OF ADVANCED MOTORISTS
You will go out on a one-to-one basis with a Member of the Group known as an Observer. Observers are volunteers who give up their spare time because they are enthusiastic about advanced riding and keen to help others to become advanced riders. Their role is to give you a friendly assessment of each run and constructive advice on how to improve. They are not professional instructors but they are all exceptionally good riders who have passed the IAM test and have undergone thorough training on their role as Observers.
You will go out with your Observer usually either weekly or fortnightly, at whatever times suit you both, from a mutually convenient rendezvous point. We will try to allocate you to an Observer that lives near you so that you do not have to travel far to meet them.
Your Observer will accompany you, riding their own bike. Runs normally last 30 minutes to an hour at first, working up to 1½ hours, plus some discussion at the beginning and end. Normally we would expect you to be ready to take the test after not more than eight observed runs – up to seven with your Observer followed by a practice test normally with a Senior Observer – but the number of runs is adapted to your progress. If you are good to start with or make rapid improvements, we will be happy to recommend taking the test after only a small number of runs. If the practice test shows that you need to improve, we are happy to add a few extra observed runs. So the period over which you get help from an Observer is not of a fixed length but normally lasts between two and four months.
Between observed runs you will need to go out on your own to practise. Usually several short runs per week are sufficient to achieve a noticeable improvement.