BikeSafe training

One of my colleague has sent me an email a few weeks ago about bikesafe (http://www.bikesafe.co.uk/), which is a government funded scheme to reduce the number of motorcycle accidents. He also told me that the London councils support the scheme ( http://love.lambeth.gov.uk/bikesafe/ ) and they are happy to pay for it (Usually it is 45 pounds). So after a quick email to the council they replied with a code which I used to register on the bikesafe website. I registered for last Sunday, 24th of July. So after collecting my MOT and insurance papers, on this nice cool Sunday morning, I have set off to participate in the training. The trainers are all police bikers, doing it on voluntary bases. I had to go to the MET sports ground in south Croydon, which is only half an hour from me. There was a one and a half an hour theoretical training about how accidents happen in different scenarios like junctions, corners. After that, each officer had got two bikers assigned to and then we set off for the first ride-out. This included riding in the town, busy areas, filtering. Then we were having chat over a nice lunch. After that we had the second ride-out, which was more fun as we were riding on nice twisty kentish roads. One of the bikers, the one who had been assessed, was riding on the front, the other one behind the police rider. First I thought, it would going to be annoying, that you have a police biker constantly behind you, but after a while even forgot he was there! He had to use the horn a few times to let me know that we need to turn left or right. We had to switch a few times, the biker on the front had to change his place with the rider on the back. After the ride-out we went back to the MET sports ground, and the trainers had filled out a feedback form for each riders. I have got grade B for my riding, which mean I am a good, confident rider and have made some minor errors. He told me in which situations I should have done better. I am quite happy with the results and learned a lot, mostly about positioning the bike in the corners to get the best visibility. I have read books like police roadcraft where all is this is written down, but when you see it in action, then it is a different story. I have uploaded a short video, just pay attention where the police rider positions his bike: