12 months since retiring from riding - how has it gone?

In my early 60's on the Blackbird - a tad light on good skills

Regular readers will remember that I made a series of posts in 2010 and 2011 about motorcycling, the ageing rider and what steps might be useful to prolong one's riding in a competent manner. I was in my early 60's at the time. The posts attracted the attention of well-known U.S - based motorcycle author David Hough and some lively correspondence followed.  In a direct but constructive manner, David called me out to actually do something concrete about future-proofing my own riding.  The first step was to sell the heavy, tall Blackbird and get a lower, lighter bike in the shape of a Triumph Street Triple.  No loss in performance for the type of riding I did and many benefits.

Leaving for the 1600 km in under 24 hours Grand Challenge event - 2010 

From occasional incidents over the years, there was clear room for skills improvement.  I'd never had an independent assessment of my riding and to cut a long story short, I decided to enroll with the NZ branch of IAM RoadSmart UK, which uses Police Roadcraft as the basis of its advanced training.  The initial assessment in early 2011 was quite a shock to the ego but I stuck with it and passed my Advanced Test in late 2011.  The total benefits from taking this option can't be understated and they were detailed HERE .  The journey of upskilling continued, eventually becoming a mentor and Examiner.  As well as a massive increase in my skillset to keep me safe, other benefits such as the value of humility and helping to upskill others had a much wider personal impact and will continue to do so.  Making lifelong friends with people on the same journey was a genuine privilege too. Without doubt, continuous upskilling enabled me to keep riding longer than it would have otherwise done.  I still find myself informally assessing other road users which is a good means of  remaining sharp and staying out of trouble.  You will understand that my wife is excluded from assessment as I don't want to be sucking hospital food through a straw.

IAM trackday 2016 on the GSX-S 1000 (courtesy Barry Holland)

The other critical part of discussions with David Hough and others was about the difficult decision of when it's time to consider retiring from riding. In hindsight, this discussion was to be incredibly useful because there was plenty of time to plan for an angst-free retirement from riding at a future point in time.  Reaching that point very much depends on the individual rider and their circumstances but sooner or later, it's something that all of us are going to face.  Surely it's better to plan for that eventuality than suddenly being faced with the end of a lifetime's passion?

In a nutshell, having a fallback interest or two seems to be the most appropriate means of softening the inevitable change.  In my case, owning a runabout for sea fishing was to become one of the options as it was a pastime which Jennie enjoys too.  Ok, let's be honest ....  she's actually better at it than I am!  Travel is another interest which we both share although that has been partially screwed up by the global impact of Covid.  

Ready for another day of being out-fished by Jennie

However, Covid lockdowns were also largely responsible for some serious thought about retiring from riding sooner rather than later.  There wasn't a "lightbulb" moment but a dawning realisation that I'd achieved all I wanted from a 58 year riding career.  Enjoying a series of challenges during that time through competitive drag racing, long distance endurance events, track days, occasional trail riding and formal upskilling had largely satisfied the urge.  My role as an IAM Examiner often required 500 km days in all weathers and they were becoming less attractive - the one downside of living in a remote rural area.  Also at the back of my mind was the fact that if I did have an accident, a body in its 70's wasn't going to recover quickly.  A serious consideration not only for me but the potential impact on the wider family. 

Out with fellow IAM member Tony and his wicked MT10 SP

Having some fallback interests meant that I could now seriously entertain the thought of stopping riding with no regrets and perhaps surprisingly, the prospect didn't feel like a big deal at long last.  I'd like to think that was largely due to the planning mentioned above.  It was made even easier by an almost throwaway comment by Jennie that we should look at buying a classic car so that we could have even more fun together.  My best friend in the UK is a classic car owner as well as a motorcyclist and after some conversations with him, it seemed like a great way to keep occupied, given my interests and background.  Bloody hell, actually choosing something which appealed to both the CEO and me was a major mission, resulting in sulks and pouty lips for a few months but we finally settled on an MGB GT, a choice never regretted.  The difficult background to that acquisition has been detailed in previous posts but it was serendipitous in one respect.  1972 was the year of manufacture and also the year we got married!

A fine day on the Coromandel Peninsula with the MGB GT

With the decision having been made, the KTM was advertised for sale and the delivery ride to the new owner was surprisingly unsentimental.  I guess this was due to all the prior preparation for retirement, even if the actual endpoint wasn't known.  After retirement, another potential interest also popped up, partially as a means of staying fit as I got older.  I had owned an old road bicycle for at least 30 years but the steep hills in our area combined with age was an issue.  What about an e-mountain bike which would enable me to use it on the many bike trails in our area whilst being kind to my damaged knees?  I took delivery of the Giant E+1 in June 2022 and it's been huge fun, having covered just under 2000 km since then.  Ummm.... we'll skip over falling off and breaking a rib just after taking ownership due to getting a shoelace caught on a pedal.  That won't happen again due to a change of shoes and pedals!  Riding motorcycles has been a real bonus for riding an MTB though, despite the mishap.  Situational awareness, balance and braking to name but 3 benefits.

The Medlock MTB trail, Coromandel

So in summary, giving up a passion (an obsession according to Jennie) hasn't been as difficult as it might otherwise have been, thanks to a bit of planning which effectively started a decade ago. The year since selling the bike has passed quickly with plenty of interests to keep occupied.  I'm still interested in motorcycles but quite happy not to own one.  Not the slightest regret and I guess that it's as close to a perfect outcome as one could hope for!  Still have most of my riding gear, but I'll get round to selling that in due course.

I hope that this post has been of interest to anyone else who has similar decisions to make in due course.

How new challenges normally start!

Some riding reflections and other philosophical stuff......

As regular readers of this blog know, I joined the NZ branch of the Institute of Advanced Motorists in April 2011. The trigger for this was that being 63 at the time, I wanted to sharpen up my skills so as to safely extend my riding career for as long as possible. Like most of who have been riding for a long period, I knew I’d picked up some bad habits which potentially put me at risk but it was hard to articulate where I was falling short and by how much. Correspondence with eminent motorcycle journalist David Hough at that time about ageing motorcyclists ended up with him challenging me to stop procrastinating and actually do something to future-proof my riding which neatly backed me into a corner!

Without going over old ground the UK Police Roadcraft system seemed to offer the best potential for dramatically improving my riding. (The summary of the initial benefits to me is HERE). It paid off massively and the on-going nature of the programme still allows an assessment of the quality of my riding (and mentoring ability) against measurable standards which have been proven to be highly effective over many years. There's much more to it than I can describe here but it's shifted my pleasure from riding fast (with all the attendant risks) to riding well. That's not to say that I don't enjoy a good fang from time to time but it's now a question of time and place, backed up by a system which allows you to decide what's prudent and what's not.

After sweating blood and tears and passing the IAM Advanced Test after 8 months of driving my mentors (called Observers) insane, it seemed a great way to repay the faith of those Observers by training as an Observer myself. The training took the best part of a year before being able to take the practical and theory tests and in late 2014, sat a further test to become regional Senior Observer. That journey has been periodically documented earlier in the blog.

I hadn’t intended writing any more about IAM but there have been some recent events which have given pause for reflection.

The first was taking on a new student (called an Associate) late last year to mentor towards taking his Advanced Test.  Rob is an experienced rider and currently rides a wicked-looking Hayabusa.

Rob's magnificent Hayabusa and some old bloke who also rides a Suzuki

(photo courtesy of Rob)

By profession, Rob is a fuel tanker driver with additional instructing responsibilities.  With his motorcycling experience on top of that, you'd be correct in assuming that he is among the top echelon of public road users in NZ when it comes to skill and safety awareness.  And yet in the first conversation with Rob, he felt that there was considerable scope for getting better.  Very early in the process, Rob mentioned that he would be keeping a blog of his experiences with IAM, partially as a record for his own pleasure and reflection but also for other riders who may find his journey of interest.  I can highly recommend Rob's blog for sharing his thought processes and experiences about advanced road riding.  I might also add that his blog has been very good for me.  It's a fantastic reminder that as a mentor, people learn and react in different ways.  I have a responsibility to interact and assist with the learning process which suits the individual and not take a "one size fits all approach" which is great for staying grounded.   The blog is both candid, humorous and inspiring; really highlighting the attention to detail necessary to reach the standard required to consistently ride at a high level and pass the Advanced Test.  Rob's first post can be found HERE and subsequent posts from the side menu or Newer Post button at the bottom of each page.  Rob's posts show that no matter how good any of us think we are, there is always plenty to learn.  Even more importantly, it shows how important having an open mind to learning is to make real progress, whatever the topic.  Hope that you enjoy Rob's journey!

The second event giving cause for reflection is that last week, another of my Associates, Lloyd; passed his Advanced Test and will soon move forward to Observer training, eventually mentoring his own Associates and keeping the cycle going.

Lloyd and his mighty TDM 900

Lloyd's test pass was announced by the Chief Examiner on the IAM NZ Facebook page.  Lloyd was inundated with congratulations from IAM members from around NZ.  Not empty gestures but sincere heart-warming words.  Pondering on this, it's a fair bet that the responses are a result of a couple of things.

Firstly, IAM members are well aware of just how demanding the journey to a test pass is and celebrate success with the individual concerned.  Sometimes, it seems that the world has gone too politically correct and that everything is getting dumbed-down to the lowest common denominator and simply taking part is sufficient, whether it be school exams, school sports or whatever.  Sadly, that is not good preparation for the real world.  It's therefore refreshing to be involved with a process which makes no apology for being extremely demanding. Apologists might call it "elitist" which is actually a country mile from the truth.  Stuff 'em - since when has Excellence been a dirty word and not something to aspire to?

The other factor which I'm sure plays a part in celebrating successes within IAM NZ is that there is a deliberately strong "no ego, no hidden agenda" culture which is reinforced at all levels of the organisation and all stages of development.  This means that members genuinely want each other to succeed and willingly help each other out.  That sort of climate provides a safe and supportive environment in which to learn something which is far from easy.  All I'll say is that it's both a pleasure and privilege to be part of such an organisation which promotes not only riding excellence but the spin-off of  strong personal growth.  Leaving the final words to David Hough, he said that the instructor always gets far more out of it than the student.  Right on the money David - we never stop learning!

Pain and extreme pride

I sent an email last evening to my friend in the UK, Dylan Rogers; who is an Institute of Advanced Motorists Observer (Instructor/Examiner).  Dylan has offered much encouragement and advice, for which I'm eternally grateful.  The first sentence contained an uncharacteristic profanity which was really an emotional outpouring of how I felt at that very moment.  It said, "F**k me, I am sooo tired....."!

Earlier this week, the date for my IAM Full Membership advanced riding test was confirmed - the final step after 8 months of one of the most demanding things I've ever undertaken.  The IAM Chief Examiner told me that my Examiner would be Simon, a serving motorcycle officer who qualified on both bikes and cars with the police in the UK.  The UK police riding standards are used as the basis for IAM training so it's unquestionably tough with no concessions if you're just a little off your game.  Anyone can have a bad day but having completed the Bay and Banjos Tour last weekend with my mates, I felt reasonably sharp, but not by any means over-confident.  The arrangement was to meet Simon in central Auckland at Deus Ex Machina, the extraordinary motorcycle cafe which I've previously mentioned (more on Deus shortly). 

We live in a reasonably remote part of NZ and it's 180 km from central Auckland before I even start the test.  A real full-on day even before returning home!  Leaving home just before 0700 gave me time to ride to Auckland, have breakfast at Deus and a relaxing quick look at some of their new bikes before Simon arrived.  Over a coffee, Simon explained that we'd be doing dense traffic city work first, followed by urban work in the outer city, followed by both narrow, twisty back roads riding and open sweeping country roads where a whole range of different techniques are used.  If that wasn't enough, we would then finish off with a spell of motorway riding - Auckland motorways on a Friday afternoon...... shudder!  I'd not previously travelled on much of the planned route so that was a cause for additional stress.  I just had to put all my faith in the IAM techniques and a good riding plan to see me through.

As our village has a population of 1500 on a good day, I'm not that used to riding in the centre of a city populated by close to a million lunatics and it didn't start well.  The comms system which Simon kitted me out with was playing up and I was slowly becoming more paranoid in case I hadn't heard his directions properly.  We had to stop twice to fiddle with it before the problem was solved - very unsettling!!!  Oh yeah, then one side of my visor popped out of it's pivot - not a good sign! It only takes some minor incidents like this in a pressure situation to really stuff up your concentration!  The 1.5  hours of town and urban work felt fairly comfortable and my past training enabled the processing of more information than I'd previously thought possible.

Moving out onto the narrow, twisty back roads of Scenic Drive to the north west of Auckland was hard work.  Totally lined by trees and dense bush, most of the corners were blind and varied between 15 km/hr hairpins to 70 km/hr sweepers. To avoid the unnecessary use of brakes, good positioning, the right gear and reading the vanishing point was essential to avoid some real stuff-ups.   Adding to the pressure were variations in the posted speed limit all the way along the Drive.

Simon's civilian V-Strom 1000 and my Street Triple

Over a quick lunch snack near the town of Kumeu, Simon said I'd done well and that the only things he'd noticed was that I could have set up position for 2 right hand corners a little earlier, but that they were still fine and that I could have made a little more progress at one stage (a euphemism for stepping the pace up, haha)!  With no black marks, it was hugely encouraging to relax and have fun on the afternoon session.

We continued north on SH16 which is largely continuous open sweepers with some blind crests.  Pretty much like last weekend's ride with the lads so that was fine and I felt perfectly at home, despite a very strong side-wind which was kicking the bike around.  There were a couple of poor overtaking manoeuvres by a motorcycle and a 4x4 on the outskirts of a village on this route which must have made Simon wish that he was on official duty! 

The trip east to the town of Warkworth  was a mixture of tight bends, sweepers and a long stretch of fresh gravel which caused some consternation.  It wasn't the gravel itself, but the posted 30 km/hr speed limit.  There didn't appear to be a speed limit cancellation at the far end of the works and I was paranoid that I'd sped up whilst still in the restricted zone.  However, Simon was pretty certain that there wasn't a sign either - what a relief!  Only one other minor panic on this stretch - there was a one way bridge on a tight corner.  My approach was a little too fast (my arse was certainly twitching a bit!) so rather than hitting the brakes and demonstrating an error of judgement, I block-changed down 2 gears to get increased engine braking and got away with it - phew!  Shortly afterwards, Simon came on the radio and was complimentary about how I'd ridden that section which was wonderful to hear.

From Warkworth, it was back south down SH1 via Orewa and the Northern Motorway and demonstrating safe overtaking at speed in dense traffic - no worries at all and about 10 minutes riding time short of the Auckland Harbour Bridge, Simon called it quits and pulled me over.  I'd passed first time with a pretty much clean sheet which was way, way beyond my wildest dreams and tangled my words of thanks, I was so overcome!  The test lasted for a little over 4 hours and we covered close to 220 km which was a whole lot more than expected.  I'd been away from home for 11.5 hours and covered just under 600 km - no wonder I was stressed, hurting and dog tired!

Simon and his victim

Earlier in this post, I said that this was the end of 8 months of hard work.  Except it isn't of course.  Those fantastically skilled  IAM Observer/Examiners like Simon, Wayne, Duncan and Philip who volunteer their time at no cost for something which they're passionate about and deliver real results in terms of riding safely deserve every accolade known.  The ideal means I can see of repaying them is to help as best I can, so my Observer training will start as soon as they're ready for me.  Can't feel any elation at present as it's been such a hard road - just feel relief and more than a little quiet pride.

I'd also like to sincerely thank fellow blogger Raftnn (Roger) and my mate Andy who are following the same IAM path.  Their unconditional support and leg-pulling has made the whole process so much more enjoyable for all of us through being able to share our experiences.  Although I've never met him, thanks also to Nigel Bowers who's Advanced Biker videos on YouTube have been so good in reinforcing my training on wet days and dark nights!

In the next day or two, I'll be posting a few reflections on the whole concept of advanced motorcycle training as there have been some benefits which aren't immediately obvious and if it encourages anyone else to have a go, that would be simply wonderful.

As a light finale to the post, I thought I'd share photos of some of the bikes which took my fancy at Deus Ex Machina this time round.

The first was an old-school Triumph drag bike - a wonderful sight for this ex-drag racer.  No supercharger though - note the big bottle of Nitrous Oxide on the side of the bike!

Brute horsepower - wonderful!

Legendary Honda CBX 6

They sound better with 6 pipes!

1920's Triumph - what a cool sidecar!

Gorgeous Indian

1938 Velocette MAC

Suzuki 500 2 stroke GP racebike

The paintwork on this scooter looks like a hologram in real life - unbelievably detailed paintwork

And I'm saving my personal favourite for last!  It's an early Innocenti (Lambretta) scooter which I initially thought was due to be restored.  However, looking at the string work on the carrier and the tyres which are in excellent condition, I'm more inclined to think that the important bits are in perfect working order and the bodywork etc has deliberately been left unrestored to create a sort of Mad Max or Steam Punk image.  If this is the intent, it's brilliant and I'd love to shake the owner's hand!  Hope that you like it too.

This is just so cool!

Deliberately unrestored?  You figure!

Don't panic, don't panic!!!!

A couple of days ago, I received an email from Philip McDaid, IAM Chief Examiner; saying that it was time for my cross-check ride and what was I doing on Thursday? (today).  The cross-check ride is virtually a mock run under a wide range of riding conditions of the IAM full membership test to ensure that I can consistently perform to the police rider standards which the IAM use as their baseline.  Philip said he was happy to ride down my way from his Auckland base and I thought "Sweet - roads that I'm totally familiar with - that gets rid of a lot of stress"!

We arranged to meet in the historic gold-mining town of Thames 50-odd km down the coast for a pre-ride coffee and I set off this morning under sunny skies and in an excellent frame of mind, although under no illusions that it was going to be a relaxing ride.  Incidentally, in the photo below, the large catamaran moored in the background looks like it has a VW Kombi for a cabin, particularly with the 2 tone paint!

Early morning on Coromandel Harbour

We live on the hill to the right 

Philip and I met up in Thames and over coffee, my relaxed demeanour changed somewhat when Philip explained that in order to be examined over the wide range of conditions required, we would NOT be riding on local roads, but would in fact be riding back to the Auckland area, using a mix of 2 lane roads, the  Southern Motorway itself and driving in high density traffic in one of Auckland's southern adjoining towns!  I thought I took the news pretty calmly given that the anticipated ride had just turned to custard but must have had a stricken look on my face which explains Philip's triumphant grin!  The shock of an alternate destination with some unknown roads must have caused me to mis-hear some of the route (my story and I'm sticking to it!) but more of that later.

Philip in Thames

How cool is this?  Thames main street

Painted in Highway Patrol livery

The one-way route (re-traced to return home)

Approximately 370 km for the day

The run from Thames in moderate traffic was really enjoyable apart from part-way along the predominantly 2-lane State Highway 2 when we caught up with a fuel tanker doing about 10 km/hr below the national open road speed limit of 100 km/hr.  This was where the mind games started!!  "Hmmm... I'd really like to get past this but to do so quickly, I'll need to go over the speed limit.  Will Philip ping me for speeding or will he ping me for failing to make progress if I don't - oh heck, what to do?"  Well, he didn't ping me for passing in a brisk manner, but he did notice whilst I was looking ahead for an opportunity that I'd drifted a little closer than the 2 second following rule when there was no need to do so!  Fortunately, I was out to one side of the tanker or the "gentle reminder" might have been a bit more forceful!

Traffic on the Southern Motorway was moderate and I felt completely comfortable with lane positioning, overtaking and situational awareness.  Too comfortable as it happened as my brain had registered Papakura as our first destination, not Pukekohe.  Consequently, I serenely sailed past the Pukekohe motorway off-ramp with not a care in the world until Philip came flying by and indicated to get off at the next junction.  My stuff-up became painfully apparent when we stopped moments later to fit the radio comms ready for the part of the route I wasn't familiar with.  Suffice to say that I felt a complete pillock when Philip said if I'd used my mirrors, I'd have seen him indicating at the Pukekohe turn.  How abso-bloody-lutely humiliating!!! Philip also advised me to look out for "speed creep" on the motorway - easy to do when a fair percentage of the traffic is travelling above the speed limit!

Time for some dense traffic work around the town of Pukekohe which has narrow roads, made even narrower by parked cars.  It also seemed that there were tight radius mini roundabouts at every intersection with traffic coming at you from all angles.  However, all the recent city riding practice must have paid off as it was stress-free with no incidents.  Road positioning well away from parked cars helped no end.  From Pukekohe, it was off south on the narrow twisty rural back roads towards Ngaruawahia.  The conditions are similar to my local roads and I love 'em!  It must have been apparent to Philip too as after 20 km or so, he called a halt to proceedings and said I'd nailed it - YESSS!!!!  

Absolutely over the moon, enormously proud and to be perfectly candid, more than a little surprised.  It's really hard to maintain a sense of perspective when you're concentrating so hard and I thought that the fuel tanker incident and missing the motorway turn-off earlier in the day might have cost me dearly at this advanced level but Philip said that he could see that my overall skill level and riding plan was up to standard. Phew!  Back to the Autobahn motorway service station for a late lunch and a debrief, Philip said that he'd be speaking to one of the other IAM Examiners to take me for the official full membership riding test in the very near future.  So between now and then, It's practice, practice and even more practice!

Starving after all the stress!

Sooo.....  370 km for the day, including 2 1/2 hours of minutely observed riding by the Chief Examiner.  Surprising how much it takes out of you and it's likely to be an early night!  It's been seven months since starting out on this journey and it's hard to describe just how much the standard of my riding has improved.  It certainly IS possible to teach an old dog new tricks!  IAM is an amazing organisation where professionals such a commercial instructors, police riders and other people with unbelievable riding skills volunteer their time to help others raise their game - simply outstanding.

An interesting day in the saddle!

I had my latest IAM check ride today (Thursday) and the day didn't start well!  The ride was to check my city skills in dense traffic so I made the 2 hour haul down to the city of Hamilton where my mentor, Wayne Holden lives. I've mentioned Wayne before - IAM Chief Examiner (cars), IAM Observer (bikes), ex-helicopter pilot and runs a highly successful driving and riding school.  With all those qualifications, it could be intimidating riding with him if he wasn't such a darned nice guy - really puts you at your ease.

Beautiful day, first day of the season wearing my leathers instead of Cordura, so why didn't the day start well, I hear you ask?  Well......  I committed the cardinal sin of fiddling about with something and not checking that it worked properly before an important occasion!  To be specific, I downloaded a software update the previous evening to the GPS.  I can ride to Hamilton with my eyes closed but needed the GPS to find the rendezvous with Wayne as knowledge of that particular suburb was virtually non-existant.  Kit up, leap on the bike, turn the GPS on and..........   bugger, it doesn't show any roads, just waypoints/POI's on an otherwise bare screen - no actual roads!  Darn it, will have to investigate when I get home.  Didn't think it would be a big deal  so set off for my first destination, the Triumph dealer in Hamilton where I bought the Triple from.  At least I knew where that was!  It's my birthday in mid-October and it was a good opportunity to look for a pair of new riding boots, which is my beloved's present to me (negotiated well in advance).

First up, it was a stroll round their showroom to see what new bike porn was on offer and boy, did they have some nice stuff!  I'll share some of them with you right now. (Click to enlarge)

2006 Honda RC 51

The RC 51 is virtually Honda's old V twin Superbike on the road.  Guzzles fuel like there's no tomorrow, will break the national speed limit in first gear, uncomfortable as hell and super-noisy carbon cans.  It's a gloriously insane bit of kit for the road, totally impractical and I'd have one in the shed tomorrow as a second or third bike!

The wicked Kawasaki 1400 in Badass Black

How about this view in your mirror?

Ducati Streetfighter

Ducati Streetfighter - looks great in the flesh

Chrome and more chrome - Supersize Me, the Rocket 3

Impossibly beautiful - the new 675 Daytona.  My personal favourite

After half an hour's drooling, attention turned to looking for a new pair of boots.  My SIDI's are 8 years old and were totally waterproof until the final 3 hours of last year's 1000 miles in 24 hours ride when it was like standing in 2 small bowls of icy water.  They've done sterling service but truly waterproof boots are an absolute must.  Didn't realise just how different various well-known brands of boot varied for comfort, both in terms of fit and the ability to walk without the gait of a chimpanzee!  Settled on a pair of Alpinestars specially made for Triumph with a nice embossed logo.  They were actually brought in for another customer who had been notified 3 weeks earlier and still hadn't turned up so I was delighted to benefit from his slackness!  Interesting though - I normally take an (NZ/UK size) 8 1/2 - 9 shoe or boot but the Alpinestars were a perfectly comfortable 9 1/2.  A compelling reason for not buying boots on line.

Beautifully comfortable Alpinestar - better be waterproof!

After spending more time than planned in the Triumph shop, I had just over half an hour to get to the rendezvous with Wayne and grab a bite to eat.  Four and a half km as the crow flies - dead easy right?  Wrong!!!!  In general, NZ cities aren't laid out in grid pattern and roads weave everywhere.  There was a little triangle on the GPS which was me and the meeting waypoint 4.5 km away.  I assumed it would be easy to simply point in the general direction of the waypoint and watch the distance close.  Crikey, every road seemed to run at right angles to where I wanted to go and at one stage, found myself on the wrong side of the river which runs through the city with the nearest bridge some distance away.  Made it with severely frayed nerves having covered over 10km with 5 minutes to go!  Wolfed down a million calorie, cholesterol-laden gas station meat pie (tasted great though) and then Wayne turned up to begin the motorcycling equivalent of the Spanish Inquisition.  Well, not quite but being observed can sometimes feel that way!

Wayne told me to head for the main street in the city and then basically weave down the side streets coming off it for a block, back onto the main street and so on.  Boy, was Hamilton busy!!  It's one of the main venues for the World Rugby Cup which is currently being held in NZ and the place is filled with flag-waving fans from round the world - looked fantastic but a bit of a nightmare to ride through!  Pedestrians jaywalking everywhere, cars everywhere too and doing stupid stuff.  On top of that, one road I wanted to turn down was blocked off by police and there was also a helicopter in attendance.  Turned out to be a bomb scare at a nearby Institute of Technology annexe.  So that'll be a student buying time to get an overdue paper in then!!

Now here's an interesting thing...... there was so much going on that a few months ago, I doubt that I'd have been able to process all the inputs sufficiently quickly to avoid making some stuff-ups which would have earned some red ink on the assessment sheet.  However, I felt quite comfortable and after 90 minutes of riding in the central city area, Wayne went through the assessment sheet and I'd scored straight A's!!!  There's no feeling quite like having tackled something which is genuinely demanding, having worked extremely hard to get a decent outcome and seeing confidence and skill levels improve..... fan-bloody-tastic!  It's also great to be able to repay in some small way the IAM observers who put so much time and effort in on a voluntary basis.  The final comment on Wayne's assessment sheet was "Go riding again with Philip McDaid (Chief Examiner) - all the best!" so I'm picking that the big one - the full membership test must be pretty close - eek!

Just to finish off, I heard a bit of scuttlebutt and because it hasn't been verified, it's all the more delicious to pass on.  Regular readers will be aware that there's another Kiwi blogger who is following a similar training path.  This particular blogger was due to attend an IAM ride last weekend but slept in because he forgot to put the clocks forward one hour!!!  I reckon that ought to be good  for a few beers all round, don't you?  Especially as it doesn't seem to have been mentioned in his blog, haha!

Until next time.....

Rain, gales, sun, stress and fun

Last week, Philip McDaid, Chief Examiner for IAM emailed me to organise another check ride and we settled on yesterday (Monday).  As an aside, he mentioned that a member from Christchurch in the south island who had come north to pick up a new bike would be with us and we arranged to meet in the village of Clevedon, just to the south east of Auckland

A nice 370 km round trip from Coromandel

On Sunday, the weather in our area was appalling with torrential rain and gales.  The forecast for Monday was for the high winds to remain but the rain should ease back to heavy showers.  Heck, not the sort of conditions to be examined for precision riding but no point in trying to back out because riding well in adverse conditions is part of the whole point of raising your skills!

Wake up early and check the weather - everywhere is wet and it's heavily overcast but not raining at present.  Have breakfast, wheel the bike out of the shed and bugger.....down comes the rain in buckets.  Can hardly see the mountain range across the harbour from our house.  Oh well, it will be a good test of my new Michelin Pilot Road 3 tyres.

Raindrops keep falling on my head, la la.....

On with full wet weather gear and set off down the coast road.  A lot of vigilance is needed as all the rain from Sunday has washed a smear of clay off the cliffs onto the road in places.  I can also see the rainbow colours of spilled diesel on some of the hills - probably an over-filled truck tank, but no dramas. It's a different story crossing the Kopu bridge just south of Thames.  The ancient long bridge is a narrow single lane, uneven surface and currently wet with a strong, gusty crosswind.  It's a bit hairy on 2 wheels and a relief to cross it without major incident and roll on the opening of the new bridge next year!  Nerves are increasing with the prospect of a check ride in wet, slippery conditions.

The rain sets in with a vengeance but it's the crosswind which requires the most concentration.  At least the visibility through the visor is good having applied a coating of Rain-X before setting out and it's really doing the business in dispersing the droplets.  Up the western side of the Firth of Thames, the wind is more on the nose which is a relief and half way up at Kaiaua, the rain stops and a bit of blue sky appears - yayyy! No more rain for the day.

Bye bye, leaden sky - blue starting to appear

The remainder of the ride up to the Clevedon meeting point is on wet, twisty roads but mainly sunny skies which is heartening apart from a small rear end slide on one corner - no obvious cause but not particularly alarming either. Meeting with Philip in Clevedon, he introduces fellow IAM member Duncan Seed who is the proud owner of a new Buell XB12 Ulysses. This is the first one I've seen and it's a really attractive bike.

Philip then springs his surprise - Duncan is a qualified advanced  instructor on cars and trucks and is also an IAM Observer on bikes.  Furthermore, he'll be taking my check ride today and Philip will be observing us both.  Actually, Philip did ask whether it was ok, but knowing what a great bunch of guys the Observers are and the fact that they donate their time for free, why would you say no?

After some refreshment, Philip equips both of us with radios.  Reception is a bit patchy so he gives me general directions for the ride and as a fall-back, to watch for his indicators in my mirrors coming up to intersections if I don't hear the radio instructions. Oh no, I'll have enough on my plate without looking for Philip two bikes back, but he assures me that if I take a wrong turn, it's no big deal.

Philip and Duncan sorting out radio comms

I'm sure my keys are here somewhere......

The first leg from Clevedon through Maraetai is down narrow, winding country lanes not unlike the area in which I live.  No nerves from being observed and feel pretty comfortable that I've done a decent job.  As we approach the built-up suburbs near Howick with multiple roundabouts, I realise that the radio instructions are becoming very difficult to hear.  The outcome is a bit of sensory overload, looking where to go next, managing the heavier traffic and I mis-indicate a couple of times which is embarrassing.  Shortly afterwards, we pull in for the first debrief.  Absolutely over the moon to hear that my rural riding was spot-on in all respects.  The only comment was that in the built-up area with lots of parked cars on the roadside, I should move even further towards the road centreline to minimise risk from doors opening, cars suddenly pulling out etc.  Absolutely fair comment.

Philip swaps batteries on the radio and suddenly, we have great reception!  The next part of the journey towards the suburbs of Ellerslie and Penrose involves riding down a road with two, and sometimes three lanes in each direction.  This is where my relative lack of experience of riding in big city traffic in unfamiliar territory shows up.  I know that the 3rd lane in some places leads off to other suburbs and we need to go straight on.  To make life a bit easier for myself, I stay in the outer "through" lane in some places where I should really be staying left as far as possible, but most of my focus is on not getting lost!  I feel a real surge of pride when Philip comes on the radio to compliment me on a slow speed approach to stationary traffic at traffic signals which allows me to continue riding rather than come to a halt.  Feedback like that is great because it cements the technique in place.

From Penrose, we head to McDonalds in the suburb of Greenlane for a coffee and the full debrief of the ride.  Duncan reminds me of the near-centreline positioning in town traffic but says that my positioning after he'd mentioned it last time has been fine since then.  The other thing I need to watch is the 2 second following distance rule. Although my positioning in city traffic relative to the vehicle in front was apparently good, I tended to close the gap a little on some occasions.   Duncan also raises the need to use the left hand lane on dual carriageways more when appropriate - all excellent advice.

Both Philip and Duncan are really pleased with my riding and say that the items raised fall into the "nit-picking" category (their words, not mine!) but riding at a high level all the time is the expectation when you reach this standard. Philip then goes on to say that I'm pretty much ready for a cross-check by another observer prior to sitting my full membership test.  In the meantime, I should take the opportunity to work on the items raised on rides with my mates Roger, Bob and Andy who are also undertaking advanced training.

Two hours to ride to Auckland, two hours being observed and two hours home - another magnificent and totally fulfilling day; if not just a touch mentally exhausting! 

Just reflecting..... getting to full member status of the IAM, let alone reaching Observer is an incredibly demanding process where the bar is set very high and there are no short-cuts or concessions.  In today's world with a preoccupation tending towards instant gratification and not particularly demanding standards, it's a real privilege to have found something which both stretches you and gives such huge benefits all at the same time.  I might also add that it also makes the generally low driving (and riding) standards in this country rather more apparent.  Even worse, it also highlights the low expectations of the authorities in terms of appallingly low requirements to get a licence.  Maybe it's the same for much of the world but I'll reserve a decent rant on the topic for another time!

The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn. Alvin Toffler

Something is in need of a couple of hours TLC after yesterday!

Tour de Thames (and something more taxing)

This is the tale of a day of 2 very different halves!  Here's the first half.....

I needed some re-writable CD's for the voluntary computer tutoring I do for local Senior Citizens. I can get them in our village but they're more expensive than in the nearest town, 55 km down the coast road.  Actually, adding the cost of gas to get there and back; overall, they're considerably cheaper in the village!  That ain't the point though to a bike rider, is it?  That delicious anticipation of the ride to come, wheeling the bike out of the shed and slowly kitting up with that slight churning feeling in the stomach.  All these years and I still get those anticipatory butterflies - nothing quite like it, is there?  So today was the day to head to Thames for a ride.

I've posted plenty of other photos of the Coromandel Peninsula, but hardly any of the town of Thames, which is the gateway to the western part of the Peninsula.  The town was built in the first gold rush on the Coromandel Peninsula in the mid-1800's.  There's still gold extraction in one area on the Peninsula but most of the area has a no-mining order slapped on it to preserve the natural beauty.  Consequently, the permanent population of Thames has dropped back over the decades and currently sits at 6 to7000.  However, many of the original old buildings and landmarks have been preserved so I thought a photographic tour whilst I was down there might be interesting.

Wheel the bike out, kit up with all those great feelings and....... down comes the rain!  Well, drizzle anyway but there are touches of blue on the horizon so away we go.  Run through the odd heavy shower but it's getting brighter as we reach Thames.

The photo below is of an old restored stamper battery which is a tourist destination.  The old tunnels in the hill behind the stamper are inhabited by cave wetas, cross between a giant grasshopper and something out of a horror movie and with a leg span as big as your hand.  Totally harmless though. Can wet your pants if one drops on you though! (Click to enlarge).

Working gold processing (non-commercial)

Cave Weta

Restored weatherboard home from the 1800's

 

The old gold mining training school

Now a museum

 Church for a small congregation

Family home offering bed and breakfast

Thames town centre from lookout

Two sexy bits of kit!

See the boat next to the fish and chip shop below?  That's delivering the catch - doesn't come any fresher than that!

When they say fresh, they mean it! Boat less than 4 metres away

Lovely old pleasure boat going out onto the Firth of Thames

Fully functional old hotel in Thames main street

This might have been the end of this post but.......


Here's the second part of the day which made it REALLY interesting!  Late(ish) last night, I got a call from my Institute of Advanced Motoring mentor, Wayne Holden, asking me whether I was ready for a check ride as he was clear tomorrow.  Immediate panic, but as he was suggesting Thames as a meeting point, it made total sense to do my shopping, take some photos, have lunch with Wayne and then get into the serious end of the day's business.  Didn't stop me thinking, "Oh shiiit" though, even though the short notice was a good thing to stop brooding about it!

I was feeling increasingly comfortable about the check ride as the sun had come out and the roads had dried.  Then something weird happened!  I was waiting for Wayne outside a local cafe when a chap comes out of a nearby shop and says, "Are you Geoff James"?  I was totally gob-smacked and he must have seen my surprise so he went on to say, "I'm Bob Benton, Wayne's other IAM student"!  I hadn't previously met Bob but over the last couple of days, we'd exchanged emails to introduce ourselves to each other as we only live 55 km apart. He'd previously seen a photo of me and the Triple and made the instant connection. What are the chances of me parking right outside where he works and him coming out to pick up some lunch???  You know how it is - within 5 minutes it was like we'd known each other for years. Really nice guy.  Had a good chat, admired Bob's DR650 adventure bike parked round the side of the shop, said our goodbyes with a plan to meet up again shortly.  A few minutes later, Wayne turns up.

Wayne Holden typifies the IAM members I've met so far - friendly, funny, modest, puts you at your ease and of course, a member of an elite bunch of riders who really are the best of the best.  Wayne is an ex-police rider, ex-helicopter flying instructor, runs a driving and riding school in the Waikato district, is IAM Chief Examiner (cars) and an IAM Observer (Instructor) on bikes.  It would be completely intimidating if he wasn't such a bloody nice guy!

Introducing Wayne Holden

Wayne's Yamaha XJR 1300 is a joy to behold in metallic blue with the trademark gold Ohlins suspension - a real beauty.  After lunch, we set off  for a ride around the hill suburbs of Thames with their narrow winding streets.  A bit of drizzle is setting in but isn't any bother until on a steep downhill grade with a sharp bend and a smooth surface, I manage to lock up the rear momentarily despite the slightest dab on the pedal - not a lot of traction there.  After a spell in the suburbs, we set out for Whangamata, a coastal town on the other side of the peninsula.  It's nearly 60 km away and most of the road to get there is twisty so all the skills or lack thereof will be on display!  

Leaving Thames, I feel relatively relaxed, having gone through my first IAM observation ride a few weeks ago, practiced hard since then and backed it up with reading the recommended books.  The relaxed state lasts all of 10 minutes as the skies open and the rain on the road reveals an awful lot of areas which have lost their chip - traction very limited.  Riding in the rain is one thing but riding in the rain on a slippery road with an IAM examiner up your arse whilst trying to ride like a pro is a near bowel-loosening experience!  As an aside, Wayne remarked later that he didn't like that stretch either and felt his bike moving about.  This section of road is exhausting and I elect to run a lower gear for most of it, both uphill and downhill to aid engine braking and good control.

After 20 minutes or so once we cross the mountain range, the roads dry out and I relax.  Traffic is light and I can concentrate on good positioning and situational awareness.  We're cracking along at a decent pace through the bends and it's really enjoyable.  In no time at all, we arrive in Whangamata and I pull up outside the toilets at the Game Fishing Club - enough said!  Wayne walks over, shakes my hand and says, "Well done, excellent riding in some pretty demanding conditions".  I'm genuinely taken aback as inside, I was jelly in the wet and slippery section of the ride - no wonder it was bladder-filling!  Wayne fills in the Observer check sheet and it's all A's - unbelievable and I'm over the moon.  Maybe there is a chance of making it to Observer level after all.  We chat about what comes next and agree that in a week or two, I'll ride down to the city of Hamilton to practice urban skills in dense traffic with him.  If that works out ok, Wayne thinks I may be ready for the final exam with Philip McDaid, Chief Examiner; based in Auckland.  Hmmmm....we'll see.....  

Can crack a smile at last with the stress off!

Bike porn - Wayne's gorgeous Ohlins suspension

After offering my profuse thanks for another fantastic day of riding, Wayne departs south and I head north for home, feeling on top of the world.  After dinner and three large cups of tea, I sit here typing this with energy levels starting to flag badly.  Early night methinks, but what a day!