Survival Skills Rider Training was launched in the mid-90s, when I saw a need for an advanced training school that offered flexible 'client-centred' training which delivered what the trainee wanted rather than changing the trainee's style to pass a test
SURVIVAL SKILLS AREN'T 'ROADCRAFT RE-HASHED'
Let's start by explaining what these courses are not. Survival Skills Rider Training does not run progress-oriented 'police pursuit' style courses. No trainee is ever required to 'make progress' or to attain high speeds. In particular, whilst safe use of speed can be developed for faster riders, if you are a slower rider needing to gain confidence or riding a smaller bike, you will not be pushed beyond your limits. Instead, I'll focus on ensuring all trainees know where they MUST slow down! If higher speed are achieved, it's a consequence of a better understanding of the threats that might make us stop suddenly, having searched ahead for those hazards...
...and decided there aren't any! Then - and only then - should we open the throttle.
SURVIVAL SKILLS DOESN'T REQUIRE AN 'APPROVED RIDING STYLE'
Since you're not required to pass a riding test on a Survival Skills course - it's training, pure and simple - there's no need to adopt a way of riding that satisfies the examiner but which may not suit you. Instead, my aim is to achieve an all-round and highly practical improvement in your riding in the particular areas that you want to improve. If that's open road cornering, we can look at that, but if you're a commuter who wants to deal with urban cut-n-thrust, that's what we'll work on. Survival Skills courses are flexible to suit the individual rider and I do not force you to pursue a wholly inappropriate riding style just because it suits me. Your job is simply to be the best rider you can be, in the environment you want to ride in. My job is to help you achieve that goal.
"I've done Bikesafe & dabbled with the IAM, but the most practical & genuinely lifesaving training experience I've had was via Kevin at Survival Skills. The course was short and intense but implanted deep subliminal awareness. Post training the bugger's still in my head & provided instant solutions to many situations I hadn't even predicted at the time." --- Jim 'Melons' Lynn
SURVIVAL SKILLS ARE RELEVANT
Survival Skills courses are, by deliberate intent, highly relevant to real-life riding. I've always taken a pragmatic view of riding. I spent 16 years as a courier before getting involved in rider training at CBT, then DAS level. As a courier, I discovered almost immediately that things go wrong very fast when we're on two wheels, and that everyone on the road, myself included, makes mistakes.
I learned that the only reliable way to cope was to expect things to go wrong, and to be ready to deal with emergencies. That gave me a pretty intense grounding in a style of riding which was all about 'disaster management'.
Therefore Survival Skills training looks at the common crashes - at junctions, in bends, and when overtaking - and explains how we and other drivers make errors. That helps you develop a proactive riding strategy to avoid errors if we can...
...and a thorough understanding of your options to get out of trouble when - not IF - things go wrong.
SURVIVAL SKILLS TUNES YOUR BRAIN
If you want your bike to work better, the best investment you can make is to YOUR BRAIN. Ultimately, knowing where the risks lie and when to be riding on high alert, then taking some positive steps to reduce the threat level is a far more effective way of investing your TIME and MONEY than on high performance tyres and brake pads, or on costly suspension tweaks. It's your brain that controls your bike, and if your brain isn't making good decisions, no bolt-on bits will get you out of trouble.
And that's why I encourage you to invest in Survival Skills.
WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT THE SURVIVAL SKILLS APPROACH TO DEFENSIVE RIDING?
All Survival Skills courses are based on the need to correctly identify hazards, assess the risk they pose, then employ PRO-ACTIVE risk mitigation strategies that deal with the WORST CASE SCENARIO. Will the car pull out? What will we do about it? Will the bend tighten up? What will we do about it? Will the overtake go wrong? What will we do about it? Developing, then using proactive skills to assess and manage threats helps us stay out of trouble.
And if things DO go wrong, we need a pre-planned strategy to stay out of trouble. Do we have a 'Plan B'? Can we change speed? Can we change position?
Avoidance where we can. Evasion where we can't. Those are our Survival Skills.
So if you're looking for a course that will genuinely improve your riding, and push your threat awareness and response to new levels, then why not give me a buzz?