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A Tale of Two Observers and an Ex 'Bike Widow' Talk about keeping it in the family!.........not only do Phil, his wife and two sons all ride motorbikes but both Phil and his youngest son Adam are IAM 'advanced riders' having both not just taken the Advanced Test but gone on to qualify as Observers. If that's not enough, Adam is the youngest qualified IAM Motorcycle Observer.......not just within CVAM but in the whole of the IAM! Phil tells me that Debra rides to a standard above the IAM's Advanced Rider qualification but is too shy to take the test - come on Debra, go for it! :-) Gavin, their elder son who is abroad at the moment and is in the Army, also has a motorcycle licence ( yes, all four of them ride!! ) but is bikeless at the moment. Advanced Motorcycle Riding - A Tale of Two Observers and an Ex 'Bike Widow'
It all started at the end of 2002. I had been away from bikes for a number of years, always telling myself that I would get back into biking soon. The final push came in an unpleasant way in that someone I used to work with, who was the same age as me, lost her life to cancer. ‘Why am I waiting, you don’t know what life will throw at you’, I told myself! With a nudge from my wife, I went out and purchased a 1997 Suzuki Bandit 600N. What a difference to my last bike a 1980 Kawasaki Z400J with the biggest after market fairing you’d ever seen !!.........and I was bitten by the bug again. My old Bandit, with Deb’s GS 500 on the left, and Adam’s Chinese 50cc moped on the right.
After a short time, having had no formal bike training, I attended a one day ’ Ride to Arrive ’ course run by Avon & Somerset Police force. This showed me just how poor my riding skills and knowledge were. This is where I first hatched the idea of doing my IAM Advanced Motorcycle test. Of course, this was to stay exactly that, an idea, for the next 4 years! In the meantime, there was an on going battle for the pillion seat. My son Adam, an interested in bikes 13 year old, against his Mother. Being younger and faster (or down right devious!:-) Adam almost always got there first and when he didn’t he’d pull the old ‘but I don’t get much time with Dad’ card. Deb became a 'bike widow' as Adam and I disappeared on a regular basis to ride with The Suzuki Owners Club so she was now hatching her own plan of action! In July 2003, Deb decided enough was enough and informed me that she was going to learn to ride and I was to get her a bike asap! Within a few weeks she had passed her CBT and was the proud owner of a 1983 Honda CG125, complete with kick-start (she never did get the technique required for that……..but that’s another story). Meanwhile, I was still going on about taking my IAM test, but doing nothing about it. By Christmas 2003, Deb was fed up with riding that ‘bloody thing’, with the kick-start and top speed of 55mph (downhill with a following wind!). She didn’t want to do the DAS in one week, so she embarked on single day lessons on a 500cc bike (In-Gear, based at The Hand Stadium, Clevedon, run by Paul Dickenson), whilst still clocking up miles on the ‘bloody thing’. I know that this wasn’t the cheapest way to do her test but as long as she was growing in confidence and it worked I didn’t care. This training regime did the trick. Two full weekend rides, in March 2004, on the 500cc bike, followed by her test on the Monday after the second weekend and she did it!! I was very proud of her achievement and she was now no longer a bike widow :-) Deb, with her first big bike ‘Myfanwy‘
By this time Adam was chomping at the bit to ride bikes. Still too young to ride on the road I found him some private land to have a go on my bike…….that just made him worse. Yes………still bumping my gums about the IAM advanced motorbike test but doing nothing about it……!!!! December 2005, Adam’s 16th birthday. All he wants for Christmas is……no, not his two front teeth (for those of you who remember that well known song that my Father told me about…) but a booking for the CBT and a moped. After many scooter dealerships visited, it became obvious that at 6’2” tall, a scooter was not going to be an option for Adam. He had also tried to do his CBT on one of In-Gears scooters but his legs kept hitting the handle bars, so unless he stuck his legs right out, he couldn’t do the turn in the the road! CBT aborted, within a couple of weeks he had a Chinese 50cc moped and then breezed through his CBT test (no extra fee charged by Paul, so many thanks to him). Adam on his Superbyke RFX 50. Shows how long Adam’s legs are, I couldn’t get both my feet flat on the ground!!!!!!!
April 2006, I became the proud owner of a Yamaha Fazer 1000. What a bike!!!!
It was mid 2006 when Adam said that he would want to upgrade his bike in December when he turned 17, so that he could take his Motorcycle test and ride a ’Big’ bike with a restrictor kit fitted. Then he would do his IAM Advanced Motorcycle test before I did! Yeah, yeah……whatever….you’re a kid what do you know? December 2006 - ‘What do you want for your birthday and Christmas Adam?’ Well you can’t say it any plainer than that!!! Theory test passed in December 2006, earliest Adam could fit in the course (around college term times) was February 2007. This couple of months seem to drag by for him but finally the big day came…….and yes, he did it…….cost me a packet getting Deb another bike. Again, I was extremely proud of him.
I now knew that the challenge was on when Adam found out that he could apply to become an IAM 'Associate' (pre test member) just three months after taking his Motorcycle test. The March 2007 CVAM social evening was our introduction to our local IAM motorcycle group, CVAM. I had to get a move on and pass my test before Adam, otherwise I’d never hear the end of it!!! Duncan Day (CVAM Membership Secretary) quite willingly relieved me of my cash (not that I had any problem with that, superb value for what you get!), whilst telling me I was joining at the right time as the weather will be nicer. Do not ask this man for a weather forecast! It so happens he was appointed my Observer and I think it rained on all but two of our rides, including my pre-test ride with Brian Parrish. The weather that day was a challenge in itself………anyway I’m going off track here!
The pressure was now seriously on for me. Not because I was heading towards my Advanced riding test but because I was worried that Adam was about to overtake me in the process!! With summer holidays out the way, Duncan and Peter gave me the go ahead to apply for my test. On 6th August 2006 I met up with Robbie Downing the Advanced Riding examiner for CVAM and after a very nervous ride, he told me the good news that I’d passed. What a relief! I’d done it at last and so could relax…….or so I thought………… Meanwhile, Adam had been doing lots of miles with Becky his CVAM Observer. He was really enjoying the observed rides (I wonder why?). On 20th October it came time for him to take his test also. Both Deb and I knew he could do it but we all know what nerves can do. Then came the bombshell……….. ‘I want to get some more miles under my belt then I want to be an Observer Dad, you going for it as well?’ It’s got to be a bloke thing hasn’t it? Trying to work fast, thinking of a great excuse as to why I couldn’t………it appeared to be another gauntlet being thrown down on the floor…….the only thing I could do was pick it up and take up the challenge. This was confirmed at the Christmas Social (held a little late, in January 2008!) when Adam put me on the spot, in front of a few senior members, so how could I back down now? We both threw ourselves into some, pre-Observer training, training. Following each other for mile upon mile, being over critical with each other most of the time. I must admit I felt great being out and about with him. Of course, each time he would pull the old ‘I’m a poor student’ trick, so I ended up paying for breakfast and his petrol! And of course, when he was in college, Deb and I were still fitting in even more miles. Funny enough, I’d pay for her breakfast and petrol then as well! She was pulling the old ’What’s yours is mine, and what’s mine is my own’ trick :-) Having grown another two inches, it was obvious that the GS500 was physically too small for Adam. So out we went looking for a larger sized bike. He ended up getting a 2000 Suzuki Bandit 600 S. Taken in North Wales ( -6 on Snowdon! ), this was Adam’s first of his two Bandits this year
We’d done it. We were both apprehensive though but for different reasons. Me, just for the sake of being apprehensive I suppose, but Adam was worried that being only 18 years old, would people take him seriously? The only advice I could give him was to let his riding and knowledge gained, do the talking. Within a few weeks we were both out and about with Associates and I know I speak for us both when I say we are really enjoying the experience. I would certainly recommend giving it a go to anyone. Soon after this, having only had his first Bandit for a few months, Adam had some money burning a hole in his pocket. With him being so serious about biking, when he said he’d like to put the money towards a new bike, both Deb and I couldn’t say no.
I realise there's a chance here to get my own back in some small way and just like any good parent who takes photographs of their offspring (in the hope of getting their own back one day:-) …………. here’s a picture of Adam on a bike for the very first time!
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