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Comment: 3 November 2006

  Autumn Arrives, Hayden survives (just)

I don't know what the weather has been like in your part of the country, but down here in Kent, aside from three days which would have had Noah rubbing his hands enthusiastically together, we've had a cracking month of October, with the warm weather extending right to the end of the month.

Indeed, as I had a (fairly rare) weekend off last weekend with friends visiting, which is why there was no update, the gorgeous weather just demanded a "before the final GP of the season" stroll round the local woods, and despite having set off at 10:30, we only just made it back for the race at 1pm.

However, the last couple of nights have seen the first frosts of the year, the electric waistcoat has been dusted off and plugged in, and the clocks have gone back, which means it's dark at 5pm now. That's the moment it really does feel like winter!

And just time to mention that Survival Skills courses are still running, upto mid-December, although it's best to have a look at the weather forecast and book at short notice rather than weeks ahead because of the weather. The 10am/3pm start and finish times also give you a fighting chance of leaving and getting back home in daylight too. After that, we're closed till February, and timetabled courses resume in March.

Meanwhile, the Discount Course* offer has been extended to the end of November in Kent and Oxford.

Confirm your booking with a deposit cheque by 30 October and you'll get the following great savings:

1. £10 OFF the normal price of a ONE day course and £20 OFF a two day course. Opt for the three day course you'll save £30!
2. A £5 per day discount applies to the second person our "bring a friend or partner" deal, so you could save as much as £45 per course!

e-Mail us NOW for full terms and conditions.

* Applies to 1, 2 and 3 day courses - excludes Short Courses, Mix and Match, Assessments and training in France.

So if you want to grab a late autumn course, now's the time. I have a couple of dates available for Oxford on Friday 17 and Sat 18, plus a riding assessment along the lines of the Bikesafe assessment (just £50!) available on Sunday 19. Other dates are available in Kent - see "Courses" from the menu.

Back to the GP. In a way, it's sad to see Rossi lose this year after making such a fight of it, although to be honest his crash evened out the bad luck Hayden had in the previous GP, when he was taken out by his own team-mate, the loony (and rather distraught-looking) Dani Pedrosa! On the other hand, one might argue that you can have too much of a good thing and it's time for a change. Certainly over the years Rossi's had more than his fare share of luck as well as made the odd dodgy manoeuvre himself, like when he torpedoed Sete Gibernau mid-corner a few seasons back, punting the luckless Sete into the gravel, but himself staying on and winning the race.

But to be honest, once Rossi had gone down, remounted and clearly wasn't going to carve through the field as I expected, there was only one person to watch. And that was Troy Bayliss. That one-off ride on the Ducati must have settled a lot of demons from his previous failure to produce the goods in MotoGP. What a star!

Comment: 3 November 2006

  Tarmac Tactics - slightly delayed

When I've not been training (or in bed with my first colds for 18 months - 2 in 2 weeks is a bit much and it takes a bit of a whopper to put me off my stride!) I've been busily putting the finishing touches to the latest addition to the Survival Skills Publications series - "Tarmac Tactics".

This new CDROM takes over where the "Survival Skills - Course Notes" CD leaves off. If the first is an explanation of good defensive techniques, machine control and advanced riding skills, "Tarmac Tactics" is about how to use those skills practically on 21st century roads, with pages of tips and tricks I've learned both from 16 years despatch riding and my decade in advanced training.

It's all useful stuff I personally use everyday to give myself the edge to survive in all kinds of riding environments from country lanes to busy motorways. Unlike most riding guides which are designed to get the reader riding the perfect ride, "Tarmac Tactics" takes the opposite approach; to know how to ride well, first of all you have to know where something will go wrong, why it goes wrong, who to try to avoid it going wrong, and most importantly of all, how to avoid coming a cropper when it DOES go wrong. Because sooner or later, however good we think we are, we will face an emergency.

Not only will this guide inform you of the risks of some everyday manoeuvres that we take for granted, but it'll up your confidence that you really can do a good, high quality, ride, in the knowledge you have a decent grasp of the dangers and how to stay out of trouble, not just how to look good.

I was hoping to have this finished by the end of last month, but as with most deadlines, this one has slipped a bit, not least because the content has just about doubled in size from the previous draft version that I've been working on all year. But considering I started writing the first version as long ago as 1994, I think you'll forgive me if I take just a week or three longer to ensure I've got it just right!

You can pre-order "Tarmac Tactics" via the Shop!

Comment: 3 November 2006

  Driven to Distraction

If you're out and about on the roads, try to avoid the A444 near Coventry until the local highways people have sorted themselves out. In one of those moments of madness that delight and confuse in equal measures, each set of newly installed lights on the roundabout has a "No Left Turn" sign attached to it. Thus, once on the roundabout, motorists must either circulate for the rest of time, or more reasonably break the law to get off the island.

What is even more astonishing, and indicative of true British Stiff Upper Lip in the face of adversity, is the fact it seems the signs had been there for FIVE WEEKS and the council hadn't noticed - and no-one had thought to complain! The result has been five weeks of traffic chaos.

However, fear not, we ARE on the job, says a spokesman from Coventry City Council. He said the signs had been installed together with traffic lights as part of a road safety scheme that is not yet complete.

He said:

"The current advice on the installation of traffic signals at roundabouts does suggest that where the entry and exits are separate that No Left Turn signs are installed to advise drivers not to drive down the entry arm of the roundabout, however the advice is not always relevant.

"In response to the concerns that have been raised, the city council is proposing to cover the signs in the short term and eventually remove them."

Not yet complete? Proposing? Short term? How about getting down there and sorting the mess out NOW? Did no-one at the planning department not notice that their "not yet complete" scheme didn't actually make sense? It reminds me of the old joke about (insert whichever country you like) switching driving from one side of the road to the other, and to make it easy for drivers, introducing the change gradually!

Driving instructor Danny Noonan told the Coventry Evening Telegraph that the signs could cause an accident. He said:

"All the roads going off the roundabout have a No Left Turn sign, so once you start to go round the roundabout you in effect have to break the law to come off it. Some of my learner drivers try and go round again, until I tell them where to come off."

When I was couriering, I used to pride myself on knowing my way round on the one way streets, but even I would have struggled to find my way out of this conundrum!

Comment: 13 October 2006

  Honda beat new Hornet with the ugly stick

One of the recurring themes about the motor industry for as long as I can remember has been the concept car or bike, usually a styling exercise scribbled down by some young graduate snapped up straight out of college.

Thankfully, senior excutives control which designs hit the showrooms and with a few notable exceptions (AMC Pacer, anyone?) have largely spared the world a collection of vehicles that look as though they came straight out of Gerry Anderson's Thunderbirds or off the set of Bladerunner.

The downside has been a generation of cars that are identical. Can anyone really tell the difference between a Ford Mondeo and a... a... errr... well, you get the picture. However, I guess those 60s and 70s designers are now at the senior executive level, because there are some hideously ugly cars appearing - Citroen seem to have built an entire range of them!

Bikes have always been slightly different. Although there's still the ergonomic necessity for the rider to have somewhere to sit between the two wheels, and to be able to steer the thing, and constraints of weight and wheelbase if the bike is to be reasonably manageable by someone who isn't a direct descendent of King Kong, there's far more leeway for a bit of "branding".

This has been particularly true as the engine was traditionally on display, unlike in a car, with the clear distinction since the end of the Second World War between parallel twin Brits, the big Vs favoured by the American and Italian builders and of course, the flat twin BMW. (And just in case anyone mentions JAP, Sunbeam or any of the other myriad engine builders, yes, I do know a little history further back). Indeed, the Universal Japanese Motorcycle with its inline four was seen as bland and identikit, compared with the traditional roots of these non-Japanese bikes.

However, with a few exceptions like the hideous Philippe Stark inspired Aprilia Moto 6.5 (matched his kettles apparently), and perhaps the odd bike like the V -Max, the family image of bikes has been mostly quite tame. Not surprising really when you realise that form follows fashion, rather than function! And wth a few exceptions, most people like what they know - ask any designer of a "funny front end".

If you want a laid back cruiser, it has to have the Harley look.

Big tourer? Look no further than cloning the BMWs.

Supersports? We'll pretend it's aerodynamic but actually we'll build a replica of the race bike to flog to the Rossi wannabee's.

Dual sport? It's got to look like you could win the Paris-Dakar on it.

So, really, the only area for messing about is the all-purpose runabout. Yet pretty much for 50 years, they've followed the same styling. Look at a 60's Triumph Daytona... and look at a 2004 Hornet, Bandit or Z750. There's no real difference between them other than styling tweaks. Bars are in the same place, footpegs and controls are the same, tank still sits between your knees, the seat is... a seat perched on a conventional frame, the exhaust still pokes out the back and you have the same instruments display and a nice round headlight. An LED tail light and digital clocks is hardly a huge leap.

Whether they've been inspired by Citroen, I have no idea but suddenly the bike image for the middle part of the first decade of the 21st century appears to be "new brutalist". At least, there's no other way to describe the sudden rush of naked 600s that seem to have been styled with a sledgehammer.

To my mind at least, the naked FZ6 is undeniably ugly from front and side. The FZ6's back end is bit tidier, but it has a peculiar hunchback look - and that headlight is a disaster, and so are the nasty clocks on the naked version. At least Yamaha have sorted the front of the FZ6 out by sticking a fairing on as an option and that version doesn't look too bad. It's much more balanced looking. Suddenly the tank doesn't look like a deformity but something that is designed, and I don't think it's any coincidence there are a few of the faired ones around.

Not to be outdone, Suzuki responded with the equally hideous GSR600. And people seem to have voted with their wallets. I've seen ONE GSR600 in a year . From the front, the Suzuki just looks bulbous. It looks someone stuck a set of scooter bodywork on upside down, and those indicators set into the bodywork round the tank are daft.

These bikes are supposed to be a stepping stone between the cheap 500 twins and the sportsbike range. I've even wondered if they are deliberarely ugly to drive prospective purchasers to the more expensive but undeniably more eye-candy sportsbikes.

Interestingly Kawasaki's own ugly duckling, the ER-6, carries a perked up twin cylinder rather a deliberately castrated down-at-heel in-line four nicked from the sportsbikes, which will presumably give it a price edge, whilst not losing too much in terms of usable speed. After all, whilst the FZ6's publicity blurb talks of the adrenaline-pumping fun of a fuel-injected R6-based engine, you need neck-muscles like Arnie to hang on for any length of time at the kind of speeds the bike can manage.

However, these run-away sales successes have not stopped Honda joining the fun. Having flooded the 600 market with the naked and faired CBF600, the CB600 Hornet, the CBR600F AND the CBR600RR, priced at everthing from £4k to £7, they seem to have decided they needed an ugly duckling too.

As the plain Jane (ok, dull) CBFs cater for the BOFs like me and the CBR pair keep the sports bike fans happy, that left the Hornet as the "exactly why do we have this model in the line-up" machine, and thus fit for tinkering.

Enter the new 2007 Honda Hornet. And boy, has it been battered. As a friend said as we were looking at the new piccies:

"Uh - what is THAT thing masquerading as an exhaust?? If you kind of split it into two by putting your hand over it and look first at everything in front of the back wheel, then cover that and look at the back, it looks like two separate bikes...or like someone's forgotten to put the bit in that goes at the back!"

But is any manufacturer bold enough to really change things? The answer has to be no. Even Buell with their reputation for walking on the wild side have only really tinkered with a conventional motorcycle design. Sticking a triangular exhaust on a powered two wheeler isn't innovation - unless I'm losing the plot or really getting old. Where are the daring feet-forward designs like Royce Creaser's Voyager or the fully enclosed Ecomobiles?

Meanwhile, I keep looking at Moto Guzzis and thinking: "nice simple styling, 2 valve air cooled motor, shaft drive".

Comment: 13 October 2006

  French Frolics - or "three take a steady cruise round the Pas de Calais"

Well, we got in our two day Survival Skills training course over in France three weeks back in excellent warm and sunny autumn weather. And I have to say it was a huge hit with the two guys on the course.

We were a little late arriving in France because the scheduled service on Eurotunnel seemed to have been abandoned for a "join the bus queue" approach, but we only lost 20 minutes so no huge problem there.

Our route started nice and easy and took us south down towards the town of Lumbres. Now, if you haven't been across this bit of France, it's incredibly easy to overlook, particularly as there are two motorways that bypass it completely. If you know the south of England at all, the best way to describe the scenery is rather like the South Downs between Beachy Head around Arundel. Or possibly bits of Wiltshire. What that means is hills. Lots of them.

Things get interesting after leaving our lunch/shopping stop at a modern hypermarche at Lumbres, with the route following the a tributary of the Aa river, before climbing and falling via several sets of hairpins to Nielles-Les-Blequines.

Here the ride took a bit of a wrong turn. Well, we had to - there was a diversion in operation. Trusting the GPS got us where I intended some 30 minutes later than planned, but at the expense of following a goat track. Well, we did pass a goat roaming at large on it, so I guess it was a goat track!

Back on course, we picked up the Vallee de la Course, a smoothly sinous road that runs mostly along a scenic river valley. A left turn just before Montreuil and we were arriving at our evening stop-over at Beaurainville.

We'd booked into the CHAMBRES D'HÔTES DU MONT BLANC, run by Jeannie and Orazio Cerrato. Jeannie and Orazio ran a restaurant in Brussels for many years and were unfazed by us arriving half an hour late, despite their having prepared an evening meal for us. The food can only be described as mouthwatering. There was no particular highlight - the local goat cheese, the organic bread baked by a neighbour, the fresh fish straight from the coast or the zabaglione prepared by Orazio as we sat and chatted over a couple of bottles of white wine - all were delicious.

The rooms were elegant, spotless and comfortable, and the kitchen area between them made an excellent place to continue our training chat and video presentation after breakfast next morning. I could happily have spent a extra day just enjoying the sun in their garden, and it was a bit of an effort to get myself mobile and onto the bike for the second day.

Our route back towards the coast took us along some nice sweeping roads with a good mixture of fast and slower bends, with the obligatory hairpins in the steep decents to the river valleys. First north east, then north west towards Embry, stopping at a traditional french cafe in Hucqueliers for a bite to eat.

After riding round Desvres three or four times following a mixture of signs and GPS (memo to self: follow the signs OR the GPS, not both!), we finally found our way out northwards and made off towards Le Ventus d'Alembron, where the road climbs steeply over a ridge via yet another set of hairpins, with a view back over the wide valley to the south.

From here east until we crossed the A16 north of Marquise is the only slightly uninteresting bit of the ride - it's not that the roads are that bad, or the scenery isn't reasonable, but there are a few more cars around (ie, there are some!), the villages are a rather less elegant and closer together, and there is one huge hole in the ground that is one of the biggest quarries I've seen. But it's only a short stretch and once across the autoroute, you're headed for the coast, and the final treat on the ride.

North of Ambleteuse, the coast road either sits four or five hundred feet high on the clifftops looking out into the channel or dips suddenly into narrow deep valleys, passing Cap Griz Nez and Cap Blanc Nez on the way. In the evening sun, it's a spectacular end to a terrific day out.

I've done the route a few times now so have the timings pretty well worked out, so Mark and Alick were pretty amazed as I rolled into the Eurotunnel terminal almost exact to the minute to our schedule. In no time at all, we were on the train, finishing up with a debrief as we rolled beneath the channel, and thirty minutes later rolled off into the Kent countryside in the last hour or so of sunlight.

One thing both the guys remarked upon was how few miles we'd actually done, and how they felt like we'd ridden twice as many! We did around 90 miles each day. It's the roads. They may not be well known and the whole area is usually avoided by Brit bikers on their way to somewhere fancier, but if you think it's dull, think again. There are fast open roads, sinous roads and steep climbs and descents.

Interested? You should be if you want a couple of days of great riding! With Calais just 25 minutes from Dover and cross-channel prices at an all-time low for short trips, it's a bargain not to be missed!

CHAMBRES D'HÔTES DU MONT BLANC

313 Rue du Mont Blanc
62990 beaurainville

Tel : +33(0)3-21-81-04-26
Fax : +33(0)3-21-81-04-26
Por : +33(0)6-32-35-42-15
 

Contact: Jeannie et Orazio Cerrato

http://users.skynet.be/ChambresdHotes.MontBlanc/index.html

Comment: 22 September 2006

  Hurricane Gordon fails to disrupt training

I suppose it was inevitable, but as soon as I wrote about the favourable long range forecast, two hurricanes promptly brewed up in the Atlantic and swung round in the long loop that drags them towards the UK. This is often the fate of a hurricane that is blocked by weather systems from tracking into the Caribbean or across the eastern seaboard of the United States.

Of course, by the time they get to the UK, they've lost their tropical storm characteristics due to a combination of wind shear and colder seas (you can tell I did a bit of meteorology at university, can't you?) but Gordon held on longer than most and was still a hurricane when it hit the Azores mid-week.

The still vigourous remnants were due to meet up with a deep Atlantic depression on Thursday evening bringing a night of wild weather to the West Country and thence up along the Irish Sea coastline.

So, a bit of luck that Survival Skills is off for another weekend of our very successful training in France, where the forecast is for the decent autumn weather to continue!

There's still time to book a course in France this year and stock up with a couple of bottles ready for the Xmas break! Or Kent and Oxford, of course, where our discount prices apply to the end of the month!

If you are interested in the latest weather news, a good site to explore is Metcheck.com.

Comment: 22 September 2006

  New from Survival Skills - Pick your Own courses

I'm constantly on the lookout for ways to improve training, so when it was suggested to me that the usual training course structure might not appeal to some riders, I listened.

The point was made that if people have done an advanced course, either with another school or perhaps with the IAM, they might not want to do a course which they might think would simply repeat what they already covered.

A good point actually!

One other problem I've noted for myself is pursuading riders who've either just qualified or are coming back to biking after a layoff that they are capable of doing an 'advanced' course and that it isn't beyond their skills.

So, how to solve both problems?

The answer I have come up with is a modular training course, where the trainee can pick and choose what to cover, subject to an assessment of their current riding skills - that way I can still be sure that we'll cover topics which are not only targetted at the trainee, but appropriate.

If you are interested in this new kind of training, drop me an email and I'll tell you more.

Comment: 22 September 2006

  The interminable argument - daytime riding lights and hi-vis clothing

If there is one thread on Visordown.com that I dread reappearing, it's the regular discussion about whether or not to wear hi-visibility clothing and to use daytime riding lights (DRL). Partly because although it's all been said many times, there is always someone who hasn't read the arguments and refuses to listen to any rational argument.

The issue resurfaced in the last 10 days or so (last done to death in January) and has been rumbling on as it always does - it's an interminable argument, but it's one where there should be no winners or losers. It shouldn't be about taking "sides" but an issue where ideas are examined logically. But for some reason, it always ends up with an "it's obvious - if you wear hi vis people will see you easier"/"no they won't" kind of argument.

Those who approach the issue with a closed mind won't learn anything, except to discover the surprising degree of conflict between those who believe they are safer using visibility aids and those who think that the benefits are exaggerated.

I'd been intending to write something about this for a while, if only to save me having to re-state the same points over and over. However, this letter from Stuart Downie pushed me over the edge:

"I have been reading your rider hints and I read the item about being seen. I have no argument about it except that you do not mention dress. I see many riders, dressed in traditional black, disappear on suburban roads as they get lost in the light scatter from street lights, shops other vehicles lights and shadows. Perhaps it is because I am getting on a bit in years and realise I am mortal but I like to be seen and dress in yellow, with reflective bands if possible. It may not be 'cool' but I think it helps ensure that I WILL be seen. They can stick fashion I prefer safety.

"I hope you don't think I'm being picky but I do wonder how many SMDSYs are the result of dark clothing."

At the risk of being picky myself, why do the people who believe hi-vis is good always assume that those who don't wear it do so as a matter of "fashion"?

Anyway, onto the meat of the matter.

The problem with hi-vis kit is that a lot of the time it isn't.

Leaving aside the fact that the driver has to be in a position to see the rider, has to look in the direction of the rider, has to be able to see past obstacles like the door pillars and roadside furniture, and has to recognise "bike and rider", remember what he is seeing and correctly judge speed and distance, it simply doesn't follow that because it's bright or reflective, it'll show up.

One major issue is that the brain works by subconciously recognising a pattern and flagging the concious, decision making mind to sit up and pay attention. This means two things. The brain has to be "tuned" to the shape of a bike and rider. And by using different coloured vests and daytime lights, it has the effect of adding extra "edges" to the shape and breaking it down into smaller shapes that are NOT meaningful.

Just like you can see a bit of plastic lying on the floor and only when you have thrown it away do you realise that it was the battery cover off the TV controller, because taken out of context with the complete unit it was unrecognisable, so the unconcious mind simply never flags the splashes of light and patches of colour as a motorcycle plus rider. This technique has been known about for years as a way of hiding something in plain view - it's caused dazzle camouflage and was very successfully used to break up the outlines of ships on the horizon and buildings and docks from the air.

Even if you don't succeed in camouflaging yourself, don't forget retro-reflective stuff only works when illuminated, which means it's nightime use only. And it also only works if a light is pointed directly at it from near the driver's own line of sight. It won't work under streetlights. Which is why it's called retro-reflective!

Retro-reflective is thus just about useless from the sides (until you are directly ahead of the car headlights which is too late anyway) and not much better from behind and ahead when you're in traffic where everyone is driving on dipped lights - Sam Browne, H belts and the like are too high up, and so only show up clearly on main beam. This is one big plus for the Aerostich Roadcrafter I own - it has big reflective panels on the back of the calves for this reason very reason, just as cyclists and kids often wear reflective ankle bands - but I've only ever seen one rider wearing them regularly - too "unfashionable"?

Fluorescent kit only works in daylight. In fact, at night under sodium lighting, an orange vest can appear brown. And hi-vis will only show up against a background that provides a contrast. An orange bib will not show up against an orange background like an RAC van, and a yellow bib will not show up against spring foliage.

And everyone and his dog (literally - I saw a dog wearing a fluoresecent yellow coat the other day) is now covered in hi-vis paint or reflective stripes, so the "oooh, look at that" factor that once worked (apparently) is lost.

The most visible colour for a fluoro vest is pink, for the very reason that hardly anything on the roads is pink - and aside from carnations, it's not that common in nature either! Funnily enough, you don't see many riders wearing pink - another "fashion" problem I guess.

Think about which bits of a fluorescent jacket show up. The most visible bits of the rider from front and rear, particularly if you have a fairing and a top box, are tops of the shoulders and arms; from the sides just the arms.  Of course, if you have a passenger on the back, the rider is almost completely obscured from behind. A standard hi-vis vest of the sleeveless sort commonly worn is pretty useless. A full sleeved jacket would be better, or something like my old Scott jacket with bright hi-vis yellow sleeves. Light-coloured gloves can be easy to spot because they tend to sit wide of the body of the bike and you tend to move them - even small movements attract attention.  Or you could try leggings rather than a vest. Guess what - noone does - I wonder why?

So what about daytime riding lights? On most bikes, DRLs are just a normal dipped headlight. Now, it seems to have escaped some peoples' attention that the function of a daytime light to be seen, and a nighttime light to see with, are almost completely mutually exclusive. The problem here is that the well designed dip beam reflectors that are so effective at keeping stray light out of on-coming drivers eyes at night, do a similarly effective job by day - all the driver looking at the bike is likely to see is a lighter patch on the front of the bike.

So, particularly when the viewing driver is offset, in other words in the classic SMIDSY position, it's only if you run on main beam or have a badly adjusted light, or possibly when they are close enough for the assymetric dip beam on the left to have an effect, will they actually get any light shining directly at them. 

So some riders have taken to running on main beam. And then the side effect is that the light obscures the bike behind it, breaking up the outline and effectively camouflaging the bike and rider, making it difficult to judge speed and distance from the observer. And I'm not even going to go down the "does a light 'flash' drivers when you hit a bump or the brakes" route.

Almost forgotten is the the Transport and Road Research Laboratory investigated DRLs and decided what was needed was a lower powered (so non -dazzling) but non-directional light. The pattern required was that of a reversing light - so from the mid 70s through till the mid 80s most police bikes had a DRL bolted to the fairing.

And even when you do use lights, you only add to the "light clutter" that surrounds you. Other bikes using lights, cars with DRLS, shop fronts, illuminated bollards and street signs, streetlights as the elevation changes, security lights and all the rest. How is your headlight going to jump out and say "watch ME" in the midst of all that?

And I have no doubt that sometimes the solid outline of black bike and grey suited/helmeted rider also shows up better than the camouflage effect of panels and blocks of different colours.

Putting all this aside, what effect do DRLs and hi-vis clothing have on drivers looking at you, and how does it make you safer at junctions from the much -feared SMIDSY accident? Why should it be a matter of so much importance that you are seen?

Well, it will only be an issue if you don't take precautions in case the car pulls out! If you think about it, a hi-vis vest or running with the lights on in daytime is very like ABS. It just might protect you from the consenquences of your own error.

ABS cuts in when you've braked too hard - maybe you haven't seen the car in front of you stopping or you haven't anticipated a slippery surface, or you simply aren't skilled at using brakes effectively. Whatever, a good driver very seldom need it.

A hi-vis vest and DRLs are the same - they just MIGHT cause a driver to think twice about pulling out on you in a situation where YOU haven't anticipated that it might happen, and are unable to take other avoiding action.

But it's argued that as riders are fallible, hi-vis/DRLs will protect them from the consequences of their mistakes.

IF you can be seen.

IF the driver looks.

IF the driver sees you.

IF he makes all the correct decisions.

Way too many "ifs" for me. So perhaps they don't see me, despite all my hi-vis aids? Is that a situation I want to get into? Nope. I don't want to rely on someone else for my safety.

If I am sufficiently on the ball, it shouldn't matter whether the driver sees me or not - I'll do everything I need to avoid getting tangled up in HIS accident - there is absolutely NO reason I should have it too.

For years I rode with DRLs on and wearing hi vis... and then discussions got me thinking about whether it really works - as well as solid practical evidence that three bikes and riders all wearing hi vis and with headlights on attracted dodgy manoeuvres like cows attract flies. In all the years I've been riding, I've NEVER had so many near misses as when I was out with the trainees on basic training courses, and it was clear that drivers were certainly NOT having trouble seeing the bikes, but in fact were deliberately pulling out in front of the
group, because "it's only some learner riders."

So two years ago, the lights went off. The hi-vis went on the hanger. Any difference? None that I can notice!

I suspect it's partly that I don't approach junctions as quickly and in such poor
positions as some riders, as I think about things like the other driver's line of view and the time they have to see me - and my own stopping distances. I do things like time my approach to a junction so that there's something going past from the opposite direction at the same time, or open or close the gap ahead of me as appropriate to encourage or discourage a driver from turning, avoiding "shall I, shalln't I" hesitancy. I move laterally across the road to attract attention in peripheral view.

If you do the right things - change position, slow down, cover the brakes, accelerate in a responsive gear once committed, the "killing zone" in which there is no way of escaping the emerging car by stopping, swerving or accelerating isn't very big. Even if the car does a brick wall impersonation, from 30mph you can stop in 3-4 bike lengths if you are the least bit good on the brakes. Walk that distance backwards from the centre line of a side road (on the pavement preferably) and see what that means in terms of how LATE you can brake and still stop.

Being objective about it, hi-vis/DRLs are only of any use if I fail to make sufficient adjustments, either through ignorance, choice, or cock up. So if I take responsibility in situations where there is a potential conflict in such a way that I negate (or at least, massively reduce) any chance of an accident, then what REAL use are hi-vis/DRLs other than to make the rider FEEL safer?

It's hard to find any flaw in that argument.

The case for hi-vis isn't really supported by the evidence. There was a much reported article in the British Journal of Medicine in 2004 which claimed  a link between safer riders and use of hi-vis. Unfortunately, the analysis of the evidence stopped short of revealing the real answers. The riders who had the accidents were:

• - under the influence of alcohol
• - driving whilst disqualified or without a licence
• - inexperienced
• - riding new (to them) machines

In other words, it was less to do with dressing like Dayglo Derek and more to do with skills and attitude. All stuff which has been known about for 40 years.

You would also have expected to see drops in accident rates in general over the last couple of decades as riders increasingly lit up and dressed up, and there should be another "blip" about now as permanent wired-on lights take effect. There's certainly nothing immediately evident in reduced accident statistics, and no study to my knowledge has claimed to have found such an effect.

Whatever, in my opinion, much of the endless debate about the pros and cons of DRLs and hi-vis is futile - a rider would be wiser to concentrate on working out where and why accidents happen in the first place, and in the second, working on the techniques and developing skills to avoid becoming one.

Now, so long as we understand that, there's no real problem in stacking the odds a little further in our favour because we do make mistakes. Nitron do a very nice jacket that they supply to the police and paramedics, made of waterproof flexothane too, that'll no doubt last a couple of years. It's a bargain at £129.99.

However, it's worth pointing out that's just £9.99 more than a one day course with Survival Skills, and a similar price to many other training courses!

A jacket for a couple of years? Or skills for life?

Comment: 08 September 2006

  Chef Oliver's drive on health stalls with 4x4s

Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver, most recently in the news for jumping on board the on-going healthy eating school meals campaign, has refused to give up his gas guzzler for something more environmentally friendly.

Oliver was one of dozens of recipients of a letter from BAFTA award-winning actress Thandie Newton. The star of "Crash" found a Greenpeace leaflet stuck to the windscreen of her family's SUV - a BMW X5 last year and soon afterwards she traded in the Chelsea Tractor for a rather more fuel efficient Toyota Prius - a hybrid with an engine that switches from petrol to electric power to get better mileage.

Writing to suggest they think about doing the same, her high-profile mailing list included music stars Madonna, Justin Timberlake and Chris Martin, Hollywood actors Jack Nicholson, Meg Ryan and Kevin Costner, footballers Wayne Rooney and Michael Owen, the tennis player Anna Kournikova and celebrity chef Jamie Oliver.

Unfortunately, Thandie's recipe for slowing global warming seems to have failed to impress Oliver. He told The Times at the GQ Man of the Year awards: "I absolutely love mine - they're actually perfect for driving in London. I don't know why everyone goes on about them".

I suspect that we won't be seeing a return to eco-friendly scooter power anytime soon! 

Comment: 08 September 2006

  Autumn Savers and Deals from Survival Skills

The summer has rapidly passing into autumn, but the long range forecast is still for a good few weeks of decent riding weather left to us in the year. So now is an excellent time to learn some new skills that you can think about and practice on nice days over the winter, ready to roll out come the new riding season next spring.

For a strictly limited time, we're offering a special deal with big discounts available on ALL TRAINING COURSES* to be taken on September and October in Kent and Oxford.

Confirm your booking with a deposit cheque by 30 October and you'll get the following great savings:

1. £10 OFF the normal price of a ONE day course and £20 OFF a two day course. Opt for the three day course you'll save £30!
2. A £5 per day discount applies to the second person our "bring a friend or partner" deal, so you could save as much as £45 per course!

e-Mail us NOW for full terms and conditions.

* excluding Assessments and training in France

Comment: 08 September 2006

  Bikes - the green alternative?

I was having a chat with a friend just recently and the conversation turned to bikes as the green alternative. Coincidentally, I'd just been reading a piece on the same subject in "The Road", the Motorcycle Action Group magazine that I contribute to.

Anyway, the point is that she came up with a line that went something like: "of course, bikes are greener than cars", and proceded to point out that the motorcycle industry is keen on telling government just this.

The problem is that it isn't true.

Whilst there's been no discernable urgency from the car industry to start thinking about the twin problems of global warming and dwindling oil reserves, they have been aware for some time that a few people do buy cars based on environmental grounds, and have been producing models to cater for this market.

It's probably true to say that most people equate "green" with low fuel consumption rather than the amount of the car that is built of recycled materials and is in turn likely to be recycled, and it's also true that there's a lot more of a car than the average motorcycle, which does lend apparent weight to the two wheeler's green credentials.

But bikes could and should be far greener than they are. For every rider commuting on a four stroke scooter doing 100mpg, there's another doing the ride on a bike that is struggling to hit 40mpg.

And what is the motorcycle industry doing about the problem?

Apparently nothing. That's the difference. If I want to do my bit to save the planet by driving a sensible car with good green crendentials, then I can. They are out there.

Meanwhile the bike industry is more concerned with building gargantuan creations with engines the size of which would be better off in a trawler, or guided missles with engines that produce so much power you can't even open it right up in first gear and stay under the legal speed limit.

And it's not just the bike manufacturers. 60% of the manufacturing cost of a tyre relates to the petro-chemical component of the raw material. But what are bike tyre manufacturers doing? Are they searching for ways of extending life of their tyres, or reducing the rolling resistance and upping your miles per gallon figure?

Nope, every year seems to see another new high performance tyre with another low point in terms of tyre life.

We don't need two litre bike engines. We don't need 200mph hour machinery. We don't need tyres that wear out in a weekend.

What we do need are fuel efficent middleweights that still give a decent turn of performance. I'm not going to ride a C90 just because I can get 120mpg out of it and forego any fun on a bike. What I want is something around 500/600cc that does 120/130mph AND does 75mpg.

Given the technological advances that have produced the current crop of MotoGP bikes, it really shouldn't be much of a challenge

15 years ago, I owned a 1990 Yamaha FZ750. It had a top speed of just on 150mph, it would regularly return 55mpg and with a slightly restrained right hand 60mpg wasn't impossible. It ran on Michelin radial tyres and did around 12,000 miles to a rear, tyres which were good enough for me to get my knee down with.

Currently I run a 2002 Hornet 600. It has a top speed of around 140mph, it will just about do 55 to the gallon if I am really careful, and will drop down into the high 30s if I push it. Fitted with the latest sports rubber, 3,000 miles from a rear would be good.

And that's progress?

Comment: 25 August 2006

  Last chance for evening assessments

August Bank Holiday is just around the corner, and already the nights have been drawing in quite dramatically. So it's the last call for evening assessments and evening training.

Evening training courses run from 6pm to around 8pm for the next two weeks.

Evening assessments are also available 6pm - 9pm. You'll get a written assignment sent to you beforehand and the session itself will consist of a 90 minute ride over a wide variety of traffic situations and road conditions, with a 15 minute commentary ride by your's truly in the middle. We'll finish with a full debrief on your ride, using video footage of yourself riding. At the end of the session, you'll either be given (or mailed) a written summary of your riding, plus a CDROM with approximately 40 minutes of video clips of you riding.

Comment: 11 August 2006

  Silly season in full flow

It's August, everyone is on holiday, the sun is shining (sort of) and out come the daft ideas and even dafter articles. Welcome to the Silly Season!

Comment: 11 August 2006

  Intelligent Speed Adaptation bike puts brakes on speeding riders

First up this week is the news that the speed control system trailled some years ago on cars (there's an article in the archive on this site!) has now made it to a bike.

The plan as revealed by Roads minister Stephen Ladyman using GPS technology to reduce the speed of the bike. A GPS receiver locates the machine and combines with mapping data which includes the speed limit to determine whether the rider is speeding or not.

A Bluetooth system will sound two warning beep in the rider's helmet before the saddle starts to vibrate when they reach 5mph over the limit. If the rider doesn't slow down the system will retard the throttle to slow the motorcycle down until it is at or below the speed limit.

The system can of course be used in cars, and there has been some speculation that the system is the first step in government plans to force car makers to fit variable limiters. It was developed at the Motor Industry Research Association with funding from the Department for Transport.

The Intelligent Speed Adaptation bike has been test ridden under controlled conditions but riders have condemned the system as potentially dangerous.

The Transport Department last week insisted Mr Ladyman is unlikely to make the ISA bike compulsory.

There's a fair chance it will prove unworkable too, at least until GPS technology is rather more accurate than it is today. The UK Government seems to have shelved a plan to tax foreign lorries on motorways using GPS because of the lack of accuracy (a German trial system was taxing lorries running on parallel main roads) and a loss of signal caused by trees and buildings which only gets worse the further north you go.

Whilst it would almost certainly prove easy to fit to modern bikes with their 'fly by wire' throttles, fuel injection and electronic rev limiters, retro-fitting to existing bikes would be near-impossible too.

None of this has stopped Motorcycle News running it as a scare story and launching a petition, however.

Comment: 11 August 2006

  Bikes destroy top policeman's weekend peace

Meanwhile, North Wales Police Deputy Chief Constable Clive Wolfendale has called for motorcycles to be banned from national parks in his online blog.

Reopening the debate started in 2001 when the then Environment Minister, Michael Meacher, argued for a ban on motorcyclists entering National parks and Areas of Outstanding Natual Beauty, Wolfendale complained that when he went to the Lake District for the weekend he was interrupted by the "inescapable whine of motorcycles" and attacked the "grand prix ambience".

He added that motorcycles: "seemed wholly incompatible with the otherwise pristine scen" and noted that: "In Germany, some states have banned the use of motorcycles at the weekend in certain areas. Is it now time to banish motorcycles completely from our National Parks?"

The BBC reports that bikers in north Wales are meeting to discuss their reaction to a senior policeman's suggestion to ban motorcycles from national parks.

The North Wales Motorcycle Alliance said its members would not take deputy chief constable Clive Wolfendale's comments "lying down" and reported its phone lines had been "red hot" ever since.

The British Motorcyclists' Federation (BMF) claimed Mr Wolfendale's comments breached the police code of conduct and have written to the Home Office and the Association of Chief Police Officers to complain.

A statement on its website said: "Mr Wolfendale's web log... contained a number of remarks that appear to conflict with the police code of conduct, i.e. 'Police officers have a particular responsibility to act with fairness and impartiality in all their dealings with the public and their colleagues'.

"In what is obviously a personal blog, the BMF have asked if it is appropriate that the North Wales Police budget is used to fund the publication of a senior officer's personal opinions when Mr Wolfendale's comments on motorcycles in national parks appear to be far from impartial."

Comment: 11 August 2006

  Anger Management and riding

I've just spent the best part of a day writing possibly the most difficult article for the Riding Skills section that I've ever decided to put together. The subject is Anger Management, something that gets mentioned from time to time on Visordown, and something that I've had to come to terms with, not always entirely successfully, myself.

I did some research on Google, starting obviously enough by searching for other articles on road rage. It turns out that there are quite a few out there. I think what surprised me most was the tone taken by some of the articles as if anger management is for other people, and that there was little real help on what to do if you suffer from it. Most of the cures were of the "take a deep breath" kind.

Virtually nothing was made of the fact that what sets road rage off is stress and surprise. So I did a bit of research on how the brain functions under stress. It makes interesting reading, and debunks the idea that "road rage is just for other people" - the inherent responses are in all of us - the primitive animal is just below a thin crust of civilisation.

The best cure for road rage in others is not to annoy them by using "stealth biking" techniques and slipping almost invisibly past them. The best cure for road rage in yourself is not to put yourself in a position where you are stressed and subject to surprises.

Comment: 28 July 2006

  Devon dates, heatwave abates

The forecast for the early part of August is for slightly more unsettled weather to move from the Atlantic, which, I have to admit, isn't such a bad thing. After the last two weeks of sweltering heat, I'm more than ready for the odd shower, and so is the garden. The bike could do with a clean too.

Due to a family bereavement, the original dates for the "Tour" in Devon were cancelled back in July, but I'm taking a few days holiday down that way and will be available from Thursday 3 August until Friday 11 August, including the weekend of the 5/6, for last minute bookings down there.

There are some great roads, so if you're based in the South West why not get in touch and see if I'm available? Take a look at the forecast on Metcheck.com to see what the weather will be like!

After that, it's back to the normal round of training in Kent and Oxford, with the option of taking trips to France - I have another weekend's training planned for the Pas de Calais later this year - why not join us over there and enjoy riding empty, good condition roads?

Comment: 28 July 2006

  Disintigrating roads

Temperatures in the UK got to high 20s and even into the mid 30s this month - and just as predictable as a country as damp as the UK running out of water are the disintigrating and melting roads.

Subsidence in dry weather is undoubtedly a problem and the local B road seems to have suffered from such a problem as a massive hole appeared in it around three weeks ago, quite possibly connected with the water main that has been bursting up and down the hill for 20 years now. As soon as they fix one hole, another appears. Why not just rip the main out and replace the whole thing? At one point last week, we had three holes and three sets of temporary traffic lights in two miles.

The council did a proper resurfacinig job on a mile or so of that road about three years ago. The first utilities hole appeared less than two weeks later. We're still driving round the bumps that the backfill created even now. Surely the utilities should get the surface back to the same standard as the original surface, not just get away with an elastoplast patch.

And when the road does fall apart, why does it take so long to mend? They managed to rebuild San Francisco after the earthquake a few years ago in a matter of months. We get a hole 3m long by 2m across in our local road and three weeks later it's STILL not filled in and we're still having to queue to get round it. No wonder traffic jams are set to rise across the nation.

The Charing - Canterbury road has been falling apart for the best part of three years now, to the point where the temporary "slippery road" signs are now such a permanent fixture that the council have to clean them from time to time. The result of the worn-out state of the last tar and gravel exercise was two shiny black wheel tracks with some occasional bits with chips still stuck to the old, properly laid surface.

The spate of hot weather seemed to be the cue for the county to "fix" it with another dose of the budget stone chips on tar approach. Unfortunately, they made a complete hash of it.

The tar went down in ripples and the result was a boneshaker of a ride even on four relatively softly sprung wheels - I'm just glad I didn't come round the corner and hit that at speed on the bike because with the lose chippings also covering the surface, it would have been a recipe for a tank slapper.

It was so bad it made the evening news, I'm told, and it seems that they had to go out and fix it quickly as they were getting so many complaints.

So, for a couple of days, there was a reasonably grippy, if rough, surface.

Then the heatwave arrived. Two weeks later, the road is worse than ever. The tar has melted, the traffic on the road has torn the chips out of the wheel -tracks again, and we are left with two broad, shiny, black ribbons or tar. Only this time of course, they haven't cleaned up the loose chippings properly and the bit that you could once ride on in reasonable safety is now like shifting sand.

The mind boggles that our roads are so bad. France has the same weather and though some of the surfaces do suffer, in general, the state of their roads is far, far better. And they have a much bigger country too. So why are our roads in such a terrible state?

I'd be more than interested to see if the road surface has any connection with bike accidents in Kent. But of course, it's easier to blame speed isn't it - "the rider was riding too fast for the conditions."
 

Comment: 14 July 2006

  Summer arrives with a bang

I'm writing this a couple of days late and hot weather has settled in over the UK and temperatures have soared way into the 30's and are forecast to stay there or thereabouts for at least another week.

The temptation in hot weather is to strip off and do what a number of riders I've seen doing which is riding in teeshirt and shorts, but I really would say, however hot you feel, don't do it. It's not worth the risk.

There are some things you can do to stay cool-ish. An obvious solution is ride early or late and in particular avoid the early to late afternoon when temperatures peak. And though it may seem obvious, make sure you've removed your removal thermal lining! If you can afford it, some "air mesh" style kit will help enormously.

If you do have to ride through the heat of the day, dehydration is a serious problem in really hot weather. As you're constantly riding in your own breeze, sweat is evaporating much more quickly that if you are just sitting in the shade. If you wait till you feel thirsty, you're already dehydrated. Avoid alcohol and