April Club Night Ride Out.

23 Bikes turned out for the first Tuesday night club social ride out.

Unfortunately, a slight drop-off system hiccup meant the ride leader and tail end charlie were the only two bikes to exit the first roundabout on the correct route!

One quick dash South on the A1 and the, majority, of the original group were back together for a pleasant run through the South Durham rural roads following Paul Dowson's lead, ending at the chippy in Heighington.

The flags were out in Heighington, however I don't think they were for us!

It was good to see faces old and new turning out for the run, let's hope the numbers for all of the Tuesday runs continue to be as positive!

Thanks to all for turning out and thanks to Paul for the route & collating the food orders.

Blind Driving!

DAM has in the past discussed helping with the Guide Dog's Blind Drive event.  

We have been asked to help them promote this years' event:

Blind Drive Racing to Success   

  

Imagine the thrill of putting your foot down and burning up a deserted test track with no risk of a speeding ticket!   And all in a good cause.

‘Joy Riding’ will take on a whole new meaning for participants in the 6th Guide Dog’s Blind Drive Challenge at Nissan Sunderland on Sunday 26^th June.  Visually impaired drivers will get to ‘burn up’ the Nissan test track with the patient help of BSM instructors in their dual control cars. Their sighted counterparts can do the same but must be blindfold! In previous years visually impaired participants have reached speeds of over 90mph at this unique event that gives people who are blind or partially sighted the chance to drive again or even for the first time.

Participants will also have the opportunity to be driven around a heart stopping course in rally cars provided and driven by Innovation Motor Sport drivers., if they raise over £250.

Participants are asked to raise a minimum of £50 sponsorship.

The event, which is open to anyone over the age of 14 on Sunday 26^th June 2011, aims to build on the success of previous challenges and raise £14000 in sponsorship.

Louise Parker, Local Fundraising Co-ordinator for Guide Dogs in Teesside & North Yorkshire says, “This is a unique and exciting event which is a fantastic experience for both visually impaired and sighted participants. Guide Dogs receives no funding other than that provided by donations and legacies so every penny raised is vital in maintaining the independence and confidence a guide dog affords their visually impaired owner.”

Book a place for this exciting and unique event by calling the Leeds Fundraising Office on 0870 600 2323 or at caroline.kirby@guidedogs.org.uk

Easter Egg Run 2011

The 2011 Easter Egg Run was graced with perfect sunshine and a very high turn out at the Carville start point.

As in previous years, DAM Observers provided a rolling route marshaling service to compliment the bike sections from both Durham and Cleveland.

DAM also had a presence at the start/signing on point and at the conclusion of th ride at Aykley Heads Police HQ - as ever taking the opportunity to put across our message of advanced riding and the benefits to all riders.

The total turnout for the ride out hasn't yet been tallied up, but the numbers were high enough to necessitate "bunching stops" on the A167 at a number of strategic points.

The Police riders and DAM Marshalls did a sterling job of keeping the ride together and moving freely, thanks from everyone for the job that our Marshalls did, and thanks to Durham Police for organising another fantastic biking day!

i2i Motorcycle Academy experience

I'd heard a fair bit on the 'net about the experience offered by the i2imca and their Machine Handling courses, so biting the bullet I booked myself on the first of these - the MC1 course down at Rufforth at York.

The day (today) turned out to be glorious weather, not the ideal weather for demonstrating that grip doesn't disappear in the wet & wind.  But we made the most of it!


The website advertises the MC1 course content as:

Section 1.1: Bike Stability Exercises
In this section you will learn why bikes are inherently stable and understand the stories around what does and doesn’t make a bike unstable. This section contains a series of very unusual exercises to help you learn how to maximise the stability of your bike.
Section 1.2:  Advanced Braking
In this section you will understand the stories around braking; including why panic braking occurs, how to avoid it, and how to quickly and confidently bring your bike to a halt.
Section 1.3:  Counter-steering
In this section you will understand the stories around changing direction and how to use counter-steering to improve the speed, accuracy and confidence of your cornering
Section 1.4:  Hazard Avoidance
In the next two sections you will learn about the stories, behaviours and instincts you have created around dealing with unexpected hazards. Building on the earlier braking and counter-steering sections, you will learn how to control the bike quickly and confidently to avoid a hazard. 
Section 1.5:  Hazard Non-Avoidance
In this section you will learn what to do and what not to do (and why) when you come across a hazard that you cannot avoid. To help you develop the correct instincts and ability to deal with this type of situation, you will get to practice hazard non-avoidance under controlled circumstances.
Section 1.6:  Slow Speed Machine Control
In this section you will understand the stories you have created about slow speed control and learn advanced techniques for controlling your machine at slow speeds.

Tom Killeen, our Instructor for the day, made the day a really enjoyable experience using interesting & quirkly examples to illustrate his points - rolling tyres around to demonstrate the stability of a wheel/tyre, leaning his weight on the tyre to show grip levels and his "escapades" of the R1 to demonstrate the inherent stability of the bike were eye opening!


During the day, quiet technical issues such as Gyroscopic Precession and it's effect on counter-steering & The Cone Effect and it's effect on the turning of a bike, are explained in a very non technical manner which gets the point across in an understandable and memorable way.


The majority of riders at the MC1 course were in the early stages of their biking careers, the ideal time to learn how the bike really reacts to the rider's interfering inputs (the bike will remain stable and upright, NO MATTER what happens, unless the rider does something to prevent it!).


Despite me being not in the early stages of my biking career I still found Tom's teaching points entertaining and educational.  

When attendees had concerns with their bikes, Tom would hop on their machine to demonstrate how to handle the bike and how no issue can truely interfere with the bike's natural stability (as long as the wheels are turning).  His slow riding demonstration was done using my BMW GS1150 Adventure - on which he could not touch the ground, with me riding pillion!  The point being - once the bike is moving, thinking of his teaching points, anyone can handle any bike in the same way.


For anyone who has an interest in understanding why the bike does what it does, and also learning something new (no matter how long you've been riding) then I can highly recommend the i2imca courses.

Embroidered Badges

The club now has embroidered badges of the new logo available to purchase.

These are available from Paul Dowson on a Tuesday night meet, or Pat Young on the Sunday ride out.

Bargain at £3.00 each!

A Pillars and Hidden Diggers.

For those who don't know, the Pillars on a car are refered to the A Pillar (Windscreen to front doors), B Pillar (between front and rear doors) and C Pillar.

I've noticed a trend of increasing sizes of A pillars on recent cars - a result of improving safety for the occupants. 

This morning, whilst sitting at the lights outside work, I realised that a complete low loader & brand new excavator can be hidden behind the A Pillar of my nice new Skoda Surperb.

The previous car (VW Touran) had a split A Pillar with reasonable visibility, but since getting the Skoda I've had to make a significant effort to double check at roundabouts and junctions in case there's a digger, van, car or a bike hidden behind my A Pillar.

In the first photo above you can see the load loader at our gatehouse. 

Below, the loader at the lights is hidden completely by the A Pillar!



Remember this situation as you're making progress around a roundabout, or any other junction where a car is positioned at an oblique angle to an oncoming bike!

The BMW Club AGM in Durham

Biil & I spent half a day at the site of the BMW Club AGM on Saturday (they let Bill in even though he rides a Honda!), the purpose of our attendance was to promote DAM & IAM to the national audience of BMW Club members attending their AGM.

As well as promoting the benefits of Advanced Riding it was an opportunity to chat to representatives of other advanced riding groups who came over to introduce themselves and talk about the common problems of recruitment and newsletter content!

Bill did manage to sign up one new member for DAM on the day, so well worth the effort.

March Social Evening

Unfortunately your erstwhile blogger was unable to attend the March Social Evening on Tuesday 29th as my company sent me off to Las Vegas on business - shame.

However, Bill McReady (DAM Secretary) reported a good turn out for the presentation by Reevu Helmets (Mac Francis & Dave). The presentation went down well with a few questions asked from the members with the opportunity to try the helmets on.

From Reevu's website:

 www.reevu.com

When you wear a Reevu Motorbike helmet your view of the road ahead is not affected in any way. The view behind, however, is so dramatically transformed – you can see the road behind you with your peripheral vision.

Our customers have commented that after a short period of time, you are able to maintain awareness of the road ahead and behind without making a conscious effort. This means no more shaky steering when you are looking over your shoulder and no loss of vision of the road ahead when you are looking behind you!

Quite simply, Reevu Motorcycle helmets will transform your motorcycling experience. We still, however, encourage motorcyclists to make that all-important check over their shoulders before making any manoeuvres.

Certificate presentation to Mike Todd

 Bill McReady (DAM Secretary) presented Mike with his IAM Certificate at the recent DAM Social evening at Bowburn Hall.

 Mike was tested by Bob Brown on 17th February.