-Ralph-

+10,000

I decided to do IAM or ROSPA a couple of years ago after I highsided the SV in Northern Ireland, had a 'I can't keep doing this and putting myself at risk when I have a child' crisis, and I very nearly gave up riding. A complete change in my attitude, particularly with respect to risk, and doing IAM or ROSPA were conditions of continuing to ride motorbikes that I set myself. Those that rode with me before and after, I'm sure will tell you that I've achieved the former, so now onto the next step with the latter.

The reason I haven't done it yet is due to being unsettled at home, and having moved house and area 3 times in the past 3 years. I couldn't choose a group and know that I'd be able to stick with it and see it through, without leaving the area.

Now I have bought a house and am going to settle in one place, I have chosen my local ROSPA group in Northampton who meet every Sunday morning.

The reasons I've chosen ROSPA is that you have the bronze, silver and gold levels, and if you want to you can do the 5 day £1300 course which gives you the ROSPA Advanced Diploma in Riding Instruction, but I think you'd only do that if you wanted to get into it professionally (silver or gold are pre-requisites). ROSPA claim that the Bronze certification is equivalent to a standard IAM test and the Gold certification is the highest civilian qualification available, and with all ROSPA levels you get re-tested every three years. So ROSPA seems to be something that sticks with you for the rest of your riding life.

I'm not a stranger to advanced riding, I've done Bikesafe a few times now, I pretty much know the motorcycle roadcraft book inside out, I've watched a fair few instructional DVD's, and I put it into practice as much as I can on every ride (or at least I think I do), now I need to formalise it.