I’m writing this just prior to the Observer Weekend where, as well as riding some great roads in Wales, we’re going to discuss Associate training, giving feedback and updates to the National Observer validation route.

It’s not often I get to make an announcement in this column of this magnitude, but I’m very pleased to be able to announce that we will, after a significant break, be resuming our flagship Look, Lean, Roll course.

We were using the DVSA Motorcycle Manoeuvring Areas (MMAs) for LLR, but access to the MMAs stopped with Covid-19 restrictions and now that the restrictions have been lifted the MMAs are so busy with tests that we are unable to get access. Limitations on numbers that could be on an MMA at any time meant that courses were smaller, and we had to run with two different venues to cater for demand. It is likely, even if we were to get access to the MMAs, that they would also now be too expensive to make the courses worthwhile.

We have, therefore, for some time been searching for a new venue and we’re very pleased that RAF Benson is allowing us access to the helicopter landing area for Look, Lean, Roll.

We still have some issues to iron out, and we have to ‘construct’ the course to fit the new venue, but it is hoped that the new courses will be available later in the summer; keep an eye out on Groups.io for the announcement and how to book a course.

The size of the new venue means that we’ll only need to run one course per month. This means that we only need one LLR team, so we will, therefore, merge the two current teams into one. We’d like to say a huge ‘thank you’ to Mel Hakhnazarian for setting up the extra LLR team and running the LLR courses at Greenham.

Many of you will be aware of Rapid Training, who offer advanced riding skills and also carry out our Observer riding skills checks every two years. Rapid Training has put significant effort into developing its courses over the past couple of years and we’re keen to develop our relationship with them.

We’re very pleased to be able to announce, therefore, that Rapid Training is offering a significant discount on its courses to TVAM members. As well as a 10% discount there are deeper discounts on their flagship courses such as Bikemaster and Roadmaster. Hopefully by the time this goes to print you’ll have seen the
discount codes etc. on Groups.io.

We’re very grateful to Rapid Training for these discounts and we hope that TVAM members will take advantage of the fantastic training and trips that Rapid Training offer.

So a great month from a training perspective, with training updates for Associates, Full Members and Observers.

Here’s to a great summer of riding!

Chris Brownlee
Chief Observer