East Yorkshire Advanced Riders & Drivers

I passed my test in October 2018. It was the year I turned 40, so I think passing my bike test was a
bit of a mid-life crisis. My husband has always had a bike and being a pillion was getting a bit boring,
and I wanted to see if I could do this myself. Which I did... eventually!
I was encouraged to join the group by my husband; he wanted me to build up my confidence as a
rider and not pass on his bad habits. My perspective of the bike tuition when learning is that you are
taught to pass the tests and not to ride properly that comes afterwards, which I find a real struggle
with at times. As I passed in the October and I never really got to ride properly for the rest of that
year, which was a big mistake I made. It made me extremely nervous for the first time I went out in
the Feb/March 2019, and my nerves haven’t improved much since.
The first E-YARD meeting I came to was the November 2018 meeting. When I walked into that first
meeting at Beverley Golf Club I was extremely apprehensive and I didn’t know what to expect at all.
My first impression was I wasn’t going to like it, and I didn’t like it at all - I felt like I didn’t fit in, it was
a very busy club, and as newbie I felt ignored, I really didn’t want to go back to another meeting, but
my better half persuaded me to go and persevere with it. I went back the following month and I just
thought to myself I have push myself out of my comfort zone and try to enjoy it. The atmosphere at
the second meeting was a lot better than the first, a few more members came to talk to me and my
husband which put me more at ease. I was then paired with Pippa Unwin as my tutor; little did
Pippa know what a challenge she has on her hands!
I had my first training ride with Pippa a couple of weeks after that second meeting, I was really
nervous and wasn’t quite sure on what to expect from the training ride. We rode up to Seaways cafe
in Fridaythorpe, it was a busy bank holiday weekend and traffic was terrible, we were crawling most
of the journey on the way there which I was glad of; at Seaways we had a coffee and a debrief; Pippa
told me that my machine control was good, I just needed to be confident in my ability. I have been
on several training rides now and as always Pippa is brilliant tutor; pointing out my positives but also
letting me know where I have gone wrong and giving me advice on how to correct myself, which I
am trying to do, it’s hard but I think I am getting there slowly, and I am starting to enjoy going out
for a ride. I have also booked the I2I training in September with Pippa, which is something I never
thought I would do.
After being with the group for nearly 18 months now, I have gotten to know a lot of the group
members they are a lovely bunch of people and I do enjoy going to the group meetings each month,
and getting to know them on the many social ride outs and other activities like an indoor skydive
which we did in January this year, and in a couple of weeks Pippa and I are doing the real thing! I
now know that joining E-Yard ROSPA has helped me so much and it was the best decision I made and
I am glad I was pushed out of my comfort zone to do it. But I’m still not sure of the roads with the
grass in the middle of them Chris H!

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Christine - August 2020