Merseyside RoADAR Training
If you have never had any advanced riding training you will find that it inspires confidence, allowing you to enjoy your riding even more than you do already. For those of you who have already achieved an IAM pass, RoSPAs Gold Advanced Riding award is the highest civilian riding award. RoSPA Advanced riding training will hone your skills to the next level.
The aim of RoADAR training is to develop a union between you, your bike and your surroundings. From this you will gain the ability to anticipate hazards, and plan how to deal with them, the ability to ride more smoothly and cover distances more quickly and easily. This ability is known as Roadcraft.
We have kindly been given the use of facilities at Lakeside Building, Alexandra Business Park, St Helens. See below for location.
This has been due to the support of Adrian Cowley, in association with Brimelows Solicitors, who specialise in all types of legal claims and dispute resolution, the group is grateful for this support.
This means we have a meeting room for the begining and end of sessions and covered parking for bikes, all with excellent security.
The training course consists of six weekly sessions held on Saturday mornings. These run from 9.00am to approximately 12.30pm. Each week concentrates on a different topic, such as "Urban Riding" or "Corners & Bends", and the final week brings together all the new skills. In the final session the tutors will assess each rider, and hopefully they will have absorbed the new skills & be ready to go forward to take the Advanced test.
The first week starts with some quick paperwork, checking of licences and insurance. At the same time the training team makes a visual check of the bikes. Any problems will be highlighted, and, if possible, the problem will be rectified at the time or should be corrected for the following week. 
Certain issues, such as legal problems with documents, or
defective bikes may mean that you will not be permitted to take part in the course untill the problem has been rectified. If a tutor allowed potentially unsafe or uninsured bikes on the road, the tutor could be prosecuted for aiding and abbetting; All tutors are volunteers, so you
can understand that we do not want this to happen. So in your own interests please arrive with current licence, insurance, MOT (if required), and a safe & road-legal bike.
Following this will be a short classroom session; This covers the system of riding that forms the basis of the course. Don't panic, it is quite informal, but provides the necssary instruction, and this is the only classroom session during the course. Then there will be a short session in the carpark, to cover low speed handling and braking. Finally there is an assessment ride with the course tutors, which gives all candidates an idea of the rest of the course, and gives the tutors an idea of each candidates general riding ability.
The next 5 weeks are all sessions on the bike, putting into practice smoother, safer riding. There will be a maximun of two candidates per tutor to ensure plenty of direct observation and input.
The 2nd week is "Corners and Bends", this uses the theory of the riding system to show position and observation to aid planning, which is the basis of all advanced riding.
The 3rd week covers urban riding, the extra hazards and situations that require quick and desicive planning to ride smoothly and still maintain momentum in a busy town or city.
The 4th week concentrates on Motorways and Dual Carriageways, and the particular hazards, such as speed and weather conditions, and the situations these can produce.
The 5th week is called the 4S's - System, Speed, Smoothness and Safety. Here we start to put all the different phases and situations together, to produce a riding style where good progress and safety go together.
The 6th, and final, week provides an opportunity for any problems or queries that have not been resolved to be addressed. The tutors will also carry out an assessment of the student's readiness to take their advanced test. Usually at this point the candidate will be recommended to apply to take the Advanced Test. However if a tutor feels more work is needed, or the candidate was forced to miss any session it may be advised that they require a little more time or input.
All of the training, with the exception of the 1st weeks classroom/carpark input, is done on the roads of Lancashire, Merseyside, Manchester and Cheshire, so please arrive with enough fuel for 50-100 miles of riding, to save having to make fuel stops. The tutors will follow and observe the candidate, and at regular intervals stop for a short debrief, to give feedback on the preceeding ride. There will usually be a quick cafe stop, for riders to refuel. At the end of the session, there will be a more in depth debrief, including a summary of the positive and negative areas of the day's ride, and the tutor will also advise on which areas the candidate should try to work on before the next session.
All of the tutors are experienced motorcyclists, all have at least a Silver RoSPA award, but most have the Gold award, and all hold RoSPA Tutor or Advanced Tutor qualifications.
Above all, although RoSPA Advanced Training is a fairly challenging undertaking, we always endeavour to keep a sense of humour and to enjoy the riding; After all we are all bikers, and ride for pleasure and relaxation, not just to get from A to B, although of course we aim to do this as smoothly and safely as possible.
How to find the training centre:
Lakeside Building,
Alexandra Business Park,
Prescot Road,
St Helens,
WA10 3TP
The training centre is situated on the ground floor of Lakeside Building. Turn left off the A58, Prescot Road, onto the Business Park and then keep right at the first junction; This takes you to a security barrier, if open continue through; if closed there is a button on the rear corner of the security booth just before the barrier, press and the security staff will open the barrier. Then continue straight ahead to the end of the car park and park under the covered area. The tutors will be on site to meet you.
