I'm typing this on Sunday 31st May as the country is about to move into the next phase of the lock down restrictions starting on the 1st June. May was another month that will be etched on all our memories as this terrible virus continues to take lives. We can only hope that there won't be another spike in Covid cases and we can all start to come to terms with the new normal....whatever that may be.
This May should have seen me doing my first Motorrad Tours tour of the year, which would have been to Scotland with a group of around 30 customers from Bowker Motorrad, Preston. It would have been my third year leading this tour which consists of 5 days of riding some of Scotlands finest roads.
This photo is from the first morning as we prepared to leave Bowker.
This weekend I should have been heading to Northumberland with the Tutor team from my local RoSPA group, (Advanced riders North Yorkshire) for the annual Tutor training weekend. I'm the Training Officer for the group and the weekend is something I've arranged for the last 5 years. there's a possibility we can sort something for later in the year, fingers crossed.
Here's a couple of photos from a previous years weekend, one enjoying the great roads and scenery and the other of them 'enjoying' a written test paper....and I have no idea why I have 3 gold bubbles emitting from my head!! www.arny.org.uk
May would also have seen me assisting Humberside Police to deliver another BikeSafe event, which would have been their second of the year. A great initiative that I've been supporting and assisting with for almost 20 years. Currently all events are on hold so whether or not their next event scheduled for June 20th will go ahead or not is not yet known.
https://bikesafe.co.uk/humberside/ www.bikesafe.co.uk
So, having covered what I didn't do in May, lets see what I did get up to.
On the 4th I used my bike for an 'essential journey' to a hospital appointment. It was the first time I'd ridden for about 3 weeks and guess what?.....that's right, it rained on the way back! You really couldn't make it up could you! haha.
In mid May the Government announced some changes to the lock down restrictions which allowed a little more travel (to open spaces for exercise/health and mental well-being) and intimated that June would see the reopening of more businesses. With this in mind I decided to start to ready myself for restarting my training and decided to get the bike out and get some miles in and get 'bike fit'. I completed about 100 miles and it was well worth it to 'get back in the swing of things'.
I wrote about the day in a previous Blog, https://www.ianspeight-training.co.uk/post/getting-bike-fit-again-after-lock-down
As well as a bit more riding, I also did a little bit of mild revision and also took delivery of the following items; disposable gloves, face masks and hand sanitiser in order to comply with the Governments guidelines and risk assessments.
In January this year a friend and fellow RoSPA Tutor, Phill Bates emigrated to Australia. Phill is passionate about motorcycle training and found that there isn't a great deal of it 'down under', so Phill has taken the bull by the horns and established 'Roadcraft' motorcycle training. It is still in it's infancy but I'm sure Phill will make it a success and help many riders to improve their skills. I wish him all the best and look forward to his updates. www.roadcraft.bike
And finally, as you know, I like to try to pop up here and there in various magazines, so here is the summer edition of RoSPA West Yorkshire groups magazine, Torque. Every edition has a 'Meet the Examiner' feature and this edition was my turn.
And that my friends completes this months 'Look Back'. I really hope that next month I can tell you all about Junes packed month of training, BikeSafe, training and more training!
Ride safe and stay safe everyone.
Ian S
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