Tvam 19/5/13

[Tomor]

Anyone going?

[stuR]

Ill be there. (was going to say as always but dont think that applies to a 3 month long member lol) Weather looking ok enough so should be out in the leathers hopefully..

[Tomor]

Ill be there. (was going to say as always but dont think that applies to a 3 month long member lol) Weather looking ok enough so should be out in the leathers hopefully..

See you there!

[Mark_h]

Probably.

[Mark_h]

Anyone here?

[Tomor]

Errr may have missed my alarm :(

[Fallout]

Currently have my face glued to trip advisor.

[stuR]

Had a good ride, my first one where i havent gone oh **** im going into this corner too fast etc etc so felt pretty confident. Got an a/b aswell schweeet!

[Fallout]

I only ever got Bs, so you're a better ride than me already!

[stuR]

Whatcha mean only ever, you not going anymore?

[Fallout]

I didn't mean that, but now you ask, I think I might be done with TVAM Sunday meets. I like my observer and enjoy our rides, plus I'd like to have the qualification, but I've not enjoyed the monthly Sunday rides with different observers. They've been a bit too stuffy. The things I have to work on is things like 'my bubble' which I feel I've fixed myself in the last few months, and then minor things like feeling 40mph through the RPM band to get consistent speed through the speed limits. Not exactly life and death - just things to help me work towards perfection.

Fair enough, but do I really care about perfection? All my weekly riding is based around a self preservation mindset, so at the weekend if I have time to go out on the bike, I want to play. All I really wanted from the course is how to ride safely for my job. I feel like I'm putting all that into practice during the week. I've done 6000 miles in 3 months on different surfaces and in ****ty conditions, and I've had next to no dramas, but many instances where I know what I've learnt from the course, Mark and just experience has kept me safe. While I know I will crash eventually and there is always something more to learn, I'm not sure the trade off of a dull sensible ride taking up half of my weekend is worth it just to learn a few more little nuggets.

So, I feel myself losing interest. I really think it's valuable and a great course, and I have taken stuff away from it, but not really sure if the value I'm getting from it now is enough to be bothered any more. I'm not the sort of person to be proud or pleased with a qualification, so I was always going to make my own choice as to when I'd got enough from it, and maybe I have already. Haven't decided yet though.

[stuR]

Fair enough, i think it must greatly vary from observer to observer as to what your experience is. The sunday ones i have all had i find pretty helpful and i think its been good to get a different view(not just down to the fact they all seem to think me slightly better than my tutor ;) )
I dont know what your attitude to learning from them is(i would presume good because you seems reasonable to me ha) but i find they always seem to praise me/comment on the fact i have taken on board their advice and stuff, which makes me wonder how many people turn up to just generally act like they know better? When afterall the point in undertaking advanced training is to learn from people that ride better than yourself. I thought it would be pretty obvious you need to take their advice to improve. But having said that im fairly new to riding, and definetly dont class myself as knowing better, perhaps someone thats ridden 15 years is stuck in a lot more of a rut than i am, and being younger maybe i have the upper hand in adapting to changes

[Mark_h]

If all the Observers were as cool and fantastic as me then I'd not be recognised as the really cool one :)

[stuR]

They can only aspire to be up there with you Mark. Still, one day maybe...

[Fallout]

Totally agree (not about the coolness of Mark, but the value of taking advice on board). I have at no point considered that I know better. It's just I went with 5 or so years experience under my belt, during which I've listened to people like Mark and tried to learn from other experienced riders. As such I started at a reasonable level and the advice I have received has been good, but not critical. The last one I still took a few little gems, but i was extremely bored! So while I know I can learn more from them, I don't feel it'll be critical info that will warrant having a dull Sunday.

Think I'll just continue with my observed rides until my membership runs out then make a call then. I'll have done another 10000 odd miles by then, so who knows where I'll be? Might have crashed and need my confidence boosted, or might have evolved so comprehensively that I ride with my eyes closed using nothing by sonar to navigate. :D

[stuR]

Yeah i think thats fair enough. Does becoming an observer not interest you? Considering your mileage, i wouldnt be surprised if not. I have probably put 3500 miles on my bike in 18 months..

[Fallout]

Yeah, it probably would actually, but as with all things, it's whether you can be arsed to put in the graft to get there. :)

[stuR]

Yeah. Personally id love to do it when i get there, but i just wonder how it would work, seeing at most of my associates would be 20+ years my senior, i just think age does seem to get you listened to, or that is my experience with most things in life

[Tomor]

Yeah. Personally id love to do it when i get there, but i just wonder how it would work, seeing at most of my associates would be 20+ years my senior, i just think age does seem to get you listened to, or that is my experience with most things in life

I was thinking of going for observer, but will wait until next year if I decide to do it. I would think it quite funny if you get some 50 year old who thinks they are the dogs, and you tell them they could do many things to improve their ride. The whole age thing does make me think, will they actually listen to anything i say?'

Sent from my MZ601 using Tapatalk

[Mark_h]

Age has not got a lot to do with it. The main thing is having something useful to say that makes a difference to someone's riding. Observer training takes a lot of time and commitment and is largely a thankless task as over half the people you take out are right ungrateful sods that make you resent giving up your weekend for them.

However once in a while you take someone out, show them something that makes a real difference to their enjoyment and/or safety and it's all worthwhile.

Oh and of course women find you irresistible!

[stuR]

Yeah. I know the same feeling from helping out at a local scout group. Most of the youngsters are a pain in the ass, but the few that want to learn make it worthwhile me spending my friday nights there.