Review of a Survival Skills Riding Assessment

Thanks to Mike for this write-up of one of my two hour assessments.

“The assessment started off with a series of questions covering various aspects of riding. Good questions too, quite searching actually. They covered many different areas relating to riding and biking in general, I wasn’t expecting it to be so comprehensive, so I was pleased to find so many areas were covered.

“Right, on to the ride. We ran through what we were going to do and I got a brief warning to keep the speed within sensible limits but to ride as I normally would. On with the radios and then jumped onto the bikes, the roads we started on are single carriageway suburban country roads, I wasn’t nervous but I was reminded of my bike test – that’s the last time I was under instruction via radio. The roads led us into the main town, traffic was fairly light but due to road works, we ended up in a few queues at temporary traffic lights.

“Having spent about 10 minutes riding round the town, we pulled into a car park. I got a run down from Spin on how I was doing so far. Time for some slow speed stuff and an e-stop. I did a few circles and figure eights, fine so far. I locked the front wheel on the e-stop on just medium hard braking due to the salt on the surface but, because I practice (hint hint) I just released the brakes slightly to come to a controlled stop, no big deal.

“The next stage of the ride took us onto some sweeping motorway and then onto some A roads, there were a few other bikes about despite the low temperatures which then took us onto some great fast and flowing bends, I had to keep reminding myself not to go too fast.

“Next, we rode some single track roads, they were muddy in places and there were some large piles of snow on both sides, Kevin told me there has been drifts about 3 feet deep a few days previously so I’m glad I missed them.

“The final sections were small town, fast A roads and then national limit single track roads which were great fun. I really enjoyed winding it on a bit along them. I had to stand on the pegs for quite a lot of it because they were so bumpy.

“Finally we ran through the ride and how I did. It was so useful to have a qualified instructor break down my riding and explain how to improve what I do, Kevin’s explanations and advice have gelled what I have learned into a more structured set of skills.

“I wish I had done something like this years ago, would I recommend it? Yes, without reservation.”

Survival Skills Riding Assessments last approximately two hours and cost just £50! Book yours now via our website www.survivalskills.co.uk or email us direct on survivalskills@clara.net.