This weekend I took part in a rider safety training course with my wife. The training was intended for the performance level "frequent riders" who have already made some biking experience. The weather has also played along after the wet journey over 80 km to a training area north of Vienna and showed itself from the summer side. In the afternoon it was then very warm with about 30 degrees celsius and also extremely windy. The training and the training ground is organized by the traffic police in Austria on the basis of an nonprofit association of the police and financed exclusively with donations from the participants. Different trainings are offered: - basic course for young bikers or re-starters - frequent riders - off-road riding - trial riding The whole day was filled with numerous building exercises in the area of slow riding technique, cranking technique, gaze technique and braking technique. The emphasis was on "observed riding" of each exercise with corrective or supportive comments from the instructor, a training expert from the motorcycle police. In between there was a coffee break in the morning, a joint barbecue with sausages for lunch and another coffee break in the afternoon. After the lunch break, the concentration of some participants unfortunately decreased massively, whereby in total 4 bikers put down their machines at least sideways. Fortunately, it came apart from massively scratched egos to no personal injuries. One of the 4 bikes had to be transported by trailer. The rest could go home with minor damages. My wife and I arrived home after this day with numerous good tips and adapted driving techniques but quite exhausted. Below I have added a few impressions. Our "playground":
That looks great @Markus. The Police - run course in the UK "Bikesafe" is also brilliant (I did it a few weeks back) but the emphasis there is on road riding and consists of theory in the morning followed by a full afternoon's observed riding with a maximum of two riders to one Police observer. Our ride was about 80 miles or so on twisty roads with use of the Police's "system" IPSGA (Information (take, give, use), Position, Speed, Gear, Acceleration) central to it with the aim being making progress smoothly and safely. It's amazing how tiring a day's learning can be and I'm very pleased you and your wife's bikes weren't amongst the casualties!!
@Mrs Visor: Thank you so much for your detailed comment. Your course also had an interesting form of alignment.
