Learn to ride a motorcycle with BMW: Richard’s diary | Day six

Richard Sinclair is usually found on the advertising team at MoreBikes HQ – but after years of working around motorcycles, this week he is finally taking the plunge and getting his licence! He’s joined the guys at BMW Rider Training for a week of intensive training. He may have failed his module one yesterday, but that’s not deterred him training up and practicing for his module two… 

Those of you who have been keeping up with the blog will know that unfortunately I didn’t pass my module one test  because of putting my foot out on the u-turn, but not to worry – onwards and upwards. As a result, I have to wait three days before I can retake it. However, the training continued and today we focused on preparing for module two. For me it was more time on the bike, in and out of town. So as today was going to be our highest mileage day, I was looking forward to all the good practice, as there are areas of my riding which needed improving as well as not having the pressure of the test, I could enjoy myself more than my counterpart.

This is the day when the instructor turns up the heat, less information coming through the mic, and when you got something wrong it was more of one word reminders to turn the pressure up and prepare yourself for tomorrow, and basically we shouldn’t be getting these things wrong by now.

Also the pressure wasn’t the only thing to be turned up, the wind had also picked up to a speed we haven’t had to deal with before, so that made the day more challenging. But this is why I am happy to be doing this now, so I can get used to the challenges the weather puts on a rider early. All we need now is for tomorrow to have rain and snow, and then I would have covered it all…. Well apart from a hot summers day…

We spent much more time in the town of Cambridge and even though we have done it before, today was still a real eye opener as you we got to see much more of how idiotic car drivers can be, not looking, pulling in front of you, on their phones… oh the list is endless, but it helps being and raises your awareness of keeping focused, and the importance of doing your checks.

When we had stopped at traffic lights, a bicycle had cut in front of me and up the side of the fellow trainee, and it just proved a point how quickly situations can change. We got to go on plenty of country roads as well as the dual carriageways, whilst having to deal with the wind and to make matters worst it wasn’t constant or blowing the same way.

Today we covered around 90 miles, and remember a lot of this was at low speeds through Cambridge and the surrounding towns and villages, so after taking a battering from the wind, I’m feeling shattered…

Want to find out more about learning to ride with BMW? Visit the website at www.worldofbmw.com to find the best course for you.