Category: CLUB VIEWS

From the Chair (May 2024)

Posted on | by Kevin Dunwell

I’ve survived a couple of months in the new role! I’ve been impressed: joining a skilled and committed group of people has made it a lot easier to get up to speed. I’m confident we can work together to get things done.

I’m going to use this spot to bring you up-to-date on a couple of things that have been going on, and to introduce some things I feel strongly about.
I tend to use my bike all through the winter, except when there is a risk of ice. However, I don’t use it as much as I do in the warm weather. Now spring has come I wonder if my own riding skills are the same as they were last autumn. I’ll be seeking training opportunities amongst the many options available through the Club, and I encourage others to do the same. Don’t assume your skills remain at the same level. As I write, there are places left for Castle Combe on 21st May, maybe see you there?

Be A Better Biker are one-day motorcycling workshops, aimed at people who have not done any advanced training. We hope to introduce concepts that will improve their competence and safety, and perhaps act as a feeder into the IAM RoadSmart course. It has grown from an idea introduced by TVAM and Buckinghamshire Council into a series of 12 events supported by Buckinghamshire and Berkshire Councils, as well as Buckinghamshire and Berkshire Fire and Rescue Services and four IAM groups including TVAM. This year TVAM are delivering three events in Berkshire: 4th May (Crowthorne), 25th May (Theale) and 22nd June (Theale). ‘How can I help?’ I hear you ask. We will need approximately six Observers for each event (and thank you to those who’ve already offered), but the main help we need is promotion. There are events listed on the TVAM public Facebook page, which could be shared with local bike clubs, and by the time this goes out there should be fliers available for bike shops.

I promised a follow-up on TVAM’s response to the recent price rise for IAM RoadSmart Course. Our “balanced and appropriate response” became a letter from
me on behalf of the TVAM committee. The most important of the points I made was to ask why the jump in price was so large (23%), and why we, and other groups, had no communication beforehand. My letter was escalated internally, and I received a response the same day from Nicholas Lyes, IAM RoadSmart Policy and Standards Director. He explained that the price rises had been long-overdue and were necessary to bring some courses back to a break-even status. He fully accepted our points about communication, and explained how they would make improvements going forward. In my view, our ability to make an appropriate complaint, and theirs to handle it as they did, will only help to improve how we can work together going forward.

It is important to me, that we, as a club and training organisation, are open and welcoming to all. I believe we do a pretty good job overall, but I wonder if the
demographics of club membership properly represent the same in the motorcycle community. I struggle to get my head around why race, gender, age or anything else affects the ability to ride a motorcycle, but sometimes it’s the seemingly subtle things we do that make a difference. I’m interested in what we may need to do as a Club to make TVAM even more welcoming to everyone.

Finally, a shout-out to the marshals organising the parking, and everyone else in the Green Team at St. Crispin’s. It will be a similar arrangement in April, so please do follow guidance on where to park, and avoid the coned-off areas when departing. We will again be marshaling people on arrival into correct parking areas, and on leaving please ensure you use the exit nearest the road and not through the coned-off areas. It is much appreciated how well everyone has supported the changes and helped St. Crispin’s to run smoothly. Of course, we need this support to continue for a while yet.

Take care out there!

Kevin Dunwell
TVAM Chair

From The Saddle (March 2024)

Posted on | by Barrie Smith

This is my first “From the Saddle” article since being elected as Chief Observer by the membership at the AGM. I’d like to start by doing two things. Firstly, thanking you for your vote of confidence in me to serve this outstanding Club as your Chief Observer. Secondly, thanking Adrian Ellison for taking the reins as Chief Observer in 2023. Adrian’s workload in his day job meant that he didn’t have the capacity to continue the role as Chief Observer and we thank him for his efforts last year.

TVAM has had a succession of outstanding Chief Observers since the Club was formed. My passion for seeing excellent training delivered across the board will hopefully stand me in good stead to be mentioned in the same sentence as many of my predecessors. I hope that I can support and deliver on the membership’s expectations and do it in a light-hearted and fun manner. The late, great, Dave Jacobi was a true advocate of making TVAM a fun place to be. After all, we do this for pleasure above anything.

We have a great calendar already starting to take shape for 2024. Look Lean Roll is starting back at Benson in April and BikeCraft is also being delivered. These are both outstanding courses for Associates on their journey to passing their IAM RoadSmart test. They’re also great for Full Members who may have just purchased a new motorcycle and really want to get to grips with it. Castle Combe Skills Day is also in the web shop for Tuesday 21st May. This is a TVAM exclusive day, and our own TVAM Track Guides are available throughout the day to assist you in developing your skills in cornering, acceleration and braking on a fantastic surface without anyone coming the other way.

Our two premier training weekends, 7Ws and 3Rs are heading to Wales in May and June respectively. 7Ws, focuses on Associates, and 3Rs, focuses on Full Members, and are great weekends to combine training and socialising over three full days on the best roads Wales has to offer.

On 20th February, many of you will have seen an email from IAM RoadSmart about course price increases from 1st April ’24. The Advance Rider Course (ARC) will rise to £215 from £175 and various other courses are also rising in price significantly. If you know anyone that is considering the Advanced Rider Course, then get them to join TVAM before the end of March to benefit from the current rate. How the IAM choose to price their products is beyond the control of TVAM, however it’s hugely disappointing that we had no prior knowledge of this increase coming in. Some members have taken to groups.io to share their
thoughts on the situation and the Committee are actively considering an appropriate and measured response to the IAM.

TVAM Observers are renowned throughout IAM RoadSmart as some of the finest Observers within the IAM. It is down to a combination of our training regime, and willingness of our Observers to continually push themselves to be the very best that they can be, that ensures we maintain the highest possible standards. We demand a huge amount from all of our Observers and not one of them is paid a penny for their services. It’s therefore been difficult to read on the Observer group that Observers are struggling to get reasonable rates of insurance for carrying out their voluntary role within TVAM and IAMRS. “Don’t we get discount from the IAM’s preferred insurance provider?” I hear you all cry. Well, apparently not everyone gets a great deal. I have read experiences where insurance has doubled, or an Observer’s company have pulled away from insuring Observers whilst carrying out their duties for TVAM and IAM. This leaves the Observer trying to find alternative cover, often at greatly inflated prices.

My greatest concern is ensuring that our Observers are adequately insuring themselves. If you are insured through Cornmarket Insurance or Surety, the IAM’s
preferred insurance broker, as long as you have informed them that you are an IAM Observer then it is noted on your insurance and you should be covered for observing whilst riding your motorcycle. If you are with an alternative insurance provider, it is important that you explain this when purchasing a policy and it may be prudent to look at the IAM dashboard and download their ‘bike observer insurance letter’ document and share this with your insurance company. Please see Tom Peck’s post of 27th February on the Observer section of groups.io for a direct link to the document. Please check your insurance and ensure that you are adequately insured for Observing.

That’s about it from me, other than to say I am happy to come out to meet with you in your social teams and happy to discuss my role as Chief Observer if you would like to invite me along. Kevin, our Chair, is also very happy to come along and chat to you all.

Have fun, stay safe and I look forward to seeing as many of you as possible on a training course or out on the road socially.

Barrie Smith
TVAM Chief Observer

From the Chair (February 2024)

Posted on | by Kevin Dunwell

Well, here I am with a new job – TVAM Chair! (gulp).

As I write this, it’s only my second day in the role and it feels like I’m on the steepest bit of the learning curve. I’m also worried there are things I’ve not found out or been told about.

Perhaps I’d better introduce myself. I live with my wife of 43 years in Newbury, having moved from Thatcham just about a year ago. We have two children, and two grandchildren (so far).

Although initially trained as an engineer, I’ve worked in software development since 1979. I ran my own company in Newbury for ten years, and for the past ten years have managed teams of software developers and/or software projects. I’ve been both a Director and Trustee of a charity multiple times in the past.

Some fun facts. I’ve got a Private Pilots Licence (long since expired, which basically means I haven’t got one), an amateur radio licence (I was even a morse code examiner), I’m in a choir and I’ve performed in several stage musicals.

I haven’t always been a biker. My father was anti-bike. When I was in my teens, my brothers and I were given a choice – either get a bike or continue living at home. I still managed to get a second-hand Honda S50 at 17, maybe that didn’t count. Quite a few years later, in 2009 and the week before they introduced the mod 1 part, I passed my bike test. My first introduction to advanced riding was a BikeSafe day, and I joined TVAM having been invited on a guest ride by Alan Mossman.

It took me a while to get to advanced test standard, but thanks to my observer (Nick Caiger-Smith), a weekend of 7Ws and a trip with WAGs to France, I got there in the end. I’d caught the bug, and wanted to learn more, so I kept going with training. I trained to become an Observer in 2014, with the idea that the best way to benefit from an organisation is to contribute to it. It worked: I learned more about advanced riding after I got a gold badge than before. It was followed by National Observer qualification in 2017, a Masters Distinction in 2018, and becoming a Skills Day Track Instructor in 2022.

I put myself up for this role because I want to contribute and believe I can add value. Being part of a team is important, and I’ll be looking to build
on skills within the club to improve what TVAM offers. We are succeeding in many ways, yet there are opportunities to grow. The standard of our training is well known to be very high, for example, yet perhaps we could step up our efforts to reach other demographics.

I was coordinating our work with road safety organisations before I took on this role and will, at least for the time being, continue to do that. As I write this, we’ve just booked some dates and venues for Be A Better Biker in 2024, and I will be seeking help from the membership to run the events.

Finally, I should echo what Barrie has said on previous months about the forthcoming St. Crispin’s. We will again be marshaling people on arrival into correct parking areas, and on leaving please ensure you use the exit nearest the road and not through the coned-off areas. It is much appreciated how well everyone has supported the changes and helped St. Crispin’s to run smoothly. Of course, we need this support to continue into the new year.

Kevin Dunwell
TVAM Chair

From The Saddle (January 2024)

Posted on | by Adrian Ellison

Happy New Year everyone! Is it just me or did 2023 simply shoot by? It seems fitting that my last “From the Saddle” should be about road safety and this time from a personal perspective. I write in a separate article in this month’s Slipstream about Observing and the need to keep our skills up to date.

One reason we ride motorcycles is our ability to filter through heavy traffic, making progress when other road users cannot. In fact, this is the main reason why I commute by motorcycle to work in London every day. And it was one such day a few weeks ago that I was filtering between traffic in lanes two and three along the M4 eastbound between junctions three and two. I became aware of another motorcyclist approaching me from behind. I could feel his frustration as I was clearly travelling more slowly than he wanted to go. A gap appeared in lane three and so I moved over to the far right to allow him to pass, which he did. He accelerated through the traffic at a speed that I estimated to be in excess of 40 mph; the traffic was crawling.

About 3-4 car lengths in front, a white Ford Transit van pulled out. I heard a “bang” and then motorcycle and rider parted company and both slid down the M4. By the time I arrived, a few seconds later, the rider was laying on the road attempting to get up, his motorcycle was wedged under the crash barrier at almost 90 degrees to the flow of traffic, and the white van was straddling lane three; its driver frozen in his seat.

My “Biker Down” training kicked in and I immediately secured the scene. It was my little Honda X-ADV that blocked off the M4 that morning, hazard lights on, and my Hi-Vis vest draped over my top box to make it more visible, creating miles of tailbacks, I’m sure!

Then to the rider, who was conscious and trying to stand. It became clear that he had a pelvis/leg injury so that wasn’t going to happen. A grey van in front had also stopped and a girl on a motorcycle from behind too. They were able to comfort the rider and so I checked on the van driver, who was shaken but otherwise uninjured. Fortunately, no other vehicles were involved. The driver’s immediate response was the classic SMIDSY “sorry mate, I [just] didn’t see you”. He was a chap in his sixties and said he’d been driving all his life, and this was his first incident. I got him to call an ambulance and the police and I waited at the scene until they arrived, taking off my bike jacket to keep the rider warm. My other two assistants both then left the scene.

So why did this happen? First, the van driver clearly hadn’t seen the motorcyclist. But had he looked for one? As someone who admitted that they drove that route every day (he was a courier), you would think he would be expecting filtering motorcycles?

Second, our motorcyclist was filtering too quickly, and certainly much quicker than I was prepared to. The rider had remarked that he had “not broken the speed limit” so his idea of speed was completely different to mine!

The third contributing factor to the incident that day was the rider’s lack of suitable protective clothing. He had been wearing a jacket and gloves but had no protection on his legs – merely wearing a pair of trackie-bottoms.

When the police and ambulance crew arrived I knew our rider, who was clearly in much pain, would be in safe hands. I gave my details and proceeded on my journey to work, arriving an hour or so late. A few days later, the rider called me after he had been discharged from hospital (I had left him my card) and we discussed what had happened. He had a broken pelvis, cracked ribs and a bruised shoulder. He was contemplating whether to ride again, and I suggested that he must, once he’d healed, but he needed to join TVAM! (Coincidentally, the ambulance driver was also a biker and I tried to get him to join too.)

This incident highlighted the conflict between a keen benefit of motorcycling and one of the most dangerous manoeuvres – that of filtering and making progress through slow moving traffic.

The Advanced Rider Course says “The most important rule of thumb is only filter when the surrounding traffic is moving at less than 20 mph and then only exceed that speed yourself by 10 to 15 mph.” Motorcycle Roadcraft adds “take extreme care” and “keep your speed low – you need to be able to stop suddenly if your circumstances change”. This is sound advice and every day I ride into work I see motorcyclists whizzing through traffic, not just stationary/crawling traffic, but performing “filtering manoeuvres” at speeds in excess of the National speed limit. I ask myself “why?” – for the few minutes it might save on their journey. Is it worth the risk, not just to themselves but to other road users? I wish that I could somehow ask them.

Every day, I also become aware of riders behind me, who clearly think I am not filtering quickly enough. Some rev their engine, others hoot their horn. Up until now, I used to let them pass whenever an opportunity arose. I reflect on the fact that had I not let our rider above pass, the collision may have been avoided. But then, having impatient riders behind isn’t good either, especially when they then try to get past using the gap between lanes one and two. Two reasons why this might not be such a good idea: vehicles may not be expecting it and traffic in lane two moving to the right is then impeding filtering motorcycles between lanes two and three.

Then there is the question of motorcycles using hazard lights. The Highway Code is clear (Rule 116) and Motorcycle Roadcraft adds “don’t use your hazard lights when filtering – it’s illegal and causes confusion”. In days when nearly all cars have daytime running lights, seeing a filtering motorcycle from behind is becoming more difficult.

Hazard lights may help, so should we be campaigning for a change in the rules? Lastly, road signage. I can remember the M4 bus lane, which operated between 2001-2010 when lane three was painted red and only buses, taxis, motorcycles and emergency vehicles were permitted to use it. I doubt we will see the return of that but for what must be one of the busiest stretches of road for motorcycles to filter through, why is there not active signage warning drivers to be alert for filtering motorcycles?

So, I hope this experience serves as a reminder to us all: please take extreme care when filtering. As the weather is likely to be at its worst for a few weeks, please also be mindful of that, checking that your motorcycle, and especially tyres, are in tip-top condition.

Finally, don’t forget it’s the Club AGM at 12:30pm after the St Crispin’s meeting this month – please do attend. It’s your chance to add your voice to the way your Club is run. And with this, I will sign off and say it has been a real privilege to act as your Chief Observer for a year; I have learned an awful lot and whoever gets to fill the role from now on gets my full respect!

Adrian Ellison
Chief Observer

From the Chair (November/December 2023)

Posted on | by Barrie Smith

I’m writing my piece this month having just returned from Wokingham where I have been moving our stored items from one storage facility to another. Ably assisted by Adrian Ellison, Nick Edgley and Ed Butterfield, the four of us managed to move everything across in just under two hours and managed to avoid the brunt of Storm Babet. I have to say a huge thank you to these three and particularly to Ed for the use of his van to move everything across.

In September we were advised by St Crispin’s that we would no longer be able to store anything at the school. This includes everything that we need to actually run a St Crispin’s meeting and we will now have to transport all of these items for each meeting. The reason we had to move our storage facility, was because we could not actually access our previous store on a Sunday. Going forward we’re going to need a few volunteers that, on a rotation basis, would be happy to collect all of the St Crispin’s items from the store in a large car or small van and deliver them for the meeting. Afterwards, they will then return the items to the store and ensure they’re put back into storage neatly. If you feel that you would be happy to volunteer to do this on a rotation, please let Nick Edgley know and he can let you know more about what’s required.

For those at St Crispin’s in October, you will have seen that we had a visit from Santa Clause himself. We of course know him as Steve Harris, who is the Chief Marshal of the Reading Toy Run. Steve and his team do an outstanding job of organising the official road closure and all of the marshals to enable the Toy Run to go ahead. As he said, TVAM provide the vast majority of the huge number of marshals that are needed and he’s once again looking for our assistance. The event this year is on Sunday 3rd December and, regardless of your membership status in TVAM, you can sign up to be a marshal for the day. Please email toyrun@tvam.org if you can offer your time on that day to ensure that the Toy Run can go ahead and get the toys to those children.

Adrian mentioned last month that the end of October marks the end of the TVAM financial year. The Committee, Social Team Leaders and various other volunteers are currently collating facts and figures and writing reports ready for the Annual Report to the Club membership. This is the start of probably the busiest period for the Committee in the Clubs calendar, as the Annual Report has to be prepared in November and sent out in December, ready for the AGM in January. The Club has had another really good year and you’ll be able to read and hear about that in the next couple of months.

The AGM is an opportunity for change on the Committee. As part of the Clubs rules, an individual can only stay in the same ‘Officer’ post for a
maximum of five consecutive years. After this, they are obliged to step down although they can stand for another Committee position if they wish. Adrian mentioned in his ‘From the Saddle’ piece last month that he has decided to step down from the Chief Observer role at the AGM in January. In fact, each of the Officers of the Club stand down at each AGM and have to be re-elected into post by the membership if they wish to stand for another year. Adrian has decided not to stand for re-election which leaves an opening for that role.

At the AGM I will have served as Club Chair for three years and I have decided that I would like to throw my hat in the ring to stand for the Chief Observer position. I see the position as a great opportunity to uphold the excellent standards of training within TVAM and IAM RoadSmart.

This clearly means that there will be an opportunity for the Club to have a new Chair. All Officer positions have to be filled at the AGM, so if you would like to stand for any position then please do make a member of the Committee aware and they can let you know what each position entails. Formal paperwork will be issued for nominations prior to the AGM by Ian Gaitley our Club Secretary.

So this is effectively my last ‘From the Chair’ piece for Slipstream, as we don’t have a Slipstream in December and Adrian will write his final piece in January. I feel that holding the position of Chair of TVAM for the last three years has been a great honour. To stand each year and to be elected by the membership is humbling. I hope that I have served you, the membership, well and helped to move this great Club forward.

All that is left for me to do in this piece is to wish you all a Merry Christmas in December. Have fun, stay safe and I look forward to seeing you all in 2024.

Barrie Smith
TVAM Chair

From The Saddle (October 2023)

Posted on | by Adrian Ellison

October is a significant month for TVAM. It marks the end of our financial year, so a time to reflect on our achievements. It also marks the beginning of the end of the riding season, as the weather starts to turn – although we seem to have had more fair weather in the last couple of weeks than we had all summer! It’s a good time to try and get things done before we hang up our boots for winter (although the Club, of course, continues to have ride outs and events all year round). Associates – get out there and pass your test; Green Team members – get that Advanced Plus you’ve been meaning to book, booked; and Observers – get that Aardvark “ticked off” if you still have one outstanding.

This edition of “From the Saddle” is a poignant one for me – it will be my penultimate. After much soul-searching I have decided to step down as Chief
Observer at the AGM in January. Why? When I took up the mantle last January and was truly humbled having been elected by you all, I did so in good faith, intent on completing the usual five-year term. A few things in my life have changed since then, however.

First, the day job continues to take its toll. I routinely work 60 hours per week, I don’t have the option of flexible working and so commute into London every
weekday. Recently I was offered an exciting opportunity abroad but unfortunately that opportunity fell away. It did, however, plant the seed for me having to step down as Chief Observer and I have given this a lot of thought since. As it happens, I have just been given an expanded portfolio at work, so I can’t see my workload easing anytime soon. Quite the opposite, in fact.

Second, family life has taken a different direction. My significant other lives in Germany so I am spending more of my weekends travelling back and forth. It also makes spending time on “bike club stuff” more challenging when we do have time together.

Finally, there is the role itself. Being Chief Observer is a huge privilege and comes with significant responsibilities. While I knew many of these when I took the role on, I hadn’t fully appreciated the enormity of it all. It is testament to the huge contribution previous post holders have made but also an example of how the Club has grown in size and complexity.

One thing I wish to leave in my albeit short legacy is a clear role description for the Chief Observer along with the sort of experiences that would help someone step into the breach. This seems only fair.

I’m trying not to feel that I’ve let the Club down. This is the right thing for me to do and, ultimately, it is also the right thing for TVAM. Who was it that said “better quit while you’re ahead” and all that?

I will happily stay on and support the Club in any way that I can and have already agreed to take over the ABC course from Chris Caswell next year. I recognised the huge achievements of Chris and of Graham Jones, who have between them run and administered ABC for 14 years, in my announcement at last month’s St Crispin’s and want to do so again in print here. I’m also keen to get out on the bike more, either as an Observer, Observer Assessor, or just to get out on some social rides.

So, I’m sorry but there it is. Now, if I haven’t put you all off, the Club is seeking expressions of interest from anyone who might wish to cast their hat into the ring, and stand for election as Chief Observer at the AGM. Please come forward and speak to either myself or to Barrie.

While I have finger to keyboard, I also want to thank Alan Mossman for taking on the printing and distribution of Slipstream. If he’s done his job well, you didn’t notice last month and won’t again this time!

My continued thanks to everyone that helped at St Crispin’s last month. It was the first time we used the “refectory in a tent”, which I think worked quite well. I’m not sure how we’ll manage when the weather is bad but we will see. Finally, just a reminder please that for anyone leaving St Crispin’s to please use the far exit nearest London Road. This is part of the agreement we have with the school and I was somewhat amazed by the number of riders going straight through the coned off areas. Maybe we need bigger cones!

Adrian Ellison
Chief Observer

From the Chair (September 2023)

Posted on | by Barrie Smith

Autumn has officially arrived although with the amount of rain we’ve had over the last couple of months it’s getting harder to tell when our seasons actually change. It is however time for me to disappear on my holidays and therefore I give you my apologies that I’ll not be at St. Crispin’s with you this month.

The change of season may start us considering how much riding we do and what we wear on the bike. I’m not saying that it’s time to start inserting the thermal liners and getting out the winter ‘claw’ gloves just yet, however we may think about casting aside the highly vented garments in favour of the slightly warmer clothing with optional vent panels.

There are still many activities, including social rides and weekends away happening over the next month. The weekend after this September’s St Crispin’s is packed with rides by Mark Spittles, CLAMS and WOBMOB, as well as Welsh Wanders heading off to Wales. Castle Combe skills day is on the 26th September and Dave Hepworth and his team will be expertly developing your road skills in the safer environment of the track.

Moving into early October we have more offerings of social rides by the GNATs and WAGs on the first weekend and this is swiftly followed by the autumn 7Ws, TVAM’s premium Associate Training Weekend, on the 6-8 September. For those not attending that weekend, there are further social rides by SAMs and WAGs before we all gather back at St Crispin’s on Sunday 15th October.

Moving onto St. Crispin’s and a thank you to all of you that have attended in July and August and for working with us to ensure the parking and meeting venue worked well. I’d like to say a particular thank you to Nick Edgley and his band of willing volunteer marshals who have done their best to ensure that we park sensibly and guide us through to the Science Block where we now meet. Without the assistance of the volunteers, we would not be able to manage the process of observed rides, social rides and our courses all running during the morning.

I’d like to make one request of all riders at St Crispin’s. Please respect the cones and barriers that are put out to mark off our area and only use the lane nearest
London Road to ride in and out of our area of the car park. It has been noted that many of you are seeing the opportunity to pass through the cones and use another lane to exit the St. Crispin’s car park. Whilst this may look like a good opportunity to exit quickly, it is not what we have agreed with the school and could potentially cause us an issue going forward. September is going to be a far busier month, with the stage school returning after their summer break, so please respect the area that we have allocated and work with our marshal volunteers to make the day a success for all.

St. Crispin’s may well look different again this month when we’re hopefully allowed to use the temporary canteen that the school have erected at the end of the science block. Having had a sneaky peek inside, it had solid sides and a decent floor and is about the same size as the previous canteen area we had at the other end of the school. Whilst we have been lucky with the weather in July and August for our meetings, I would suggest that this is a good alternative large area for our general meeting and announcements in poorer weather.

Finally, I’d like to make another request for articles for Slipstream. Salli Griffith, our editor, does an amazing job of putting together the monthly magazine that lands on our doormats in time for St Crispin’s each month. This is highly regarded, within IAMRS groups, as the best magazine that any group produces. It’s your magazine and Salli cannot produce this without articles being sent to her by members. If you have been away on a trip, either of your own making or one that the Club has done, taken a test ride on your next purchase or maybe been to an event that you feel the membership would be interested in, please consider writing a small article and sending it to Salli at slipstream@tvam.org so she can include it in an upcoming magazine.

Thanks for your cooperation and whatever you’re doing this month, have fun and stay safe.

Barrie Smith
TVAM Chair

From The Saddle (August 2023)

Posted on | by Adrian Ellison

After a blistering June, July has not been much to write home about. Nonetheless, I hope that you’ve managed to find some time in the saddle either here in the UK or touring abroad?

Fifty-six of us managed to dodge the showers at the beginning of July for the Observer Weekend in Wales. I was delighted that we had 12 Trainee Observers join us, with six members coming for their first time. It only represents around 35% of the Observer Corps and so I want to know how we can make it even more inclusive. We focused on giving feedback, using the 1-10 scalar technique, and on tips to better fill out Run Report Forms, so don’t be surprised if your Observer tries some of these out on your next ride!

Much of the Committee’s time last month was spent preparing for the huge changes at St Crispin’s School. An army of volunteers arrived at 7.30am to plan out how best to make use of our allocation of the front car park and to ensure marshals were on hand to guide everyone safely in and out. We were blessed with some fine weather, which certainly helped. We are indebted to all of you that helped make the last St Crispin’s work. Yes, we learned a few things along the way, and will make a few changes for this month. Hopefully by September, the School will have erected a temporary canteen that we will be able to use. Again, we thank you for your continued patience.

I often get questions about Groups.io, especially why some messages get posted and others don’t. So, I thought I would explain how and why we use it. We’ve been using Groups.io since April 2019. Before that, we relied upon a number of Yahoo groups that were created by various members, over which, we had no control. Messages were sent by email – some of you still love email and some of you (like me) loathe it! Groups.io allows you to use email to post and pick up messages if you wish and there is a mobile app for those that prefer that. You choose how you want to be notified of new messages. For example, there is a Digest containing all the message text of up to 12 messages and the Daily Summary, which contains links to messages which can then be read online. Members opting to receive individual messages rather than a Digest or Summary appears to be the most popular.

The Committee have been tracking the usage of Groups.io as an indicator of member engagement since October 2019. The data shows a really high level of participation. In the last year an average of 97% of the membership were registered users (and in some months, that reached 99%). In the same year, on average, 466 posts by 167 members were made each month. The highest number of posts in a month was in September 2020, at 988 (by 255 members), which perhaps does not surprise, given it was at the height of Covid! The lowest number of posts in a month, at 305, was in March this year, which is a little more surprising but still a good level of engagement.

So why don’t we use WhatsApp or any other social media tool for that matter? Well, there is a simple reason for that – compliance. As a Club, Company and Charity, any tool we use for Club business must be compliant with Data Protection, the Equalities Act, the Defamation Act and a whole lot more legislation. It is worth noting that Groups.io has no advertising and no tracking (so it’s free from the prying eyes of your favourite search engine). The club therefore needs to be able to control who has access, when access is revoked (i.e. if a member leaves TVAM) and to keep the space free from defamatory or other unwanted content. We also need to make sure as much of the content posted is relevant to as many of you as possible. With such a big Club, this isn’t always an easy task and there is a fine balance to be struck between what some might call ‘moderation’ and others ‘censorship’. To help in that distinction, we published some guidelines. The full set can be found here: https://tvam.groups.io/g/allmembers/guidelines.

A few topics that sometimes cause confusion are:

  • You may only post for sale items that are yours. You can’t post on behalf of non-members and only motorcycling related items are allowed.
  • You can’t request support for other charities, however noble the cause. Potential exceptions are information on MAG activities, marshal support for the Reading Toy Run and comment on Air Ambulance activities, but not fund raising.
  • Team runs can be posted on the Local Team calendar. For all-member club rides, messages are not sent to remind everyone about rides that are on the allmembers calendar but are included in the calendar summary every Friday. No reminders are sent for individual rides. Upcoming events are advertised on the Wiki banner, where possible.

Groups.io is the Club communications tool, with separate subgroups for each local team, for Observers (including trainee Observers), run leaders, and team leaders. It’s also a great place to find out what’s going on – check out the calendar – and some events are designed so that you can sign-up (RSVP) online too. There is information in the Wiki section as well as a host of documentation in the Files section, including electronic versions of all the advanced riding documents, SatNav routes (also available as PDFs), minutes of the various meetings and electronic versions of Slipstream. So please do make the most of it.

I am indebted to Andy Wedge and Chris Brownlee for running Groups.io, which is no easy feat and takes considerable time and effort.

Finally, just another plug for the excellent TVAM Online Quizzes. Brush up on your knowledge – how much of the Highway Code do you still remember? How many of you have updated your copy with the new one? What about your knowledge of the Advanced Rider Course (ARC), Motorcycle Roadcraft and Motorcycle Control? Two versions of the quizzes are available via the Groups.io Wiki (https://tvam.groups.io/g/allmembers/wiki/25650). Level 1 is designed to test your knowledge of the Highway Code and Road Signs and Level 2 adds in Roadcraft and the Advanced Rider Course. They are ideal if you are an Associate preparing for your advanced test. There is also a more detailed Observer quiz available via the Observer Wiki for those validating or revalidating as a National Observer or an Observer about to undertake your National Observer validation or revalidation.

Here’s hoping that sun comes out soon and you can make the most of it!

Adrian Ellison
Chief Observer

From the Chair (July 2023)

Posted on | by Barrie Smith

As I start writing this piece, I’m checking the weather forecast for the weekend ahead. The BBC weather app is showing one thing and, of course, the Met Office weather app is showing the complete opposite. What am I worrying about, I hear you cry, it’s summer so what can possibly go wrong? Well, I am about to head to Wales for the Observer Weekend, at the Metropole Hotel in Llandrindod Wells, and there’s a reason that Wales has beautiful green countryside!

The Observer Weekend is the annual training weekend for Observers. It’s an opportunity for us to meet together to discuss all things ‘Observory’ and receive updates on changes within our training. We usually have two classroom sessions, one on the Saturday and one on the Sunday, as well as a road-based exercise
followed by some social riding on the excellent Welsh roads. It’s also a chance to meet and work with some of our new Trainee Observers and help them on their continued journey within TVAM.

Let’s hope I can stand in front of you at St Crispin’s this month and report what a great sunny weekend we had.

Talking of St Crispin’s, for those of you who couldn’t attend in June, I have to announce that our monthly meetings are going to look significantly different for the next 12 months.

At the end of June, the school started a major building project that involves the canteen and main hall and therefore we’re losing the use of these areas for our monthly meetings, as well as our parking area and slow manoeuvring area at the rear of the school.

The project is to create a 400-seat canteen and improved student movement areas at the rear of the school. Much housing development has taken place around Wokingham, particularly in the catchment area for St Crispin’s School. No new secondary schools have been built and therefore the intake for St Crispin’s will rise significantly in the coming years. Coupled with this, the school has had a safety audit and it has recommended that vehicular movements are to be limited to the front of the school, for everyone other than emergency vehicles.

So, along with all other users of the school, all parking and vehicle movements from July St Crispin’s will be confined to the front car park and this is going to require some management by marshals to assist members with where best to park and see people through to the rear of the site. Thank you to those people who have already volunteered to assist with this from July onwards.

When you arrive in the front car park, marshals will be there to point you to where is best to park your motorcycle, based on what you’re doing that morning. We will try to allocate areas for Associates and Observers who wish to do observed rides. There will also be areas for those Full Members who want to attend a social ride and for Members who wish to attend the slow manoeuvring and machine handling courses. Finally, we’ll try and allocate an area for the many people who attend St Crispin’s to make the morning run smoothly and don’t generally go out and ride. Please try to be clear on what your intention is for the morning, to give the marshals the best opportunity to get you parked somewhere suitable.

We’ll also do our best to ensure a smooth exit, at various times, for our social rides and observed rides. This may mean that we need to stagger the exit of our social rides in order to ensure safety for all users.

As I have said, our courses will run in the front car park once the observed and social rides have left. If you’re returning from an observed ride and these courses are still running, please be courteous and park in an area away from these activities. There’s nothing quite as distracting as a rider cutting across your path when you are doing a slow riding exercise.

From this month, our meeting will be in the Science Block area at the far end of the school. There is a walkway through from the front car park and you’ll be pointed in the appropriate direction. There is a large external covered area that we will utilise; weather permitting.

From September onwards we should have use of a temporary canteen that is being erected next to where we used to hold the slow riding course.

We’ll need everyone to help where they can and be as flexible as possible to enable this to work. Things are going to look very different for the next couple of months, before getting fully into the temporary accommodation, and it will be at least 12 months before we get back to anything like normal.

This month will be a learning exercise for both us and the school. Please help us and the school by making this work, as we want St Crispin’s to be the home of TVAM for many years to come. The Committee will update the membership via groups.io and Slipstream about specific changes, as and when we’re aware of them.

Thanks for your cooperation.

Barrie Smith
TVAM Chair

From The Saddle (June 2023)

Posted on | by Adrian Ellison

Finally, a spell of summer sunshine. I hope you’ve all been out on your motorcycles making the most of it. We know that many of you have been on TVAM’s social rides: 413 of you joined 36 social rides in April alone, and that was before the sun came out!

I recently had a friend stay from South Korea on his way to Canada. He wanted to visit Wales and so I booked a lovely Airbnb near Llanidloes for a few days. This time travelling in the Mustang, I was still able to enjoy some of the fabulous roads that Wales has to offer, but without the ability to overtake quite as keenly as I would on the bike. The fine weather (yes, it does happen in Wales sometimes) brought out many a motorcyclist, either riding solo or in groups. In fact, there were a number of foreign groups, including a contingent of Dutch Harley riders gathered in Aberystwyth. What this meant was that I was able to sit back in the car and watch riders out on the road, and experience being overtaken by many. This led to a number of observations and “gosh, I don’t think I would have done that” moments.

First, I noticed a tendency for riders in groups to try and keep up with each other, seemingly at all costs. A good example was a group overtaking a queue of cars on approach to a solid white line and a blind summit. The first three riders completed the overtakes safely and in plenty of time. The fourth rider cut the white line a bit fine but the fifth and sixth riders were clearly over the solid white, at a pace that was maybe too fast with closing oncoming traffic; the car flashing its lights not totally unexpected. It didn’t seem to me that the “ride for yourself” mantra was being practiced.

Second, a comment about following distances. I had a number of instances where a motorcycle had overtaken one vehicle to come up to mine and sat right on my chuff, literally a few feet away from my bumper. Clearly waiting for the next overtaking opportunity, this posed a risk to both rider and me, and to compensate, I increased my own following distance from the car in front. Of course, what that did was to invite him to overtake me and said rider then found himself hugging the back of the car in front, trying to jump him or her too. We do allow a closing of the safe following distance to one second when an overtake might be on but we all know to drop back to two seconds when it clearly isn’t.

Riders riding in groups were also getting very close to each other, especially at speeds approaching or even exceeding the National limit. Some were trying to ride offset, but were invariably still too close. If anything had happened necessitating a rapid brake application, I am not sure all would have come out unscathed.

Marking rides was also variable, with some markers choosing some of the most inappropriate (i.e. unsafe!) places to stop in order to wave their fellow riders through. I saw one marker stopped on a zig-zag of a pedestrian crossing and another on a level crossing!

The first task for a marker is to keep themselves safe. This is made all the easier with a run leader knowing where best to drop them.

So what has all of this got to do with TVAM? I know that “we” would all be far more aware of these poor practices. But it does ram home the need for riding within your own capability, especially when the temptation might be to “keep up with your mates” on some fine roads in a social context in fine weather. As members of TVAM, we should be upholding the advanced riding standard at all times and acting as ambassadors for the Club on the road. These examples also stress the importance of effective run leading and back marking, and particularly the run leader’s pre-ride briefing. We are making our own Club social rides more descriptive, focusing more on route complexity, run length and time between stops. From this month’s St Crispin’s, Green Team ride outs will not be graded, the idea being that social rides should cater for every rider, riding to their own capability and with effective run leading, back marking and good use of the marker-system, making the ride enjoyable for all.

When I got back from Wales, I had one of my many chats with Barrie Smith, our Chair, and remarked on a new route I had discovered: the A485 from Aberystwyth to Tregaron and then over the Esgair pass and down the Devil’s Staircase to Beulah. “Oh that…” he said, “was where the ‘bimble’ in Barrie’s Bimble came from, having had an evening ride out from Doddy Wells.” It goes to show, we all know all the best roads in the country! Definitely one I want to go back to but on the VFR.

While on the subject of trips away, if you are planning your own trip abroad this summer with fellow Club members, remember not to fall foul of the EU package travel directive. If you are booking travel and accommodation, irrespective of how this is paid for, it would constitute a “package” and potentially expose yourself to liabilities for cancellations and/or repatriation. This is easily overcome by using our Club-approved travel partner – Not just Travel. Alex Harding was at St. Crispin’s last month and will be back periodically to offer practical advice on booking trips. He said he is happy to book specific travel and hotels, so please do discuss your needs with him direct (https://alexharding.notjusttravel.com/) This is good for you and good for the Club too, as we receive a modest commission back that we can reinvest in you.

So, here’s hoping the sun keeps on shining!

Adrian Ellison
Chief Observer

From the Chair (May 2023)

Posted on | by Barrie Smith

I’m writing this piece at a really busy time for the Club, with the riding season really getting off to a fantastic start and so much going on for all members.
I’m just back from France where I have spent 4 days, with 3 friends (TVAM members), visiting 3 of my great, great Uncle’s graves. They all served in the Allied Forces in WW1 and unfortunately never came home. Whilst the weather wasn’t always in our favour, it was certainly a great long weekend riding around the French countryside, on some great roads, that clearly looks significantly different than it would have 125 years ago.

If you have never ridden abroad, then a trip across to northern France is a great way to get some experience. Do look at the specific road traffic laws though, as priority on junctions is not as clear cut as it is in the UK. In fairness, the locals appear to understand that us Brits are unlikely to get it right all the time and are relatively tolerant of our errors!

Whilst I was away in France, both 7Ws and Welsh Wanders took over Llandrindod Wells in mid Wales. Apologies that the Club didn’t manage to coordinate better on the timings for these two trips, as we know that many people like to attend both weekends where possible. We promise to do a better job of getting the dates sorted so there is less likelihood of a clash in future (WW September – 7Ws October ’23).

7Ws appears to have been another successful training weekend, with 17 Associates, 12 Observers, 5 Trainee Observers and 8 Full Members having a great time.

Welsh Wanders saw 31 Club members away for a weekend of social riding on the fantastic Welsh roads.

Thank you to the organisers of both of these Club events that are put on for the benefit of the membership and new dates for both weekends are already announced in the late summer, early autumn.

And the fun didn’t stop there. The last weekend in April saw both a Core Skills Day and BikeCraft both hosted in the Sixth Form Block at St Crispin’s.

The Core Skills Day saw 8 new Trainee Observers working with 8 Full Observers and the Training Team to develop their communication and observing skills. This is a day of workshops and breakout sessions where the Trainee Observers learn ways to meet new Associates and take them through an observed riding session. It’s just one of the many disciplines that our Trainee Observers have to complete in order to become an Observer with TVAM/IAM RoadSmart.

I was lucky enough to sit in on the BikeCraft day that was being hosted by our excellent BikeCraft team. Di Woodcock, Richard Barker, Paul Naish and Steve Mason took 11 members through the fundamentals of riding, working in harmony with your machine and making progress, all in a classroom environment with some great images, videos and practical advice. Thank you all for a really informative day. I cannot recommend this course highly enough for Associates working towards their test and Full Members wishing to refresh their own knowledge.

We have lots coming up in the next month between the May and June Club Meetings. There are no less than 12 social rides on various dates; Castle Combe Skills Day on 23rd May; the RAMs T-Run on 28th May; Look Lean Roll on 11th June; Run Leader & Back Marker course on 17th June and of course St Crispin’s on the 18th June. All are published in the Slipstream and Groups.io calendars and regular reminders come out weekly on Group.io to jog your memory. Why not join another local team for a social ride or try something new to keep up your skills? If any Observers are available to support the T-Runs throughout the riding season, I’m sure that you’ll be welcomed with open arms by the various local teams. The more we can work together, the better for all our members.

I’m just off now to pack for 3Rs, the Full Member Training Weekend in Llandrindod Wells that takes 20 Full Members and 10 Observers to Wales for a balanced
weekend of social and observed rides, with plenty of tall tales and banter in the bar afterwards. Hopefully you’ll be able to read about it in next month’s Slipstream.

Whatever you’re planning on doing this month, have fun and ride safe everyone.

Barrie Smith
TVAM Chair

From The Saddle (April 2023)

Posted on | by Adrian Ellison

As I write this the first shoots of Spring seem to be struggling with a chill wind blowing down from the Arctic and more threats of snow! Hopefully by the time you read this, Spring will have finally sprung, it will be warmer, the sun will be shining and we’ll all be out on our bikes (or maybe not!).

TVAM already has a huge programme of events planned for the coming year, with something for everyone. A quick flick through the last edition of Slipstream showed over 37 events between March and June, with more going in each month.

I wanted to showcase two of our training activities. The 21-23 April sees the first of our 7Ws trips to Wales this year. And it will be run again later in the year. 7Ws is designed for all Club members and particularly for those that have not experienced a weekend away on their motorcycle before. For Associates, it’s an ideal opportunity to receive some intensive coaching through observed rides, both on the ride over to Wales and while there; for Green team members, a chance to hone their advanced riding skills; and for Observers, a chance to enjoy some of the finest roads and scenery Great Britain has to offer. Above all, 7Ws is a chance to enjoy some great company with like-minded people and to share the day’s riding stories over dinner. Feedback has been incredibly positive and we are always keen to hear how we might make it even better. As Observers have to work, the Club – rightly – subsidises the cost for them a little.

The second shout out goes to the individual local team T-Runs – the ‘T’ being for Training. These offer another opportunity for Associates to receive some intensive coaching from their local Observers and Salli explains all on page 22.

While on the subject of training and with the start of the new riding season being a great time to brush up on your knowledge, how much of the Highway Code do you still remember? How many of you have updated your copy with the new one? (It’s available online too: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/the-highway-code). What about your knowledge of the Advanced Rider Course (ARC), Motorcycle Roadcraft and motorcycle control? TVAM has a couple of online quizzes to help test your knowledge… when did you last give them a try? They are available via the Groups.io Wiki here: https://tvam.groups.io/g/allmembers/wiki/25650. Level 1 is designed to test your knowledge of the Highway Code and Road Signs and Level 2 adds in Roadcraft and the Advanced Rider Course. They are ideal if you are an Associate preparing for your advanced test or an Observer about to undertake your validation or re-validation.

Over the past six years there have been 2,216 attempts at Level 1 (that’s an average of 369 attempts per year) scoring an average of 84% and 1,568 attempts at Level 2 (average of 261 attempts per year) scoring an overall average of 82%. Pretty good!

The numbers of you attempting the quizzes this year are down, so if you haven’t yet had a go then please do give it a try. And if you’ve not had a go for a while, now is a good time to have another go, as both quizzes have been updated to include the latest Highway Code changes.

Safe riding!

Adrian Ellison
Chief Observer

From the Chair (March 2023)

Posted on | by Barrie Smith

I always find the start of the year strange, in that it seems to take us forever to get through January and then February goes by in a blur. Maybe, because of the colder, damper conditions we’re just not out on our bikes as much enjoying ourselves. It’s hard to believe that we’re now well into March and springtime is beckoning us to uncover the bikes that we carefully put away for the winter (those that didn’t ride throughout), give them a dust off, a really good clean and check them over before firing them back into life.

For those people that did mothball their bikes over the winter months, it’s worth taking a look at an article that Pat Coneley wrote in Slipstream back in April ’13 (page 21). You can find past copies of Slipstream on groups.io under ‘files’ in the ‘all members’ section.

It’s important to check our bikes regularly, particularly after lengthy spells of not riding. The Advanced Rider Course (ARC) talks about pre-ride checks and Roadcraft specifically uses the acronym POWDDERSS to work around your machine. Most of us like to add another S (self) to the end, ensuring that we’re also ready to ride the bike. We carry out these checks to assist in preventing incidents happening. That said, when incidents do happen it’s important that we reflect on what happened, why it happened and see if there is anything that we could have done differently to change the course of events. It’s then really good practice to let the Club know about the incident.

Nick Edgley has written a piece for this month’s Slipstream that looks at an incident and the importance of reporting it. I would urge you all to read this and please do let the Club know about any incidents that you may be involved in. We only use the data to enable us to build courses to learn from each other.

Looking ahead to getting out and riding, the calendar does seem to be filling up nicely with many social rides. It seems that with many of the social teams offering regular social rides, pretty much every weekend in the calendar has a ride, or a choice of rides, that you can take part in. We also have our training and social riding weekends starting.

The fantastic 7Ws takes place on the 21st – 23rd April in Llandrindod Wells in Wales and is followed two weeks later, on the 5th – 7th May, with the 3Rs weekend at the same venue. These are weekends with an emphasis on training, however they have social riding elements built into them. 7Ws is geared at Associates and 3Rs is geared at Full Members. The feedback that we received from participants on these weekends in 2022 was overwhelmingly positive in relation to the organisation, location, venue and structure of the events. We carefully review all feedback and make changes as necessary.

For members that wish to have a social weekend in Wales, Welsh Wanders is also taking place in Llandrindod Wells on the 21st-23rd April. So, what better way to kick-start the 2023 riding season than riding arguably the best roads in the UK and socialising with large groups of friends in these three weekend trips.

A couple of items for Observers to note. Adrian, our Chief Observer, has published the list for Aardvarks on groups.io, so please try to find your riding buddy and get these booked as soon as possible. The earlier you book, the better the chance of getting the best dates to suit you both. The Observer Weekend is also running again in Llandrindod Wells from the 30th June – 2nd July and booking for this is now available on the TVAM Webshop. An early bird discount is available.

Spring is looking like being really busy for TVAM members so have fun and stay safe everyone.

Barrie Smith
TVAM Chair

From The Saddle (February 2023)

Posted on | by Adrian Ellison

This is my first “From the Saddle” article. It’s a great privileged to have been elected as Chief Observer at the AGM and I have some big boots to fill. My first job is to thank Chris Brownlee for his five years of hard work and dedication to TVAM. I am only just finding out just how big those boots are! Thanks also to the 100+ of you that supported the AGM. There were some good ideas for the Committee to consider going forward.

Next, I thought I’d say a little about me. For those that don’t already know me, I joined TVAM in 2006, being a relative latecomer to biking. I did my Direct Access in 2005 and bought a big bike (a Speed Triple 1050) thinking I could ride it. How wrong I was, and it took many months of coaching from my then Observer, George Green, to get me to a test pass. I will never forget my test: having to postpone the first one on the day as my bike wouldn’t start after filling it up. Walking back up the hill from the petrol station to Taplow railway station car park where I was meeting my examiner, the late Martin White, remarked “Haven’t you forgotten something?” Bless him, he took me pillion back to my bike and stayed with me until the AA arrived. I learned the hard way that Triumph electrics weren’t always 100% reliable and had a new rectifier fitted under warranty!

As my confidence grew, I was keen to give something back to the Club and to continue my learning. I joined the TOb programme, getting my yellow badge in 2009. With some helpful advice on my first TVAM tour, I finally mastered the 3-stage overtake. I received my gold badge in 2010 and my National Observer qualification in 2018.

I was one of the founding team leaders of the RAMS, along with Tony Stanley, who has since left the Club, although his infamous “Tony’s Tours” live on and I’ve been lucky to have been on many all over Europe. Tony and I did three years of leading the RAMs before passing on the baton.

I managed to keep a low profile until in 2016 when the late David Jacobi, who was by then Club Chairman, asked for volunteers and particularly someone who might help out as Club Secretary. Gingerly, I asked Dave for more details knowing that once Dave had you in his sights there was no escape. I had some previous experience serving on charitable boards as a trustee and my day job – I’m a Chief Information Officer for a university – put me in good stead. No surprise, I was co-opted on to the Committee and elected Club Secretary in March 2017, a role I held for 5 years, standing down at the AGM in 2022. My second respite didn’t last long. I joined the Training Team shortly after and, well, here I am.

So, looking forward, I arrive at a time of change. Many of you will have heard about IAM RoadSmart’s plans to phase out the Local Observer role in favour of a single National Observer qualification. We are working closely with IAM RoadSmart to understand the implications of this and will explore that in more detail at the Observer Training Day, which will be held at St Crispin’s on Saturday 4 March (08:30 arrival for a 09:00 prompt start – full details posted in Groups.io).

Another initiative we have been working on is to improve the reporting of incidents, whether major or “just a near miss”. We can all learn from each other’s insight and a new online questionnaire will hopefully help capture this. More details in next month’s Slipstream. I think back to a recent near miss of my own: enjoying the A272 heading west towards the junction with the A24. The sun was low in the sky and I was using my forward observation to assess the junction and traffic lights ahead, which had just turned to green. It took me a little longer than it should to realise the car in front had performed a full emergency stop. Fortunately, there was no oncoming traffic and so I was able to safely pass to his offside to avoid a collision. When I stopped, with heart pounding, he pulled alongside me to explain that his daughter had unfastened her safety belt, which he felt justified his actions. I’m not sure I agree but the lesson here is to expect the unexpected and do watch your following distance: two seconds means two seconds and it’s there for a reason.

One final thing. I am not a fan of email as I get hundreds in a day for work and don’t really want to find the same again when I eventually get home. Therefore, if you need to reach me for a swifter reply, please text or WhatsApp me – my number is in the back of Slipstream.

Barrie and I hope to get around all of the local teams over the coming months, to say hello and to take any questions you might have, either on advanced riding or about the wider Club. I look forward to seeing as many of you then as I can and, of course, on the stage at St Crispin’s.

Adrian Ellison
Chief Observer

Barrie Smith Chairman TVAM

From the Chair (January 2023)

Posted on | by Barrie Smith

I’d like to start my piece this month by wishing you all a Happy New Year and I do hope that you had a merry and peaceful Christmas to round off 2022.

As mentioned in my last article in October, the Committee and other volunteer members had been working hard putting together the Annual Report which has since been published on groups.io to all members. I do hope that you have been able to find time to take a look and see how well the Club has done over the past year.

In January we hold our AGM after our monthly Club meeting. This year it will be held on Sunday 15th from 12.30pm – 2pm in the Sixth Form Block at St Crispin’s School. In order to be quorate, we require a minimum of 5% of the membership to either be in attendance or to have submitted their proxy vote to the Committee by the start of the AGM. This is your opportunity to hear about how the Club has performed in the previous year and for the Committee to present their proposals for the coming year. It is also an opportunity for members to vote for the officers of the Committee, for those Committee members being re-elected and on the various resolutions being proposed. Should you wish to submit your proxy vote or register your interest to be elected to one of the officer positions, please visit groups.io where you will find the AGM announcement pinned to the top of the ‘All Members’ area and links to both of the forms.

I very much look forward to seeing many of you at the AGM and a finger buffet will be provided, just in case you needed any more encouragement. This is your Club so please do attend and make your vote count.

Plans for the new riding season are well under way and the Training Team have been busy planning the spring 7Ws event. This event generally kicks off the riding season and is a training weekend in Wales where Associates get priority. We’re awaiting dates to be confirmed by the Metropole in Llandrindod Wells and an announcement will be made soon. Look out for notifications in groups.io coming soon, if not already announced.

Like myself, many of you ride your bikes all year round. Riding in less than perfect conditions is a skill that we should all work on to ensure that we can adequately deal with all conditions. I was lucky enough to be chatting with Alan Thomas at a recent weekend away in Devon. Alan is an IAM examiner, long standing member of TVAM and Rapid Training instructor. It was a particularly moist weekend and some words from our conversation that really struck a chord with me were “we should ride in the wet exactly as we should ride in the dry”. Paying particular attention to the word ‘should’, Alan’s point was that our bikes and tyres are designed to work as well in the wet as they do in the dry, it’s only our ability and fears that make us feel and do things differently. If we keep things smooth and remain able to stop in the distance we can see to be clear then the bike will cope with the conditions.

This brings me nicely onto the fact that Rapid Training offer coached rideouts and development days throughout the winter and TVAM have secured excellent discounts for TVAM members. By using the link on the groups.io ‘Wiki’ in the ‘All Members’ area, you can gain access to these excellent days and other discounts on Rapid Training courses throughout the year. I can happily say that your money will be well spent and you’ll have a fantastic day’s riding.

To finish my piece this month I’d like to talk briefly about a couple of Committee members who have stepped down or are stepping down at the AGM. Firstly, I’d like to mention Alan Hudson, our previous Green Team Leader. Alan stood down in May ’22 after four years in post and whilst leading the Green Team, Alan was an active member of the Committee and instrumental in the creation and running of the pillion rider course. Alan did a good job in the role and is now looking for his next challenge alongside continuing to run the pillion rider course.

Secondly, I’d like to mention Chris Brownlee, our Chief Observer. Chris will be standing down at the AGM as his 5-year tenure is up and constitutionally he must leave his post. Chris took over as Chief Observer in 2018 and has seen the Club through one of the most testing times in its history with the pandemic. As Chair of the Club, I have worked closely with Chris, as did the previous chair Andy Slater, to ensure that we have managed a route through an extremely difficult three years to help keep us all as safe as possible whilst continuing to train as and when we could.

It’s been a pleasure working with both Alan and Chris and I hope that both will remain with the Club for many years to come and share their skills further in other areas of TVAM.

Barrie Smith
TVAM Chair

Chris Brownlee

From The Saddle (November/December 2022)

Posted on | by Chris Brownlee

This will be my last “From the Saddle” article for Slipstream, as I’ll be standing down as Chief Observer at the TVAM AGM in January. TVAM rules mean that the key committee positions can be held for a maximum of five years, and the St. Crispin’s meeting, and AGM, on 15th January will mark the end of my fifth year in this role. That maximum tenure of five years means that people can’t stay in key committee roles for too long and ensures the ongoing input of new people, fresh ideas and renewed impetus. There are too many IAM RoadSmart groups where such time limits are not in place – and it often shows in the lack of dynamism, excitement, and growth in such groups. We do have a candidate for the role of Chief Observer and if you’re interested in standing for this, or any other role on the committee, then do have a word with our Chair, Barrie Smith, who will explain what’s involved and how to submit a nomination.

We completed another of the flagship 7Ws training weekends to Llandrindod Wells in October and despite a doubtful weather forecast most riders got away with no significant rain over the weekend. We have evolved 7Ws to offer the best training and riding experience for Associates and Full Members and we will continue to monitor and evaluate the feedback we receive for the ongoing development of the weekend. 7Ws will continue its focus of being a training weekend with priority for Associates and we also have, of course, the 3Rs training weekend with priority for Full Members. These weekends offer fantastic opportunities for observed rides on some of the best roads available; the development of riding skills is clear to see on the weekends, as well as being great fun. We are very grateful to the organisers, and particularly the participating Observers, for making these weekends possible.

TVAM continues to develop its relationship with Rapid Training. As well as carrying out the TVAM ‘Aardvark’ training for Observers, with a ride out for each Observer every two years, Rapid Training can also offer TVAM members bespoke training, their flagship Bikemaster and Roadmaster courses as well as their various accompanied tours. Rapid Training offers substantial discounts on their courses to TVAM members, for which we’re very grateful. If you’d like to take advantage of these discounts then make sure you use the appropriate link, which you can find on the TVAM Groups.io wiki page; https://tvam.groups.io/g/allmembers/wiki

Autumn riding offers a different experience. Roads are often quieter, the scenery can be spectacular and learning about your riding in more challenging conditions can reap big rewards in terms of skill development. Don’t let your skills fade over the autumn; enjoy the riding and keep up the practice to stay
sharp and build confidence.

It’s been a pleasure and a privilege to act as the Chief Observer for the largest and greatest IAM RoadSmart group, and the best bike club, over the past five years. I’ll still be around, of course, and I’m looking forward to spending more time with you all – out on the bike.

Chris Brownlee
Chief Observer

Barrie Smith Chairman TVAM

From the Chair (October 2022)

Posted on | by Barrie Smith

It’s hard to believe that we have arrived at October already. The year just seems to have flown by and I hope that you have all had the chance to get to experience some of the many Club activities that have been running throughout the riding season.

As October marks the end of the TVAM financial year, the committee’s attention turns
to drafting the Annual Report that goes out to Club members over the winter, ready for the AGM in January. This takes a huge effort from many members, as well as the Committee, as it has to be sent to the Charities Commission to ensure that we meet the aims and objectives of the charity that is TVAM. I thought that I would share a few thoughts with you all for my piece this month.

It’s been another challenging year, in our attempts to get back to the Club’s full package of activities post-Covid. That said, it is in a good position with membership continuing to grow at a sustainable rate and activities for members are building back to pre-Covid levels and higher. The Club’s finances are also in good shape.

We’re continuing to invest in training, as the bedrock of what we do, and developing the Club to provide the social and riding activities for all of our members.

The number of social rides has continued to grow and we now see a huge range of rides that have as few as 2-3 riders and as many as mid 20s. There are many of the old favourite routes being re-introduced as well as many new ones that incorporate new stops for coffee or lunch to cafés and farm shops all over the southern end of the country. Welsh Wanders has once again headed for Wales for their end of summer social riding.

For those that wish to develop their skills, 7Ws, the principal Associate training weekend, ran in April and the relaunch of the 3Rs as a training weekend for Full Members ran in May. The Autumn edition of 7Ws will be taking place as this issue of Slipstream goes to print and will be the final training weekend of the TVAM year. Hopefully more on that in November’s edition.

For our Full Members our Advanced Plus, with an extension into Yorkshire, is working well with lots of Full Members taking advantage of ongoing coaching on their riding. Full Members now have the opportunity to do an Advanced Plus with Hull & East Riding Advanced Motorcyclist (HERAM). Nigel Taylor, HERAM Chief Observer and long-standing member of TVAM is very happy to introduce TVAM Members to the delights of the Yorkshire roads. Have you done one? When was the last time you received some positive input into your riding? It’s as easy as emailing advancedplus@tvam.org to arrange a day in the TVAM area or maybe a couple of days with Nigel in Yorkshire.

I am particularly pleased to see that all of our courses have been able to run at least once this year. Some have clearly been easier to make happen than others, however it is great to see that we have finally been able to re-instate Look Lean Roll to members and we kept going with Advanced Bike Control. BikeCraft made a comeback to a classroom environment, after several successful online versions of the course, and the ‘full’ Observer Core Skills Days returned to enable us to ramp up the number of Observers within the Club. If you’re a Full Member and are interested in becoming an Observer, please email observerinterest@tvam.org and we can arrange a chat with a member of the Training Team and start you on your next journey within TVAM.

We’re progressing well on the project to build a new database function for the Club and this is likely to cost a lot less than we had originally budgeted for.

So that’s a taster of what we’ve been doing and you’ll see more when the Annual Report is issued at the end of the calendar year.

I hope that you all enjoy reading this month’s Slipstream and don’t forget that if you take part in a course, social ride, training event or anything else of a motorcycling nature that you feel you would like to share with your fellow members, please put a short article together and send it to Salli at slipstream@tvam.org so she can include it in a future edition of our excellent monthly magazine.

Barrie Smith

Chairman

Chris Brownlee

From The Saddle (September 2022)

Posted on | by Chris Brownlee

Well, we announced the return of the Look Lean Roll course at our new venue at RAF Benson, and within hours both September and October dates were oversubscribed. Our apologies to all those that wanted to get on this fantastic course and didn’t make it. We’ve only been able to arrange the two dates this year for the course, but the good news is that we expect to run a full complement next year from the Spring. Keep an eye out for announcements and dates – as you can tell, it is very popular.

There is a myriad of courses available to TVAM members, and these courses have been developed largely in-house to meet the needs of our members. We’re very proud of the range and quality of courses that we offer, which are the envy of many other clubs and groups. There hasn’t, to date, been any formal coordination between the courses and
this has led to some differences in the way they address similar issues. We have,
therefore, asked the Training Team to take a ‘review role’ so that we can be ensure that all of our courses are:

  • Accurate in content
  • Use similar techniques when addressing similar issues
  • Have appropriate disclaimers in place
  • Provide adaptable learning environments for the candidates
  • Are safe and appropriate for the candidates and the course leaders

Due to the extensive range of courses it’s not going to be a quick project and we anticipate ongoing involvement of the Training Team in all courses, which should be beneficial for all.

We identified a couple of areas over the summer where we can enhance our guidelines for data protection. This highlighted the need for a more general review of where we hold data, why we’re holding it and what we’re using it for, as well as who has access to it. We’ll be embarking on this review as a new committee project and we’ll keep you appraised as to the changes that we’re making to ensure that we keep everyone’s data secure.

We’re getting close to the TVAM year end at the end of October, so you’ll see the usual flurry of activity as we compile reports, and we start to look at the activities, issues and budgets over the past year, as well as put plans and budgets together for next year. If you have any ideas for activities that you’d like to see next year, then please do let us know.

I hope you’re managing to make the most of good weather and lighter evenings, and enjoying your riding; I know I am.

Chris Brownlee
Chief Observer

Barrie Smith Chairman TVAM

From the Chair (August 2022)

Posted on | by Barrie Smith

As an Associate, you will have heard your Observer say ‘ride for yourself’ on many occasions and always before you have an observed ride or take part in a social ride. It forms a fundamental part of what we do as an advanced rider. It basically means look after yourself and take opportunities for you, not for anyone else.

Many of you will know that I spend a lot of time following Associates as a TVAM Observer. I also spend considerable time following Direct Access Students as a DVSA Approved Instructor, as well as leading social rides for the Club, and I like to think that my riding standard is reasonably high. I therefore take the ‘ride for yourself’ message to mean just that, ride for myself and enjoy the ride. This message came back to me a few weeks ago when I was leading a full day’s ride with a really good group of TVAM friends.

We were doing a long day’s riding and I had split the day up into six stages. On the first stage another Observer, a really good friend of mine who I respect immensely, happened to mention that some of my lines in bends were a little unconventional. I had to admit that one or two were not up to my usual standard. After the first stop we set off again and suddenly I found myself thinking about every bend. Worse, I found myself over thinking every bend and things very soon started to go downhill. My standard of riding was now, in my opinion, awful and when we found a few showers and then a prolonged period of rain I just started to get angry with my riding. This, as you can imagine didn’t help at all and the coffee stop couldn’t come soon enough. Luckily the small group of friends could see my own displeasure and they left me alone for a few minutes to calm down.

Now when I say I was riding badly, I mean that I was not happy with my riding style. I certainly was not dangerous, however I was not as smooth as I usually am. That was enough for me to want to do something to change.

The third stage to lunch was an improvement, although I was still having to think my way through the bends so, after lunch I decided to hand over the leading of the ride to another rider. This was easy as we all had the routes and it gave me an opportunity to sit at the back and just focus on my own riding and get back to enjoying the ride again. This simple change worked brilliantly and during the fifth stage I asked a couple of other riders to sit behind me and give me feedback on what they saw.

By the final stage I was back in front and back to my old self. This is where all the training pays off. With a little nudge from my friends, I was able to recognise that I wasn’t riding as well as usual and with the support of those same friends I was able to do something about it.

I guess the moral of this story is that we need to realise when things are not going as well as they could be and do something about it. I reached out to my peer group and they responded in a supportive manner. TVAM is such a supportive group, we should never be embarrassed to say if we have an issue and ask our friends to give us support and feedback.

This brings me nicely onto a couple of things that I’d like you all to think about – riding standard and incident reporting.

Unfortunately, over the last couple of months, we have had two or three reported instances of poor riding on social rides. This has resulted in members almost leaving the Club and this should never happen. Chris, our Chief Observer, has put a note out to team leaders on groups.io and I’d just like to reiterate that no one should ever feel pressured to ride above the speed limit or indeed their own limits. Social runs should be enjoyable for all, and all levels should be welcomed and included. The marker system allows for a mix of abilities in a ride so there should never be a reason to ride beyond your capabilities to keep up with the rider in front.

We should also feel able to discuss any issues with the run leader and issues should be reported to the Club. There is no such thing as a perfect ride so if you make a mistake then apologise.

TVAM collects data on incidents and these can be reported by the run leader in their social ride report, which must be completed after every TVAM social ride. They can also be reported by using the incident report form. Both forms can be found on the website, under ‘Forms’, at the bottom of each page. The data is kept to enable us to learn and not to name and shame anyone.

That’s enough from me. I hope that you enjoy this month’s edition of Slipstream and are still out enjoying this excellent weather we’re currently experiencing.
Have fun and stay safe everyone.

Barrie Smith

Chairman

Chris Brownlee

From The Saddle (July 2022)

Posted on | by Chris Brownlee

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