For some reason whenever I have to remember loads of stuff I forget the simple things; every time an event I've been looking forward to comes round, I've forgotten something fundamental - paddock stands for a trackday, or motocross boots for an off road practice day, or a charged and working battery for my van on the day of my first hare n hounds race. I'm now paranoid about forgetting those important things, but with a mental checklist of motocross boots, gloves, helmet, leathers, lunch, signed indemnity form and directions ticked off, I took the risk of setting off to the i2i supermoto experience day.
After reversing back from the end of my road to my house having forgotten my motocross socks, I got a mile and a half before I thought, "fùck! My wallet's still at home! Bollocksbollocksbollocks!" After a second quick stop back at home all items were present and correct, my stress levels were increasing with a corresponding decrease in MPG. So much for the planned gentle drive to Rufforth Airfield
45 minutes later and still with time to spare I arrived at the airfield to be greeted by the i2i team. While everyone was getting ready I had a little chance to look over the bikes; they were pretty familiar, being the same ones used on the Off Road Experience/Skills courses, with the obvious important modification: road wheels and tyres. Well, I
say road tyres, but you'd be getting 3 points per tyre if you got caught - they looked more like slicks. Chatting to tall Tom, one of the i2i volunteers, I mentioned we were lucky with the good weather for the day. His response surprised me: "to be honest, it's more fun when it's pissing it down. You really get to see how much grip the tyres have then, pulling stoppies in the wet." What? On tyres as bald as Sheepy?!* I'd rather give it a go in the dry first
The format of the day was similar to the off road courses I've attended: safety briefing, then on the bikes to learn the 'track', wobbling around the yellow cones that marked it out. It felt a bit like CBT on steroids - some sections were pretty tight. From here we built up the techniques - where to sit on the bike for best control; getting confidence in the stability of the bike by riding over a wooden block** with no hands, standing up with no hands, riding side-saddle; how to move on the bike when cornering; and being confident in the grip from the tyres by tight cornering and 'extreme braking', i.e. stoppies. Needless to say there were a lot of grins under helmets at this point.
All of this was interspersed with laps of the track to put what we'd learnt in to practice. When each group's session of four-ish minutes was up we pulled up with a stoppie; if it wasn't high enough, we had to give it another go until the group gave their approval. Four minutes may not sound like much, but I never felt short-changed - with the heat of the day it was good to get the helmet and gloves off and into the shade for some water (and free KitKats
). It also meant that we only had eight to ten minutes to wait before we were back out on the bikes.
The difference in confidence of everyone at the end of the course was plain to see - at the beginning everyone was nervous, at the end we were chucking the bikes about and accelerating hard out of the corners. Whacking the throttle open coming off one of the off-road sections was entertaining every lap, as the back wheel slides about until it hits tarmac and catapults you forward. Good times.
As you can probably tell the whole day was a real blast, and one I will most likely go back to repeat. Tom (short Tom, who runs i2i) and the other instructors are very friendly and approachable and make you feel very relaxed, with plenty of banter to create a fun atmosphere over the day. They are also extremely helpful and give excellent instruction; most of them are volunteers, so helping you improve your riding is what they get out of the day. Top marks, I can't recommend them enough
*To be fair the tyres weren't bald like Sheepy - he's just bald in the middle
**Slight exaggeration calling it a block
