The Journal of Edinburgh & District Advanced Motorcyclists

In This Issue: Page 2: Word From The Chair & stuff

Page 3: Word From The Saddle

Page 4: Michelin TPMS

Page 5: Test Passes, Riding Tip etc

Page 6: ...Three Old Farts...

Page 8: A quick Tour of Ireland

Page 7: Braking Poll Results

Page 10: OAPs

Events are notified on EDAM Facebook page: https://goo.gl/zyVD3q and the new, improved website: http://www.edam.org.uk

I would like to take this opportunity to recommend EDAM ride-outs (aka “runs”) as a good way to hone your riding skills. However good a rider you are, none of us is perfect. Those closest to perfect tend to be the ones who practise, but practise is only any good if you know you are doing it (whatever “it” is) correctly . Once you have finished your IAM course, there aren’t too many opportunities to get addi-tional training, apart from the odd Skills Day or, maybe going for the Masters qual-ification. But wait, every week or so, Elliot or Vince or Peter take the trouble to organise a ride to a café, chippy or place of interest. This is a great opportunity to ride in a group of ‘sensible’ riders who are riding to the IPSGA system. This is not an observed ride, but it’s a way to practise with unoffi-cial guidance. There will always be at least one Observer on these runs, and they will be happy to answer questions, give opin-

ions and offer tips. These runs are typically advertised on the EDAM website www.edam.org.uk and also on the EDAM Facebook page. You need to check regularly, but you can be sure that anything that appears on the website has been organised by EDAM. So, if you haven’t participated before, or it has been a while since you did, why not turn up to the next one, before winter gets the better of us? This month’s edition of Twistgrip features two ride reports, both about Ireland and both by people called Graham. How spooky is that? So, I would like to appeal to all the non-Grahams to send a report of your adventures, please. Glynn Jones editor@edam.org.uk

March 2017

TWISTGRIP SEPTEMBER 2019

EVENTS

Previous PDF issues of TG are available

here: https://goo.gl/RXqQeb

March 2017

There’s more to life than bikes, you know. This is the last E-Type ever made by Jaguar. Shame about the colour! It lives in the

Coventry Transport Museum. Well worth a visit if you ever have the misfortune to be in the vicinity.

Nothing too much to say this month. It’s been a relatively quite time for me.

Our Observers continue to do a great job getting our Associates through their tests. I understand we have 90+% success rate this year, which reflects the hard work and dedication of the team under the steward-ship of our Chief Observer, Sandy Dickson. Well done all.

At our recent Committee meeting we dis-cussed how we could recruit even more associates. Many ideas were circulated and to kick matters off, a presentation on our Facebook and EDAM web pages looks like-ly as our first step along this road. If you have any ideas, please get in touch.

We finally have a new treasurer in place. I would like to take this opportunity to wel-come Stewart Geddes on board. His posi-tion was finally ratified at the committee meeting at the end of August. Like the Secretary, a treasurer is an essential cog in the wheel to keep EDAM's business (and payments) flowing. For me it is preparation time for my bike's annual service. Parts need to be sourced and fitted, and this year I need to check the valve clearances, so fingers crossed there. Just last week, after an associate session, my bike failed to start. After some investigation, I believe it might be regula-tor that's at fault. The battery seems to hold charge, but the delivery voltage is low and does not change as the rpm increases. At £220 for Triumph produced replace-ment, I hope I'm correct. If you have any thoughts on good after-market suppliers of spare parts generally, why don't you circulate their details for our readers’ information? [Editor’s note: try WeMoto].

We still have a few months riding before winter sets in, but perhaps you could consid-er riding through the winter this year also. It’s not too bad really, and runs are still or-ganised by a hardy few. Safe riding.

David Betts was awarded the Two Wheels Shield at the AGM but he wasn’t able to attend. Dave Alexander presented the shield to David at the recent committee meeting.

Flare Audio Isolate® MiNi Ear Plugs I’ve tried all kinds of ear plugs. I’ve had two sets of custom-moulded plugs, the first of which were very good, the second, most recent set, were rubbish. I returned to squidgy foam plugs for a while, but with half a box left I decided that they really are a pain to fit into your ears proper-ly. That pain increases if, like me, you tend to get on the bike and ride 150 miles be-tween stops. Foam plugs expand to fit and so irritate your ear canal after a couple of hours. A couple of months ago I read about Flare

Audio’s Isolate(R) MiNi ear plugs which are made of metal, with foam tips. The idea is that the foam fills the ear canal, but it is very soft and so doesn’t cause discomfort. The sound deadening is achieved, in part, by the mass of the met-al part. These plugs come in aluminium and titani-um versions. Being a cheapskate, I bought the Al version. I also took advantage of an offer to get 2 sets for the price of one (£24.99). They work extremely well - better than any other plugs I have used. I think this is due to the fact that the foam part comes in 4 sizes (all 4 supplied) and it’s the small size that works the best. They go deep into the ear canal, which is disconcerting at first, but they are very easy to remove. Available here: https://bit.ly/2xgXsnU

A WORD FROM THE CHAIR: by Dave Alexander

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PRODUCT REVIEW by Glynn Jones

Recently spotted outside the National Motor-

cycle Museum, Birmingham. Registered in

Victoria, Australia

RANDOM PHOTO

The above is the only two span bridge in Scotland, where both bridges were origi-nally the bridge across the river. The bottom bridge was built in 1713 and was built to cross the river Devon as the main route north to Perth. I cannot say I ever fancied crossing that bridge in a horse on carriage on a dark stormy night with the accompanying 100ft drop into the river as the approaches were down a steep hill from either side. I believe the top bridge was built around 100 years later and even has parapets. It is currently the main route for motorised traffic through the village (such as it is). As the river Devon cuts its way through the valley at that point there are a num-ber of sheer drops into the river and vari-ous waterfalls along the way. In fact, for the tree huggers amongst you, one of the earliest hydro stations sits on the river and was built to power what was known locally as ‘Haig’s House’ (the Haig whisky family had a grand house locally but it burnt to the ground in the early 1900’s – perhaps not the best advert for electricity at the time, but who knows what the cause of the fire actually was?). As a boy, I used to clamber about these cliffs, rocks and river paths without any real thought about the potential dangers. The river was barely above freezing even in the height of the summer due to over-hanging trees & rocks, but the swimming was free, so what was there not to like? It is a useful thing to understand your own attitude to risk, where it has come from and how it has developed as well as how you manage risk. As I have got older, I

have become more risk adverse, but not entirely so. For me, risk splits into two distinct parts: risk to yourself and risk to others. I have always considered it unacceptable to put others at risk by your own actions, whereas, subject to limits, I am happy enough to take certain risks on my own (my wife says the medics think that risk is related to a chemical in the brain and its prevalence. If there is any truth in it, whatever I lack she has a double dose of, hence will never at any time go on the back of a bike). Risk is not stupidity. Operating dangerous equipment involves risk, but doing it badly involves stupidity and/or lack of training/thought. Crossing the road involves risk but it should be easily managed with a proper assessment; but, apparently pedestrians keep managing to get themselves run over. People being prepared to take risks has giv-en us the ability to travel the world by vari-ous means and has allowed humanity to develop many of the things that we simply take for granted. The first flight involved a lot of theory, no experience, no instructions and the real risk of death. Many ordinary activities involve elements of risk and people do them without any consid-eration of the risks involved. Or, put another way, they do not think about risk and are oblivious to danger as a result. An obvious example is how close drivers sit behind one another, each relying upon the guy in front behaving rationally and saving their lives. People behaving rationally, that would be a first! Something that has come to the fore recent-ly and affects us as road users is the use of

hands-free mobile phones. The ‘votables’ are considering making this illegal in the same way in which parking on a double yellow line at midnight is an offence. Yes, it is an offence and no, no one is going to get you, unless you are unlucky enough to live in Aberdeen (apparently their wardens never sleep – I am sure it is something to do with sheep but best not go there). It is always good to have yet another new and unenforceable law; everyone in-volved feels much better (a bit like the climate change children – albeit a good excuse for a day off school) and the out-raged citizen has a law to point to. Imag-ine the savings to the planet and its re-sources if children did not have mobile phones? Are hands free phones in cars a bad thing? Of course they are, but they are now part of modern life much like social media, except social media is less likely to get you killed or injured. Numerous Police Action/Road Wars programmes freely illustrate PC49 driving along at speed whilst fiddling about with their radio set on their shoulder, only for them to stop Joe Public and give a po-faced lecture (and ticket) about the dangers of handheld phones. How a handheld phone and a handheld radio differ in effect, beats me but, c’est la vie, as they say. No, I am not advocating the use of handheld phones and, in a sensible society, if stopped for using a handset on the move, your £1000 iPhone would be dropped in a bucket of water in front of you and your thumb removed for good measure – try working your hand held phone without a thumb (or any other form of equipment for that matter). There is an argument from some quarters that a hands-free call is no more danger-ous than talking to a passenger. There is a grain of truth in this as I have seen too many drivers who are simply unable to speak to passengers and look at the road ahead at the same time. The reality is that a phone in a car is simply dangerous. Not because you cannot learn and be trained to operate both but because you cannot control the flow of information coming to you in line with the hazards you need to deal with in front of you. It is called prioritisation, and many people are particularly bad at prioritisation when faced with choices. Say the choice be-tween death/serious injury or the sack or, perhaps, learning which pointless bint got kicked off love island this week by check-

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A WORD FROM THE SADDLE by Sandy Dickson, Chief Observer

ing their phone. Many road users operate phones in con-nection with their business and have irate bosses/customers/suppliers calling them complaining about what they have done/not done and when will they do it or not do it. The caller has no idea/interest in what the driver is involved in at that exact moment. Driving whist waiting on a death/birth/test result/ etc etc or any of the unexpected proceeding can have a pretty profound affect upon the driver and their ability to concentrate. A passenger would be able to see the current road situation to impart such in-formation, a blind caller simply cannot. It is left to the driver to manage their incom-ing calls in some way. In the same way it is left to drivers to manoeuvre their way around a supermarket car park & we have all seen the results of that. The next time your irate customer calls, try hanging up on them, call back later and tell them you were prioritising and see how that goes. ‘How dare you hang up on me blah, blah, blah, what sort of customer service is that?’ or, ‘do you know who I am?’ etc etc. Phones in cars are a bad idea for very many reasons, but the technical gurus have fitted most new vehicles with hands-free capability, as the alternative is clearly worse and the demand from the oafery is there. That particular horse has travelled to pastures new and the stable has been converted to a bijou weekend residence. A new, unenforceable, pointless law will not change that and if the voteables (MP’s) need something to occupy their time, frankly, currently, the list is endless. Perhaps they could stick to kissing babies and talking sh** as everything else they do seems to end badly. If people were to consider the real possibility that their kids/partner were not coming home be-cause they had to answer the phone that instant, they might well reconsider phone use. If their phone was taken from them and simply destroyed and their car im-pounded for a month at their expense, imagine the complete inconvenience. I imagine that might have an impact on the level of phone use in cars. Apparently, we are not going to be able to draw a pension until age 75 with an ex-pectation that we might live until we are 85 or so. Compulsory education ceases at age 16. It is not too difficult to understand why many people do not know very much other than the rumour and innuendo that currently passes as news.

Before closing, as you will know, I am not a fan of ill considered ‘safety’ measures. An-other cunning plan that has raised its head is the use of ‘rumble strips’. A thought that these might be used at the side of roads and at junctions to delineate same. Apparently, average Joe cannot tell when he is getting close to a road edge or has reached a junc-tion. If you want to know your road position in a car, simply drive over the road gullies and look in your mirror, that should tell you exactly your horizontal position on the road. It is not a long stretch to understand that what is in mind is that all these damn mo-torcyclists can be stopped from racing around the countryside by the introduction of rumble strips at each straight. That’ll soon teach ‘em! If people cannot drive compe-tently, then either teach them or stop them, it just isn’t difficult. The next time you are on your bike, think about risks: those you are prepared to take and those you are not, then have a think about the road users around you. They are a pretty oblivious lot, are they not? Safe riding

One of the perks of being EDAM Secretary is that, very occasionally, folk offer you a free-bie to try out. But before you start thinking: “Advertorial alert”, I was so impressed that I immediately bought another kit for my oth-er bike. Unlike OEM TPMS with internal tyre sensors and the need to be paired up to your bike’s software (= £££s) this kit is a doddle to fit. It’s really simple but works well. You get a tyre pressure sensor for both front and rear valves which replace the valve caps, and a receiver unit which sits inside a magnetic holder. The receiver’s holder should be stuck somewhere in you line of vision as it will flash if there is a problem. Otherwise it toggles every 20 seconds to display front or rear tyre pressure.

The display is quite easily readable, even in sunlight and also shows the receiver battery’s level of charge. You can set to PSI or Bar (it’ll only be PSI after Brexit!) Everything is sealed and waterproof, and the receiver fits into a USB inductive charging cup to recharge every 6-8 weeks. Once the sensors have paired up with the receiver, even just rolling the bike out the garage will turn the unit on and display your tyre pressures before riding off – no more guddling with a pressure gauge and brake dust on your fingers. If the bike is stationary, the unit goes to sleep with minimal power draw. The tyre valve send-ers should give 3 to 5 years of battery life – but much easier than with the internal type to replace the whole unit when the batteries fail (and remember: if your OEM TPMS is malfunctioning – that’s an MOT failure.) Here’s the website: https://bit.ly/2ZosMSn Use the coupon code EDAM10 for a 10% discount when order-ing. So, is there a catch? Well, yes – if you have got Brembo or other chunky radial-mount front brake callipers and angled valve stems. The sender units are 18mm diameter and protrude above the valve stem by 13 mm, so you need this as an absolute minimum clearance to avoid the sender striking the inside of the calliper. I found using a 13 mm twist drill the easiest way to assess clearance. On my Sprint GT there is a 14mm gap, which gives just over 1mm clearance – the same gap as between the ABS pick up and pulse ring, so I’m happy. Do they affect wheel balance? Not that I can tell, but the senders only weigh 8 grams. But when you get new tyres, it makes sense to balance the wheels with the senders fitted; just make sure the tyre fitter doesn’t bin them! Not having had TPMS on either car or bike before, I do like the reassurance.

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Michelin TPMS by Elliot Beattie

EDAM welcomes the following members:

Craig Telford Robert Sneddon David O’Rourke

Congratulations go:

Dominic McCreadie on gaining a F1rst with examiner Alistair MacLean. Observers: Dougie Timmins & Jim Clark. Mark Douglas on passing his test with ex-aminer Lee Fisher. Observer: Glynn Jones. John McMillan on gaining a F1rst with ex-aminer Lee Fisher. Observer: Ian Gilchrist. Kevin Russell on gaining a F1rst with exam-iner Lee Fisher. Observers: Elliot Beattie & Dave McCutcheon. Sophia Joos on passing her test with exam-iner Alistair MacLean. Observer: Malcolm Christie.

Ian Gilchrist on passing his NO reassess-ment with examiner Steve Ellis. Catriona Parkinson on passing her test with examiner Lee Fisher. Observer: Elliot Beattie. Scott Marshall on passing his test with examiner Lee Fisher. Observer: Dave Alex-ander David Kerr on gaining a F1rst with examin-er Lee Fisher. Observer: Ken Miller

An EGM was held on 29th August 2019 at the Steading and attended by 16 EDAM members. Stewart Geddes was elected to serve as EDAM Treasurer

Observers may use the phrase “the 3 W's” - what you can see, what you can't see, what's likely to happen. It’s a thought sequence for your riding plan. Here's an example I pass a temporary road sign - grass cutting - and note the fresh grass cuttings in the gutter. So where is the tractor? And sod's law is that I can prob-ably expect to catch up with it in an awk-ward place to overtake. https://youtu.be/dSDEDUsxHnQ

EDAM has launched a new associate recruitment initiative. Pal-Pay will pro-vide a £10 ‘finders fee’ to any full mem-ber or associate that successfully recruits a new associate. If you know of a person wanting to buy the Advanced Rider Course, contact the Membership Secretary and let him have their contact details. When the person signs-up to the IAM course and is as-signed to EDAM, you receive £10. membership@edam.org.uk This scheme will be reviewed in March 2020.

Being a member of EDAM and the IAM can

help you. If you have problems obtaining a

discount (after carefully reading the T&Cs)

please let us know. Also, be aware that the

best bargains may not be from the vendors

mentioned here so, as always, it can pay to

shop around.

IAM Roadsmart offers discounts to all

members and details are given on the IAM

website. You need to log in before the

discount page will appear. If you are

logged in, follow this link: https://goo.gl/

meChie

IAM discounts include savings on a range

of goods and services. Of particular inter-

est to motorcyclists would be: Helite

Airvests (10%), Visorcat (20%), MotoScot-

land (10%), Bike-Seal (10%) & RiderVision

(10%). There is also a 15% discount availa-

ble at Bike Stop.

EDAM discounts include the following.

Please note that not all purchases will re-

ceive the same level of discount. For exam-

ple, most bike shops don’t discount tyres.

This can vary from time-to-time and dealer

-to-dealer.

BikeSpeed UK in Broxburn: http://

www.bikespeeduk.com/ offer a 5% dis-

count at their store. For online orders use

code: EDAM05

Roddy Benzies at Get-2-Grips Advanced

Motorcycle Training offers EDAM members

a special price of £130 for a full day’s one-

to-one training, a significant reduction

from the normal £190. http://

www.get2grips.co.uk/home.html

Saltire Motorcycles, Edinburgh: https://

www.saltiremotorcycles.com/ offer 10%

discount on parts.

Two Wheels Honda/Triumph: http://

www.twowheels.co.uk/ offers 10% dis-

count on parts and clothing.

The Triumph Tiger 800 that was advertised

in the August edition is still for sale. Mile-

age now 20,420. It has a new MOT and a

revised price of £3,600.

editor@edam.org.uk

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TEST PASSES

NEW FACES RIDING TIPS by Elliot Beattie

EDAM PAL-PAY

NEW TREASURER

Michael Brown receiving his certificate from

Observer Graham Baxter

Andy Salmon receiving his certificate from

Observer Sarah Fleming

DISCOUNTS

FOR SALE

Myself and my son Andrew planned to meet up with two friends, Alan and Law-rence in Portrush, Northern Ireland to spend a week doing a circuit of Ireland. This was the first long trip with my son on his new Honda NC750X - his first big bike after passing his test. We had planned to catch the ferry from Liverpool to Belfast and then ride up to Portrush on the A2 coast road, which is an excellent twisty scenic route, rather than travelling up the M2 motorway. Best laid plans and all that and things went to pot when the Liverpool ferry was cancelled due to a damaged loading ramp. Being a glass is half full person rather than

a half empty one, we decided to catch the

ferry from Holyhead to Dublin. So, not a

problem, except we needed to leave my

son’s house in Nottingham at 04.00 to

catch the ferry. This delayed us by half a

day, and we had to take a shortcut across

half of Ireland to meet them at The Lodge

Hotel in Harvey’s Point, Donegal, instead

of Portrush.

Our next destination was Galway and we stayed in a very hip backpacker hotel called The Nest Boutique Hostel. So hip you had to make your own breakfast; a big change from the luxury 4 star resort we had gotten used to. The oldies looked around at the other people with their skin-ny jeans and full heads of hair and felt even older. My son embraced the back-packer lifestyle and trudged around bare-

foot down in the breakfast hall. Phew, the camouflage worked and we seemed to get away with it. The euphoria of fitting in with the kids blinded one of our members, who shall remain nameless, to put diesel into his BMW GS1200! As luck would have it, attached to the petrol station was a wee garage. A sympathetic mechanic, a quick siphon, a few bob and a refill of pet-rol this time and we were good to go on to Tralee.

Alan decided he wanted to see Father

Ted’s House in Glenquin and it turns out

that the road there is a mix of the most

exciting single track and gravelled roads

that we had seen.

Just before we arrived at the house, an-other calamity occurred. We pulled over to the side of the single-track road and stopped to let a car pass and I saw my son topple over on his bike. Oops, his left foot slipped on the grass banking and down he went. A rite of passage into biker life. Only denting his pride, but not his bike. Our next hotel was The Tralee Townhouse which was situated in the centre of Tra-lee. There was no parking attached to the hotel, so we scratched our heads and thought: “Where can we park our bikes securely overnight?” Alan had a brain-wave and decided we should park oppo-site the Garda (Police) Station in the pub-lic car park. We were convinced the Garda would chase away any potential thieves. Thankfully, they were still chained up where we left them in the morning. Sadly, the Garda could not stop Lawrence’s crash helmet falling to the ground from his mirror just prior to setting off for Wa-terford. Shoei seem to know their stuff, nary a scratch was seen, and his helmet was fine. Off to Waterford and the Ha-zelbrook B&B! We found out that Waterford has a horse racecourse, which seems to be a huge attraction. Although we also found out that it attracts traffics jams that span

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A Circuit of Ireland by Three Old Farts and a Young Un by Graham Baxter

We finally arrived at our first hotel © Graham Baxter

Relaxing before dinner at Harvey’s Point © Graham Baxter

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miles in either direction. That did not dampen our appetites as we tucked into some Chinese food and enjoyed a few beers in the evening. Our circuit of Ireland was now almost over and we stayed for our final night in the Old Parochial House in Dundalk. This was way out in the countryside and, thankfully, we managed to convince a “not too local” takeaway to deliver some food to us. Only had to beg a little as shared Celtic allegiances prevailed! We met some other guests and had an inter-esting conversation with a guy who attended a local Harley Davidson week-end gathering, but I can’t write about his experiences here - we need to keep this suitable for all audiences! To catch the ferry on time we travelled mainly on motorways up to Larne, but this did not lessen the enjoyment of our trip because we had ridden on some fantastic roads. Our friend and Tour Leader, Alan, is a master at planning trips and this is only one of many exciting adventures I have been on with him. Next, on to the ferry to Cairnryan and our respective ways to Eng-land and Scotland. Just in time to prepare for the next adventure.

I wear 3 hats. I am self-employed and I can travel hun-dreds of miles in week. One day I can be in Inverness and Aberdeen, another day I can be down in Newcastle and Durham, I drive a car for this. My second hat is an EDAM observer; this is on a motorbike. My third hat is District Rep for the Royal British Legion Scotland Riders, for this it is mainly motorbike. Personally, I use my knowledge on a daily basis; not constantly, but there are times when it kicks in more than it should, ob-serving cars and motorbikes on the road when doing my job. I use it when taking my “students” out on the road too, but on top of this, as a Dis-trict Rep for the RBLSR, I also use it for pre-runs, then on actual runs. I have found my knowledge extremely advantageous in so many respects and becoming an observer is something I will

never regret doing. The down point of having the knowledge is, when I see others on the roads, I do have a tendency to point out their good and bad points in my head. I will be hon-est; my criticism is mainly at car drivers! I was behind one of my associates, we were slowly filtering through the traffic, a car driver thought he would block my trainee in! So, when I pulled up beside the car driver wearing my observer high-viz, I pointed out the road rules. He seemed genuine when he told me “he didn’t know and thought the biker was breaking the rules”! On the way home that same day, as I turned a corner, I witnessed a small acci-dent. A narrow road with cars parked up both sides, a newly qualified male car driv-er, green P plate on his car, who opened his car door and a young male biker with L plate, who was clipped by it. I am happy to say no one was seriously injured but both were badly shaken, the young car driver kept saying “I didn’t see him”. I am not saying it is always the car drivers who are at fault, after all the stats show it is 50/50. Over in the Netherlands, learner drivers are taught to open their car doors with the opposite hand from the door this makes them turn their head (left hand in the UK). I feel this should be taught in the UK. When taking a CBT, you are taught to look over your shoulder and this is called a “Life Saver”. In a car it is called a “blind spot”. I ask, which has more impact? Again, I feel it should be called a “Life Saver” to all then maybe, just maybe, more new car drivers would think harder! Always an observer!

How Do You Use Your

Knowledge? by Steve Thomson

Father Ted’s house © Graham Baxter

Answers to HC Quiz (see page 12) (1) A (2) C (Ref: highway code rule 178) (3) A and E (Ref: Highway Code Rule

103 and page 103 and Road Craft pages 113 and 114)

(4) C (Ref: Highway code rule 199)

With my daughter working in Dublin for a few months, a free-looking week and the weather forecast bright, I made a snap decision to take a trip around Ireland on the bike. Working out a route on Google maps, it appeared that I could visit some places that I’d always had nice thoughts of but never had a chance to see before, such as: Cork, Galway and Donegal. Some pre-tour checks included a call to my insurance company (I was covered, but they wanted to know and made a note on my policy, so worth doing) taking photos of Insurance Certificate and Pass-port, informing the bank, and rummaging my shelves for any spare Euros. Ferry booking online, 3 days before, was quite simple. There was no advantage to booking my return and it didn’t appear to be fully booked for any trips, so I decided to leave my return open. The first accommodation booking I tried for in Dublin declined me after I asked about parking for a motorbike. I won-dered if this might be a trend (‘no drip-ping wet, fly-spattered clothes in my room, thank you’) but I didn’t have any more issues like this.

Friday’s cross-country drive to Kilmarnock and down through Ayr was unremarkable, but then the road opened out onto the west coast and a lovely view of the Ailsa Craig at Turnberry. The next 10 miles was a great stretch of biking road with the coast on the right and a long and tempting set of S-curves in front. Great run all the way down to Cairnryan following the arriv-ing ferry down into Loch Ryan at the end. Checking in was easy except for the hassle of picking up tickets with gloves and hel-met. 30 seconds to get tickets, 5 minutes to remove and replace helmet, gloves, pocket tickets, pick up dropped glove, etc. Ferry was very pleasant. I was well looked

after by the crew who helped to secure the bike on the deck with straps. Bikers got on first, so pick of the seats in the lounge. Had a nice coffee and fell asleep. Awoke to see Ireland coming into sight - very exciting! Arriving motorists in Larne are immediate-ly bombarded with Union Jack and Ulster flags flying at half-mast from every lamp-post. Not a great start to my Ireland expe-rience, to be honest, but it was an easy and fast run down to Belfast and onto the M1 to Dublin. Driving down past Belfast and into Ireland showed no sign of potential hard borders to come. I didn’t even know I had crossed into the Republic till I noticed the road signs had changed to kilometres and Gael-ic. Driving in Ireland is easy and enjoyable. Good quality tarmac, well-marked, good driving standards. Yes, they drive on the left (I did have to check!). I decided that I like travelling in kilometres. There’s lots of them but you get through them quickly when the roads are as good as they are in Ireland. I tried converting my speedo to kilometres, but failed Triumph’s logic test for how to do this, despite reading the manual, so stuck with mental calculations. One toll on the way down. I was reminded of how difficult it is to manage these on a bike. As were all the cars behind me. Arriving in Dublin tired, but pleased with my progress and keen to find my stop for

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My namesake’s bar in Dublin where I refused a free Guinness © Graham Kennedy

A Quick Tour of Ireland by Graham Kennedy

Cairnryan to Larne © Graham Kennedy

the night, I discovered the challenges of navigating in a new city on a motorbike:

• Stop, gloves off, helmet off

• look at phone for directions, mem-orise next few turns

• helmet on, gloves on, start

• Repeat about 5 times. I eventually made it, with a few battles won and lost against the aggressive Dub-lin drivers, and settled in to enjoy Ire-land’s Black Pool for two nights and a day’s sight-seeing with my daughter (I would thoroughly recommend the Guin-ness tour!). Late on Sunday morning I worked out a plan for making my way to Cork. Navi-gating out of Dublin was tricky, but I was

midday and decided to head off motorway to the coast road to Belfast. Took the Drogheda turnoff and found the coast road through Termonfeckin and Clogherhead. An amazingly desolate and beautiful stretch of coastline with miles of empty beaches. At one point I became aware of several Garda cars and ambulances buzz-ing around. When I stopped to get my bearings, a woman asked me if I’d seen what happened. “No” I replied. She told me that there’s been a drive-by shooting at a caravan site that I’d just passed. Ap-parently, some drug-gang conflict in the ‘desolate and beautiful’ countryside! I made it free of bullet holes to Belfast Found my guest house and walked out to explore the city. Guinness and pizza for dinner. Not sure that my visit to the Titanic Experi-ence in Belfast was the best preparation for my ferry trip home on Wednesday, but it’s a great exhibition and an enjoyable last half-day for my Ireland trip. Quick spin up to Larne for the ferry to Cairnryan. Had a wary look out for icebergs on the way over. In summary, I really enjoyed my quick trip round Ireland. I was mostly lucky with the weather and not booking ahead meant I could alter my plans to follow the better weather. Some Key Learnings from my trip:

• Tolls should be scrapped for bikes! Minuscule income and a huge nui-sance for bikers and all the cars behind them.

• Get a satnav before I tour again! Major hassle to navigate in new cities without one.

• Irish roads are fab! Wide lanes, well-marked, smooth tarmac, good and courteous driving (apart from Dub-lin!).

Hope you’ve all enjoyed some good biking tours this summer!

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helped when the sun came out and acted as a compass south. I drove down on the N11 (equivalent to our A-roads) and called into Wexford for some lovely views of the east coast. As I drove into County Cork, I was grateful to the anonymous drivers who flashed me about Garda speed checks ahead. With the lovely weather, quiet and wide roads and lack of traffic I’d have been well over the 100kph limit. As it was, I was relying on my rough conver-sion of mph to kph. Think I got it just right. No ticket yet, at least. After some gorgeous views of the south coast, I arrived in Cork with just enough time for a quick look around this lovely city before refuelling (bike and self) and setting off to find my guest house about 25 minutes out of town. Another round of stop, check directions, drive for a bit, stop, check directions, etc. On Monday morning I left my guest house, found a lovely café for breakfast in Ballincollig. I then made my way up to Limerick. What a lovely town! I enjoyed a walk along the Shannon River then head-ed on to Galway. They say if you don’t like the weather in Ireland then just wait 5 minutes. Well, I had to wait 3 days before my first rain of the trip when arriving in Galway. I en-dured a slow and wet run into the city, parked in a multi-storey for shelter and had lunch. The rain had stopped when I got back out, so I was able to walk around Galway centre to get my bearings before driving out to the coast to look out at the Atlantic. In the evening I walked down into Galway and enjoyed a Guinness with live Irish music. Then another Guinness with dinner. Wisely decided against a third so I could find my walk back home. Do you like The Saw Doctors? If so then Galway is the place for you too - many place names firing up a new song my head - Salthill, Tuam, Clare Island. Tuesday saw the weather turn for the worse. Steady rain across the west coast looked set for the week. Better prospects east, so I decided to follow the sun and head for Belfast rather than Donegal. Fuelled up, reset tyre pressures and head-ed off. Rain eased as I made my way east. Almost, but not quite, quickly enough for my expensive and non-waterproof Hal-versson’s trousers. More road tolls on my way, I got better at dealing with them with practice, but they were always a hassle to make the pay-ments in bike gear. Got to Dublin around Three versions of Galway © Graham Kennedy

The ‘desolate and beautiful’ east coast – just before the shooting started. © Graham Kennedy

Observation, Anticipation, Position and

always be in the correct gear and speed

for the hazards you are dealing with.

Okay, so that is the whole course dealt

with, what else is there to learn?

Last month I talked about how a bike

works and what it does in the corners, but

you have to get there first. The first ele-

ment of the system involves observation,

so what does that mean and what is it

for?

One of the first things to consider is your

own senses. Most people have two ears,

two eyes, two nostrils and one mouth.

The point being that you can take in far

more information at any given time than

you can give out.

As a general rule, most people are suspi-

cious if they get spam emails or unsolicit-

ed cold calls asking for financial details, as

these are out of the ordinary. Many of the

same people are not remotely suspicious

when they see, hear, smell something

unusual when travelling along an un-

known road. Odd really; no one has ever

died from a reaction to a spam email, but

they have died from failing to react to an

odd smell, sound or sight. Learn to be

suspicious of the unexpected and the

unusual, it might just save your life.

We are dealing with hazards, and I classify

hazard into three types (and, as it hap-

pens, I am not the only one). The three

types are: stationary, mobile and the

weather. Most people I deal with get the

‘moving hazards’ issue to a greater or less-

er extent. But, as adults, we need to think

about hazards in a broad sense using our

knowledge and experience of life.

Stationary hazards are things that are sta-

tionary; seems pretty obvious really. But

many things that are stationary seem in-

nocuous but are, nonetheless, hazards.

Hazards have the habit of being danger-

ous. Some of you will have picked up my

dismissive remarks about the A9 and its

classification as the most dangerous road

in Scotland. As you will know, I say that as

it is an inanimate object, it cannot sudden-

ly get up and start running about; but in-

animate objects do have a habit of being

dangerous.

For example, street lighting columns are

generally about 30m apart and are about

160mm in diameter, so relatively small

and usually inanimate. I have a client who

makes a living out replacing such columns

after vehicle strikes. Hit a street lighting

column with your motorbike and you will

not be going home for your tea that even-

ing.

So, all stationary hazards do need a bit of

consideration as the risk factors associat-

ed with them can change very quickly,

from largely irrelevant to a limb removing

(or worse) event. A particularly hazardous

place for motorcyclists is car parks. Plenty

of stationary hazards (kerbs, lighting col-

umns, bins, signs, trolley barriers, pedes-

trian barriers etc) with drivers wholly dis-

tracted, not looking, not caring.

A particular beef of mine is the road sur-

face. I consider it to be one of the biggest

hazards for motorcyclists to deal with. It is

usually stationary, and it is not unknown

for it to be a hazard, but it is also known

for the road surface to be unreliable,

which is where observation comes in. A

surface which is okay usually, can be sig-

nificantly more hazardous when wet or

oddly, in the very hot weather that we

have just had, when the exposed polished

tar surface starts to melt. Molten tar loses

its cohesive structure and will move under

the pressure of a cornering bike.

Observation is not just ‘looking’ but seeing,

considering, understanding and thinking.

In ‘looking’, you need to appreciate there

are things that you simply will not see,

things you may not see and things you

would see if you approached ‘seeing’ ap-

propriately. Very few individuals see pho-

tographically, most people see what they

want to see and, in any event, your eyes

have their own natural blind spots.

(from Mind Driving by Stephen Haley)

Standing still, looking at a scene, you have

plenty of time to take in detail and assess

the severity of a situation. When travelling

at speed, you are assessing the scene, the

hazards and the potential of the hazards.

In any scene, the brain will filter out infor-

mation that it does not consider relevant.

Remember, many of our in built-in in-

stincts will get us killed on a motorbike.

They are useful for running after prey or

away from danger (a burning building or

the like) but no use at all in assessing is-

sues ahead that you are travelling towards

at speed.

To deal with such issues, you have to train

yourself to be able to understand what

you see, to see what you need to see and

to react appropriately once you do see it.

Too many motorcyclists that I follow simp-

ly never move their head, they never look

from side to side. The assumption being

they can see all they need to see using

their peripheral vision. The issue is that

your forward vision and peripheral vison

operate differently. Peripheral vison is very

sensitive to movement but lacks detail.

The concern on a motorbike should always

be for things that are moving, particularly

towards you and/or potentially across your

path. Firstly, because they may interfere

with you to a greater or lesser extent and

secondly, they may cause you to alter

course and come into contact with a sta-

tionary object (a tree for example). Try a

small experiment the next time you are on

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OAPs by Sandy Dickson

the bike: look at the grass verge (turn

your head – but not for long as you hit

what you look at!) as you travel along the

road at speed. It will very quickly make

you feel ill because you are using your

front focus on something your peripheral

vision should be managing.

By moving your head from left to tight,

you increase the area of peripheral vision

and may pick up things moving towards

you from the front that you may not oth-

erwise have noticed. Some of you will

have seen the Facebook post of the po-

liceman hiding an oncoming motorcycle

behind a pen - you can hide a whole build-

ing behind your thumb, just by looking at

the right (wrong) angle.

Remember, SMIDSY can easily be a two-

way street and everyone has done it at

some time to a greater or lesser extent.

Being observant and understanding how

observation actually work is an essential

skill.

Note: having written the above text, I was

out with my missus and the dog, in the

car, and came across a classic SMIDSY. By

the time we arrived, the biker was sitting

in a chair looking pretty sorry from him-

self, but it gave my nursey other half the

opportunity to practise her diagnostic

skills on him. As far as I could gather, the

car coming out of the junction had pulled

out on him but must have stopped. The

rider, in an effort to avoid contact, came

off his bike. An unfortunate accident but a

fortunate outcome; no real harm done

apart from damaged metal (as far as I

could see). With a marginally different

action or timing, the event could have

been significantly worse or perhaps,

avoided altogether?

We are often told to watch out for ‘tunnel

vision’ as if it is a bad thing, which it often

is. Sometimes, however, tunnel vision is a

useful skill. It gets rid of background detail

that is going to impact on your ability to

manage a situation.

When you ride along flat, open country

(the fens or carse land around Stirling for

example) there are no roadside features.

The lack of these features makes the

judgement of speed and the severity

bends very difficult. There is no obvious or

useful vanishing point as you appear to sit

too far above the road all of the time (in

my view). Move to an area with high road-

side embankments and overhanging trees

and the impression of speed is significantly

increased, but the ability to judge the se-

verity of bends is also improved.

In an area of high roadside embankments

close to the edge of the road; as the im-

pression of speed is increased, the impres-

sion is that a driver/rider will come into

contact with the built-up areas at the side

of the road. Therefore, vehicles are very

likely to stay away from the edge of the

road and in many cases encroach into the

oncoming carriageway, particularly on

bends and particularly where the vehicles

are bigger, articulated and/or towing. The

observations tell you the layout of the

oncoming ground; experience tells you

that as a result of the oncoming ground

conditions, oncoming vehicles are more

likely to adopt troublesome positions. This

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From Mind Driving (C) Stephen Haley

is stuff you already know, but is it stuff

you actually think about and apply?

That neatly moves us from observation to

anticipation. Many of you will no doubt

have read the odd report of court cases

where a lawyer will seek to make a point

about ‘anticipation’, as if it were some

form of fortune telling, which it is not, and

you should be some sort of soothsayer,

which is simply not a requirement.

Anticipation is, in my view, simply joining

the dots. As an adult, you know stuff but

often do not relate what you know to

what you are doing. Where observation is

seeing and understanding how you see

and, perhaps, why you do not see; antici-

pation is using what you know to predict

what is most likely to happen next and

thereby how to deal with it. Anticipation

is also predicting that you, as a rider, are

likely to miss something important, so

need to be working harder as, the out-

come for you missing something, is gener-

ally worse than for other road users.

In a perfect world, you should be able to

anticipate that other road users know as

much as you and will act as required by

statute and the road conditions, but we

all know that is unlikely to be the case.

Things you already know

If you a riding along the bottom of a hill

on a wet day, you can reasonably expect

water to be running across the road at

some point, most likely on a bend (sods

law) so consider that as you enter the

bend. Equally, if the rain is particularly

heavy you can anticipate the water may

wash gravel and mud with it. So, is it your

responsibility to avoid all such hazards?

No, it is your responsibility to consider

such possibilities within your riding plan.

Riding west later in the year as the sun is

low in the sky, you know the sun will be in

your eyes and that of other drivers. You

also know that approaching a corner you

may turn into an area where you simply

cannot see and, worse still, you may not

be able to see the road surface.

In travelling from town A to town B, you

may well go left and then left again, if so,

which direction are you likely to go after

that? Probably right.

If you are riding uphill on a wet day, it is

easy to control your speed with the

throttle as gravity is your friend. But then

you may then go downhill and maybe

heavily laden, then gravity is not your

friend. It is also likely that you will neither

go uphill nor downhill in a straight line. If

the conditions are poor, the road will also

be twisty and, twisty on hills means chang-

es of cambers. This is stuff you already

know and you should be anticipating how

the bike will behave, how the grip is likely

to change and what other hazards are you

going to come across – water running

down the road or gathering at bends with

potholes & gravel?

All may be fine with you and under control

but, can you say the same about other

road users? Cyclists, farm traffic spilling

mud everywhere, heavy vehicles cutting

corners and throwing up spray and drivers

going too fast for the conditions and not

using their lights. A significant safety step

has been the introduction of automatic

lights. The driver gets in the car and the

dashboard lights up, giving the impression

that his lights are on but, of course, they

are only the front daylight running lights in

their grey car on a grey day.

Remember, speed is not really an issue, it

is the transfer of kinetic energy when you

hit or are hit by something that does all

the damage, so other road users are a

concern.

Just to make life more interesting, how

deep is that puddle you can see ahead of

you? Add to the mix, ‘time of year’ and

riding in the dark or half-light making ob-

servation much more difficult. You can

expect additional elements of the flora

and fauna to add to the mix. In my experi-

ence, dead bunnies are quite slippery and

demonstrate two useful principles. Firstly,

you will hit what you look at and, second-

ly, don’t panic and the bike will sort itself

out.

Now that you have grasped ‘Observation’

and know that this is pretty hard work and

deceptive, and you have understood

‘Anticipation’ and appreciate that that is

just stuff to worry about, what position

should you adopt?

There are numerous theories about the

‘correct’ position but how about: at home,

tucked up in bed with a nice cup of tea –

the safest position?

We ride bikes because it’s fun, not because

it’s safe. You make it safe by understand-

ing it and working at it, so keep working at

it and concentrate. Once you have passed

your test, the certificate say you were

good enough that day for the 45 minutes

that the test took. But you need to keep it

up; your life depends upon it.

1. According to Full Control, if a rider ap-plies a short, gentle and precise push for-ward on the left handlebar, the bike will… A. Lean and turn to the left B. Lean and turn to the right C. Continue in a straight line due to

gyroscopic forces acting to oppose the steering input

D. Lean to the left and turn right E. Lean to the right and turn left 2. Are you allowed to enter the red cycle area at traffic lights/junctions when on your motorcycle? A. Yes B. No C. Yes, but only if you have passed the

1st line when the signal goes red D. If there are no push bikes there E. When there are no other vehicles

present 3. When would you consider using hand signals? (choose 2 answers) A. In bright sunlight B. During a snow storm C. As a rebuke D. In heavy rain E. As a courtesy signal 4. What is the traffic light sequence at a Toucan crossing?

A. Red, flashing amber, Green B. Red, Amber, Green C. Red, Red & Amber, Green. D. Red, Amber & Green, Green E. Amber, Red & Amber, Green Answers on Page 7.

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HC Quiz by Sylvie Pelvilain Smith