RIDING ECONOMICALLY

I work in traffic management and have been assessed in my riding four times by police motorcyclists, each time having no faults to address. I have a copy of Motorcycle Roadcraft and the latest version of the Highway Code, which I consult fairly regularly.

I completed the training and test for the IAM in 2006 and 2016; I failed both of them!

Why? Because I didn’t agree with the riding style I was being taught. I ride economically (fuel, tyres, chain, etc.) and did not want to accelerate like a maniac just to keep up with people who, in my opinion, were driving their cars aggressively. I ride steadily and always to the speed limit, if

safe to do so, for the road I’m on. I was even told that one reason was that I failed to overtake three cars that were doing 47mph in a 50 limit! In order to pass them safely I would have had to accelerate to about 65mph, which I was unwilling to do.

On a recent ride on a B road near to Newport, Shropshire, I was following a tipper truck on a 50mph road. The truck was doing between 48mph and 50mph, so I decided to stay behind him with about a four-second gap, the reason being I couldn’t see past him and he had far better air brakes than my Forza.

After about four miles I spied two headlights in my mirrors approaching faster than 50mph.

As they caught up I saw that they were BMW GSs. IAM, I thought, as they came closer and in the overtake position. Sure enough two chaps overtook me, forcing me to drop back. Half-a-mile later they both overtook the truck in what I think was a risky manoeuvre.

As we rolled up to a queue at temporary lights on the outskirts of town I passed the truck and tucked in behind the stationary BMWs, both proudly displaying IAM stickers! I thought, ‘Got you a long way, didn’t it!’. I followed them on to another B road where they did another unnecessary and risky overtake of a van on a twisty road.

No doubt they will refute my ‘assessment’ of their riding prowess, but I feel that all this ‘make progress’ at any cost malarkey is sometimes dangerous. I have never had a serious ‘off’ in 45 years of riding just about every day (I don’t own a car). That’s not because I’m lucky; at the risk of blowing my own trumpet, it’s because I’m sensible and experienced.

Yes, training is a very good thing, but ride your own ride and if you do a police assessment day, which are usually free, and they offer you advice, then take it on board, use your head and above all just be observant. And please read the Highway Code and Roadcraft, take it a chapter at a time and go out and practice.

Ride safe.

Ian Shaw