Today, 6th November, saw 7 PECAM members and associates brave the chill in the air and attend the Skills development session at the Alconbury Runway. The Skills Development sessions are the latest development from the joint slow speed and Gymkhana training that has been held on the first Saturday of the month throughout the year. By combining all of the exercises the instructors have developed a nice gentle progression of skills that any rider can join, no matter where they are with their own skill level, and develop. This means that instead of just attending one-off sessions it is highly beneficial to attend as many as you can, in order to see and measure your developmental progression.
The Skills exercises on offer develop over time, and will be able to be used to extend a riders ability beyond whatever they thought was possible when they started. Today the most basic exercise was riding your bile in a straight line at a slow walking pace, through U-Turns and basic figure-8’s to a slow speed slalom, on a layout that goes from relaxed to difficult. From these basic skills, then the riders, should they choose to, can move on to the more advanced riding skills used in Gymkhana style configurations.
These exercises build a huge amount of confidence in the riders handling of his machine at all speeds, and will stand them in very good stead in tight car-parks, Sat Nav errors leading them astray and road closures in the real world. We are very fortunate to have the safe environment of the runway to practice on.
Given the average ambient temperature, and the exposed nature of the runway, Bob had the foresight to take hot coffee and biscuits, very welcomed by all.
