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As the daughter of ‘Transit Ken’, I knew it was only
a matter of time before ‘Roadracer’ fever hit. It did.
About a month ago I booked a CBT course (Compulsory Basic Training)
which teaches the basic controls of a 125cc motorbike. This I passed
successfully on Sunday 11th June. About a week later I booked in
for the Full Monty (not that kind!). My 5 day course was booked
in for the Monday 17th July thru’ Friday 21st July, the test
at 1.33pm on Friday in Wallington. Unfortunately, being under 21,
I can only train on a 125cc which - on the proviso of a test pass
– entitles me to ride any size bike, but it must be restricted
to 33bhp.
I had a radio link to the instructor, whereby he has a microphone
fitted to his helmet, which transmits to the earpiece inside my
helmet, for him to congratulate me on my excellent riding!
The First Day
The A23 Brighton Road in Coulsdon, which
I had to pull out on to every morning ... traffic jams galore. |
Luckily enough, I already know the guys at the training centre,
so I was quite relaxed. I got my leather jacket on, a pair of much
raved about (by Tetley) Sidi Vertebra boots, and made my way down
the high street to the training centre carrying my lid and gloves,
followed by a few bewildered faces, evidently surprised by a woman
‘biker’. A few jokes soon ensued as to who drew the short
straw, and would be taking me out for the day; poor old Simon!!
After a few practices at pulling away, ‘just to get acquainted
once again with the biting point’, off we go. I take the lead,
and have the joyous task of pulling straight on to the main A23
Brighton Road, in the middle of Coulsdon high street - fantastic!
After a few encouraging words from Simon, the instructor, I make
not a bad job of pulling out! The next 40 minutes we take an easy
route, just to get used to being on the bikes.
The coffee shop at the test centre in Wallington, which
we frequented at least 3 times a day! |
We stop for coffee at about 11am to discuss road positioning at
traffic lights and roundabouts etc., then we’re off again.
I seem to be in the lead most of the day, not a bad thing, until
I take a back seat and get a couple of chances to play catch-up,
NOW THAT’S BETTER!!
The only problem with this was that the flying ants decided to
emerge today, which make a lovely mess on the visor, as you are
all aware. I did scare myself once though; a wasp-looking bug smacked
into my cheek, and decided to stay there! As I was trying to get
rid of it, I wasn’t watching my steering, when I DID look up
I found myself in the scary position of being about 12” away
from an oncoming dumper truck – SCARY!!! Many fast heartbeats
later and my road position was back to normal, before Simon noticed
(I think!).
My only other problem of the day was that twice I tried to pull
away in 2nd gear, at a mini-roundabout, which just happened to be
on a hill. Basically, the bike was going nowhere – twice!
One of the most important things that I learnt today was not to
trust the bloody neutral light! At at least 3 sets of traffic lights
I let the clutch out, thinking I’m in 1st gear, but the bike
just revs it’s nuts off. I sit there going nowhere and the
neutral light THEN decides to rear it’s ugly head at last.
Of course, the considerate BMW and Mercedes drivers of this world
always think that this is the ideal opportunity to cut in front
of you - they won’t be doing that when I get my REAL bike!!!
Anyway, the weather was good, I had fun, and all, even after a
few false starts, had a good day.
Tuesday 18th July
Dave, Simon, Lyndon and Taff - the instructors |
Change of instructor to Taff. Taff is quite a chirpy fellow, who
gives a running commentary of the ride. His narrative quite often
also includes the odd burst of Welsh songs, mmmm… interesting!!!
Today I was told some conflicting advice; Simon said that a good
cheat for the emergency stop was to not use the back brake. This
is so that there is no chance of the back locking up. However, Taff
said today that some examiners like to see you using the back brake,
so I think I’ll use it on my test.
We get the radios on and we’re off once again. Today was quite
a laugh. We practised a few U-turns, it's so awkward to get the
biting point, keep the revs up, use the back brake to control speed,
and steer round on full lock, all at the same time! I think that
after my test I’LL never do one again! Anyway, I have a slight
problem, in that when I do a good U-turn it’s very controlled
and I only use about half the width of the road. Unfortunately though,
when I do a bad one I head straight for the kerb, panic, leave the
throttle open, and end up in a right old state!! I’ve been
told not to look at the kerb; that’s the reason why I end up
riding towards it.
A bit later on, we end up in Pollard’s Hill. I do know this
area vaguely, but obviously not well enough for I end up taking
a wrong exit from the main roundabout. A few left and right turns
later – it’s good practice I’m told – and we’re
back at the roundabout. Surprise surprise, I take ANOTHER wrong
turn! I now feel a complete idiot, after much of Taff’s mickey
taking. This road culminates in a dead end, so we practice a U-turn
- this time it was perfect – and Taff takes the lead back to
the roundabout, good job too I think. We find ourselves heading
back home when we approach a traffic jam, so we start filtering.
Just as the traffic stars moving, we slot back in to middle of our
lane (where us learners should be!) when who else but a white van
man decides to turn right with no signal. Well, it took me by surprise,
I nearly went in the back for a ride!!
On the way back home we went along a national speed limit single
carriageway (60mph) and I did a Carl Fogarty impression, tits on
the tank and off I went. Then I hear Taff giggle, and he says ‘that’s
the idea Zoe, but try to tuck your elbows in!’
Wednesday 19th July
My trusty little SR125 |
Today was a good day. I got to ride a new V-reg SR125 that they
have, instead of the R-reg, to which I'd become accustomed. Oh well,
no matter, this is a much nicer bike, the power delivery when you
open the throttle is much smoother and quicker, as is the clutch;
much better! My U-turns improved dramatically, and most of them
were controlled. Simon the instructor has been showing off on the
Dueaville, U-turns all over the place, however, today he decided
to show me how it was done properly, on the 125. HA HA, what a laugh!!
He couldn't do it as easily as he makes it sound; he went up the
kerb and everything! Out of about 6, I think he did about 2 the
way they should be done; the way that I'll be doing them by tomorrow!
I was laughing so much it hurt. 'They're bloody horrible little
things, they are,' he admitted, followed by, 'Anyway, do as I say,
not always as I do'. Ok then, it looks like I'll have to!
The main problem that I seem to be suffering is the fact that I'm
not using enough throttle when pulling out of a turning on a hill,
I keep stalling the bloody bike! I'll DEFINITELY have to do something
about that; it's no good not winding the throttle open, is it?
I managed to find myself next to a 'Blade at traffic lights, and
got told off when I attempted to race him! I was only pretending!!
My observation and mirror checks are all pretty much OK and I (obviously)
have fun at higher speeds (60mph!), although it takes a while to
get there. Simon told me to hold on to the revs, and not too change
gear too early (I think 'rev it's nuts off' was the actual phrase!).
A good day methinks, well I think I learnt and practised quite
a bit today, and improved quite a lot - just don't ask Simon to
verify!
Thursday 20th July
One day to go until the dreaded test, and Simon told me that he
has a 100% pass rate, so that's eased the pressure (not!). The other
trainee, Steve, who was due for his test today has had it cancelled,
so that is surely not a good omen for mine tomorrow!
My clutch control seems to have improved no end today; I think
I managed to pull out of most hill junctions quite competently,
at last. We visited Box Hill and managed to quadruple the 'biker'
population; an SP-1 was the only other bike there, which I suppose
is only to be expected on a Thursday afternoon. I had a bit of a
shock when, on the way there, Simon's top-box fell off. This is
all very well and not usually scary, but at the time I was riding
behind him with a Volvo estate up my arse (not literally you understand!).
I swerved to avoid it, (the top-box, that is) but it made me jump
a bit to say the least! I managed to check my mirrors before pulling
over, however, the Volvo stopped in the middle of the road (typical!).
The driver then got out before either of us had a chance to get
off, picked up the box, and said, 'I'll pick it up then, shall I?'
Nice. I thanked him in the same sarcastic manner, and he drove off.
After lunch at the famous (or should that be infamous?) Ryka's,
we headed off in the direction of Box Hill Motors so that I could
check out their 400cc imports. Not bad, but a bit pricey for me.
As we tried to pull off the forecourt, I couldn't start the bike;
I switched to reserve, and off we went. Another lesson learnt; check
fuel levels if it won't start.
 A
good U-turn day today, every single one was perfectly executed,
even if I do say so myself! Pretty pleasing. We were due to spend
the last 45 minutes of today's training just practising U-turns,
but as Steve and I were so good Simon said after about 5 each that
that would be enough. Ego trip, ego trip!! So we took the long route
back.
Simon made me laugh today; we were going through Banstead when
I saw a white van man starting to pullout from the side of the road,
so I tooted him. In my earpiece I then heard, 'Good use of the horn,
Zoe'. (So I've been told!) That made me giggle, to say the least!
We then practised a bit of filtering on the Brighton Road (A23)
through Purley. Funny when you see 2 cars fighting ferociously for
a space in a traffic jam, isn't it? That's what we saw, and decided
not to try to overtake, as they almost certainly wouldn't see us.
Better to just leave them to it, I'll soon be whizzing past them
so fast that they CERTAINLY won't see me (!).
Simon scared me again by telling about a couple of incidents whilst
trainees have been out on test. One trainee stopped at a junction,
and the examiner rode straight into the back of him, writing off
his own BMW machine. The other was where a trainee basically did
an emergency stop at traffic lights, without knowing there was a
double-decker bus behind him! The bus hit the bike, and the trainee
shot on to the junction, minus motorbike! That was food for thought!
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