After taking my first free Get On Ride at Streetbike, I was really excited at the thought of working toward my bike licence.I booked a weekend lesson and turned up at 8:00 on a Saturday morning to start my road practice. From that point onwards the majority of my lessons were at the weekend, which helped me balance my work commitments around my training.
I have to say that if I hadnt had the first Get On lesson around the yard, working on control before my first on-road lesson, I would have found going out that Saturday a bit daunting. My instructor was really helpful though, helping me relax; telling me to take my time and slow down before taking any action. I think its crucial not to feel pressured when you ride. Just because you're on a bigger bike, it doesn’t mean you have to do everything different. If anything slowing down, breathing and giving myself time to think really helped, and has continued to help right up to my test.
My lesson was one-2-one and lasted three hours. I covered roadcraft, positioning and one of the most important elements - the OSM routine - which was consistently drummed into me before making any kind of change - observation, signal then manoevre - making sure all of ther necessary lifesavers had been taken. Three hours sounds a long time, but it took me a while to start thinking in a sequential manner, and get out of the habit of being 'just a car driver'. It gave me enough time to work the bike out in a road situation and start to instinctively do my checks in the right order.
After my first lesson I was mentally exhausted, both with excitement and adrenaline of my first road ride, but also having to constantly think about road positioning and other drivers. Over the course of my training I found it became second nature, but starting out its much like learning to drive again. It goes to show that bikers have to think and react much more quickly than your average car driver, and never let that concentration drift.
Paul also assessed my riding during my first lesson and gave me valuable feedback on where I needed to improve, to get myself to my ultimate goal - test standard. I needed a Mod 1 lesson run through, a Mod 1 test pad practice and a few intense lessons to improve my roadcraft ready for my MOD 2. Planning my training made it all very real for me. My lessons were also realistically set out, with enough support to help me get to my test as soon as my instructor felt I was ready.
I really loved my training, and appreciated the method the streetbike trainers chose for my learning style. I'm not great under pressure, and prefer to learn things in maneageable chunks without the thought of the test at the end of the week.The guys put me on a regular lesson plan rather than a DAS course, which helped me concentrate on the training properly. Each person is different, but I was happy with how flexible the options were, and I didn’t feel rushed into taking an intense course, getting myself out of my depth too early.
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