A Bob took a ride through the deep Sherwood…

I’ve been working hard towards passing my bike tests, so no stranger to taking lessons. These, rightly so, though are geared towards passing Mod 1 and Mod 2, which isn’t necessarily really focusing on getting your technique anove the basic standard needed to pass. So, when I had an opportunity to do a bit of training with Neil Jewell of the imaginatively titled Jewell Bike Training, I jumped at the chance.

A corner saw the Bob but the Bob didn’t look good…

Most of the riding I’ve done so far has been my commute into and out of Nottingham, there’s a wee bit of twisty back road and one corner I’ve never felt comfortable with. Neil watched me take it and straight away diagnosed what was wrong. I wasn’t looking in the right places – focusing too much on the trees on the outside of the curve and not looking through to the exit. This meant I was 50p-ing round the corner.

We talked about vanishing points and looking further ahead, this would let me take a smoother line through the corner. Then Neil took the lead and demonstrated how he’d take the corner, talking me through where he was looking and the information he was picking up.

Where are you off to noob biker Bob? Will you take a ride I talk of Obs?

Ok… I’m stretching the Gruffalo theme now (look @jewelltraining up on Twitter and it’ll become clear).

We took a good long ride down past Nottingham (I took the opportunity to include some potential test routes), with Neil talking me through what he was observing and how he was planning subsequently. I found it really useful as it made me really think about where I was looking and how to use the information I took in.

We stopped to talk through the ride so far, with lots of really useful feedback and plenty of opportunity to ask questions. Then set off with Neil demonstrating advanced riding, before I took the lead again to put some of it into practice.

To finish we took a run back along the road with the corner I didn’t like and nailed it.

Would I take a ride with a Gruffalo again?

Absolutely. I noticed a big improvement in my riding from the couple of hours I spent with Neil. Getting me to think about where I was looking and consciously using positive steering made a big difference to my riding. The feedback Neil provided was to the point and really helpful.

You can find Neil’s website here.