Roadracers

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 main 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.

Dave, Simon, Lyndon and Taff - the instructors

Tuesday 18th July

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 of 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!