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Survival Skills Newsletter – Monday 14th March 2022

Sheffield Advanced Motorcyclists - Survival Skills Newsletter - Kevin Williams

The Survival Skills newsletter takes you to last week’s posts on Ko-Fi enabling you to sidestep Facebook. Don’t forget, no tracking or ads on Ko-Fi and is NOT a subscription-only site – everything in this newsletter is FREE TO READ for at least seven days. SO WHY NOT REGISTER AS A FOLLOWER? You’ll get email alerts when a new post is ready to read. Click the link, read the post and it won’t cost you a penny.

Should you find the articles useful, then you can consider supporting my writing by becoming a one-off SUPPORTER for as little as £3 which will open up a HUGE archive of old Facebook articles – currently over 700 – that can be accessed via the Ko-Fi Content Index.

Alternatively become a monthly SUBSCRIBER to accesseven more specialist posts including DIY training articles, bike set up and rider psychology. Not bad for as little as £3 per month.


ON THE ROAD IN 2022 – mini-rideouts

Here’s the idea. I know some riders are put off group riding by the high-speed, crash-happy reputation of big ride-out groups, so I’m planning something very different – limited numbers (five bikes max), leisurely pace (fine for an A2 bike) and relatively short distances (max 100 miles). These will either be:

  • MORNING RIDES with a decent mid-ride break to rest and socialise over a decent brunch / lunch (not a greasy spoon) and where possible an extra stop at a farm shop in case you fancy some nice produce
  • EVENING RIDES which will just have a short stop mid-ride

In either case, we’ll be starting from locations around the M25 but will quickly get out onto interesting and scenic routes which will mostly avoid the main A roads. Here are the first three dates in the diary:

  1. Sat MORNING April 23 – St Albans and over the Chilterns
  2. Sat MORNING May 28 – Epping and into NE Essex
  3. Sat MORNING June 25 – Beaconsfield and the Thames Valley

BOOK HERE: https://survivalskills.tidyhq.com/public/schedule/events

A couple of other points –

  • rides will be WEATHER DEPENDENT and if it looks like a wet day, I’ll postpone. They’re meant to be fun rides.
  • rides are PRE-BOOK ONLY – no turning up with a bunch of mates on the day. If you want me to put a ride together for you and a few friends, let me know
  • if a ride is fully booked, drop me a line and I’ll put you on the reserve list and offer you a place on a repeat ride from the same location. But if you realise you can’t make it, let me know so I can offer your place to someone else.

You’ll be riding with an experienced trainer too – whilst I won’t be offering any training, I’ll be happy to discuss anything to do with riding. And I may just have a few copies of my books with me available to buy.

Daring-do not needed, just come along for a nice pleasant ride!


WHAT’S ON IN THE SURVIVAL SKILLS UNIVERSE

APRIL’S LIVE EVENT – ‘SOBS – the full presentation’… Science Of Being Seen is a 45 minute talk covering human visual perception and motorcycle conspicuity, and explains why conventional hi-vis clothing and day-riding lights have proven less than successful at preventing junction collisions. Discover how to use Survival Skills ‘proactive measures’ in your own riding.
WEDNESDAY, 6 APRIL 2022 AT 20:00
Tickets cost £5. BOOK AT: https://survivalskills.tidyhq.com/public/schedule/events

MAY’S LIVE EVENT – ‘OVERTAKING – making it out the other side’… Overtaking is another of the activities that we tend to take for granted when we’re riding a motorcycle, yet lead to more open road fatalities than the crash that riders fear most – the collision at a junction. I’ll offer you insights from my time as a courier, plus sound advice to help you stay out of trouble. Sometimes it’s better practice NOT to make progress!
WEDNESDAY, 4 MAY 2022 AT 20:00
Tickets cost £5. BOOK AT: https://survivalskills.tidyhq.com/public/schedule/events

CLUB & GROUP TALKS – As well as an online talk scheduled for New Zealand, I’ve now got talks scheduled for Uxbridge, Cornwall, Devon and Gloucester and more are in arrangement. If you’d like me to arrange something for your own group or club, get in touch. As well as ‘Science Of Being Seen’‘Crash Course (in how not to…) and my latest ‘Fewer skills, more Insight’ presentations, I have a selection of others on various riding issues. Available weekday evenings and weekends, via ZOOM or in person. Drop me a line to sort something out.

ELEVENSES ANCHOR PODCAST – the Elevenses webcasts that go out live (almost always) on Wednesdays and Sundays are now available as an audio-only podcast – check them out HERE on Anchor.


LAST WEEK’S ROUND-UP

PRESENTATIONS ‘Crash Course’ for the BMW Club Oxfordshire
A new year, and it’s back to something like normal for Survival Skills. And so yesterday, I travelled out to Uffington in Oxfordshire to deliver my first in-person talk of 2022, although it seemed like the local council were fairly determined to keep me away, as I was sent on diversion after diversion which resulted in a near circumnavigation of the village and added about 15 minutes to the journey.  READ MORE…

Elevenses 222 Sun 13 Mar
in today’s show… FIM sanctions hit Russia… EU Commission rule for speed limiters on bikes by 2030… teenage bike jacker gets gaol… experts warn of rising thefts of EV charging cables… 5G rollout means bike trackers and car features using 3G will switch off… stroke survivor Andy Ibbott sets of for Everest base camp… update your bike with a plug and play digital dash… Goldwing to get raft of electronic upgrades… Honda teases 1100 Hawk sportsbike… today’s talking point – are cosmetic revamps and electronic upgrades all we have to look forward to for the next few years?    WATCH NOW…

SoS March 12 What is a stale green light?
I first heard the term ‘stale green’ to apply to a traffic signal, first seen at a distance, that was green at that moment. The implication is that the longer it’s green, the more likely it is to change to the amber phase – which of course means “stop unless it would be dangerous to do so”.  Why do we need to know how long it’s been green?  Simply put, I don’t want to be taken by SURPRISE! when a traffic signal changes right in front of me.   READ MORE…

FoF March 11 The ‘Noble Cause’ trap
One of the things I discovered very quickly – within a couple of weeks of starting – was that as a courier, there was no such thing as an ‘urgent delivery’. There was either a parcel that arrived… …or one that didn’t.  So whatever the “must be there in twenty minutes” or “by x o’clock” instructions from the client, I rode at a sane pace from pick-up to drop-off and the package got there when it got there.  That approach to riding kept me (mostly) upright and in one piece.  READ MORE…

Elevenses 221 Wed 9 Mar
in today’s show… three off-duty police officers plead guilty to dangerous riding… UK fuel prices soar and set to keep climbing… London facing ULEZ zone expansion… first road-legal bikes from Gas-Gas… update your bike with a plug-and-play digital dash… Ulster GP called off as funding collapses… today’s discussion point –  Triumph and what’s behind the move back to the UK…  WATCH NOW…

ToT March 8 Speed – how to fail your bike test Part Eight
Riding well isn’t always about doing the ‘right’ things, it’s necessary to understand common errors too – that’s the best way to avoid them. As a DAS trainer, I spent a surprising amount of time coaching novice riders to get their speed right to avoid failing the bike test. Brace yourselves – this is a LONG list of errors and a long post, and a useful reminder even if you’re an experienced rider. Riders have this idea that ‘progress’ is only required during advanced riding, yet the DVSA’s ‘Essential Skills’ manual for riders talks in some detail about speed and making ‘safe progress’. In some ways, this concept is just about the most difficult to get over to trainees.   READ MORE…

And from the 60 Second Safety series on YouTube…

That’s it for today. Each issue is usually out Monday’s but other commitments may mean a change of date. I’d welcome your feedback, as always.

Kevin Williams / Survival Skills
www.survivalskills.co.uk

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