Described as “excellent” by our friends at ‘Bike’ magazine, the Lincolnshire Police BikeSafe scheme is widely recognised as a shining beacon of motorcycling brilliance in an all too often grey and lacklustre two- wheeled world! Our format is of unrivalled value, simple, great fun and well received by all who attend our (mostly) Saturday sessions run from the Lincolnshire Road safety Partnership premises here in Lincoln. Here’s a brief rundown of what to expect if you were to come along:
Upon arrival you’ll be greeted like a long-lost friend, plied with tea/coffee, above average quality biscuits and get to meet our staff, all either advanced Police or I.A.M/RoSPA observers, highly qualified riders as well as being specially trained to be friendly and approachable. They all love talking bikes in fact to be honest most of them struggle to talk about anything else.
We start with an hour and a half or so in the classroom, but don’t worry its very informal and you’ll be encouraged to participate as we discuss recent trends in bike crashes, some ‘tasters’ of advanced riding techniques and some hints and tips on say cornering or overtaking which might just save your skin (or bones!) This is anything but a boring classroom session and includes some great DVD footage and more tea/ coffee/the odd biscuit. We always strive to make it entertaining, its run by our bike cop and long time mediocre racer Jon Ryden and nobody’s fallen asleep so far.
Once finished we have a short break for lunch or just talk bikes and then its time for the ‘observed ride’, tailored to your needs if you feel it necessary, usually ‘one to one’ with a Police, I.A.M, or RoSPA observer, all highly qualified and specially selected for their abilities, attributes and looks. The ride can be as long or as short as you want but generally an hour or two and guaranteed to be picturesque-we’re not exactly short of countryside around here! Don’t be scared, you’re just expected to ride exactly how you normally ride, there’s no pressure to do anything fancy, forget about the observer and its not a problem if you aren’t too sure about where your going, Lincoln Cathedral is a great landmark so we usually find our way back.
Afterwards you’ll get an ever so tactful debrief on your ride and any areas which maybe need polishing up will be gently pointed out. Then you’ll ride home with a big smile on your face and fall asleep during the evening incoherently babbling about what a great time you had with the coppers on your BikeSafe day.
The last bit of the process is that we’ll send you a BikeSafe certificate through the post (don’t forget to mention it at insurance renewal time) and hopefully we’ll have sparked off a lasting interest in the benefits of advanced riding which will lead you to undertake some training. There’s a whole host of post-test training providers nowadays an advanced training is statistically proven make you much less likely to become a statistic of the wrong sort! Its this ethos that gives us our “bridging the gap” motto, we’re not here to train, just to give you a taste of it so that you’ll hopefully gallop off and get some training of your own. And you’ll have had a great day!
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