Joining an advanced riding group?

Originally Posted by Red Herring

The most common "mistake" that increases risk and/or prevents riders from using the technique is that they are to close to the vehicle in front that they are trying to see past. As a general rule you have to be far enough back so that when you make the switch anything that could have been missed earlier is still far enough away for you to be able to move back in

Good tip. Will try dropping back next time and see if I can give it a go. TBH the thing that has prevented me using it is confidence. I've often thought about it when stuck behind a truck, taken a view down the nearside, even used the clearing technique, then chickened out and gone, 'Nah, I might have missed something, I'll just wait'.

The only thing I find with doing an overtake from a long way back, it's not a problem as you have the power of the bike to close the gap, but it does significantly increase the top speed you've reached by the time you are alongside the vehicle you are overtaking.

On the XT600 overtakes from a close following position need extra time and planning, and any braking needs to be booked in advance!

Very very interesting thread. Ta and subscribed. That is all

[Red Herring]

Ralph, starting the overtake from a way back doesn't have to mean you go past any faster, it just means you approach the vehicle whilst already in the offside lane, rather than riding up right behind it and then pulling out. By approaching in the offside lane you maintain a far better view past the vehicle, you make your intentions very clear to anyone, including the vehicle you are approaching, and providing you can see far enough past the vehicle to be able to abort and pull back in behind should anything come into view in the opposite direction then it's perfectly safe. The real secret to advanced riding is to use the view past the vehicle ahead so that you can time your arrival behind it just at the right time to be able to continue past. A sure sign of an amateur is that they ride right up behind it, lose all their speed, and then start weaving around trying to pick up a view past.....

[NTECUK]

Two or even There car lengths is not going to affect passing speed by a super ammount.
Holding the bigger gap but keeping the high position just on normal overtakes give a nice view at space to sort yourself out ready to do the deed I found over the last days trying this out.

[Winder]

Slight derail here but.........
After my accident I am SHOCKINGLY bad on my bike. I wasn't Stoner before the accident but now I feel I know exactly what I'm doing wrong, I know the theory of how to correct these mistakes but lack the "bottle" for lack of a better word to put the theory into practice. Basically every car I see I think they are going to just swerve in front of me so I slow to a crawl. Every bend I come to i position myself for the best view, chose a point to turn in, look where I want to go, tip it in, roll on the throttle etc etc problem is I do it at about 40mph on bends that I could have done at 70mph last year. Entry speed sh1ts me up.
Is this something an advanced riding group could help me with or am I better off going to see Paul McKenna?

[Dave20046]

I'd say so, the more you know and the more experience you have the more comfortable you are on the road and with that tends to bring pace

Sorry to hear that Winder. Depends if having someone watching you is just going to make you more nervous Winder. Maybe try and get out on the bike on nice quiet weekdays on your own to restore your confidence in the bike itself when there's less traffic about?

[Winder]

I'm better on my own rather than a ride out because I don't feel like I'm holding people up (very first day on the bike was a GM ride out and i was SLOW) but obviously don't need to worry about that with an observer as he's just "doing his job".

I'll be out today for a few hours, need to sort my throttle control and stop rolling off when I get the fear as it just makes things worse. My right hand doesn't listen to me though!

[Dave20046]

Originally Posted by Winder

I'm better on my own rather than a ride out because I don't feel like I'm holding people up (very first day on the bike was a GM ride out and i was SLOW) but obviously don't need to worry about that with an observer as he's just "doing his job".

I'll be out today for a few hours, need to sort my throttle control and stop rolling off when I get the fear as it just makes things worse. My right hand doesn't listen to me though!

HA , you shouldn't have problems with riding with org and certainly not Iam. If for some reason you do have a problem with people seeing your riding I'd say address that!

[NTECUK]

I know the way I got Sarah to smooth out was to go on rides in a BMF group .
One was a police observer so we were sensible
Try an relax .
That's the key .honestly most people get too tense and then its not fun and makes control hardder.