Talk it up

It has been some time since updating here. In June 2013, I was coming up for my cross check in the IAM. Two years down the track, I’ve become an observer. I have always enjoyed teaching, both in flying and motorcycling, but as I get a little more experience with the biking side of things, there are some topics that keep coming up. I’ll use this blog as a handy place to stash my thoughts on a number of these topics. Mostly to refer the guys I’m training, but it’s all good stuff and here for anyone who is interested. First up, commentary.

If you’re new here, have a quick squizz at this: IAM New Zealand Motorcycles

Within the IAM syllabus, we encourage the use of a running commentary from our trainees to help us understand what they are seeing, what the threats are, how they plan to position their bike to manage situations as they arise and what, if any, extra information can be suspected based on what they are seeing. From my point of view, it’s great – I can see how far up the road my trainee is looking, when they’re scanning their speedo or mirrors and what they’re seeing or missing. Commentary is part of the Advanced Test for the IAM, but is not graded within the test. It’s a great skill though, and here are some ideas for improving it.

Information chunks.

Bite-size is key. The shorter the phrase you can use to convey your meaning, the more information you can get across. By the time you’ve explained that you’ve seen Nana in the mauve cardigan approaching the pedestrian crossing with her walker and she seems flustered by the price of papaya, you could have told me three of four other things. Key phrases take a little getting used to but once you’ve got them sorted, they’re re-usable. “Pedestrian on the left” – done.

Build your commentary logically.

Structure! Start with you, then build up from your bike outwards until you reach the limit of your view, then start making educated guesses. Your objective is to convey meaning – formatting and grammatical correctness are not important. It should sound like a stream of consciousness rather than Tolkien.

Example.

Let’s say you’re on a straight stretch of road with a corner in the distance, out in the country. First an example of commentary, then a break down.

“100km zone, doing 98, nothing in front of me, bike behind me and nothing behind him. Opposite direction campervan, then a side road – clear now. Road is straight then drops out of view. Probably a right turn based on the tree line. Rubbish bags on the side of the road, could be a rubbish truck round here. Two pushbike cyclists on the left – could be a group out. Approaching the right hand corner, road surface is shiny in the wheel tracks and damp in the shade, staying in the centre of the lane. Decelerating, down into 3rd, limit point opens up and accelerating now. Straight road ahead….” Thirty seconds, heaps of info.

Breaking this down: “100km zone, doing 98, nothing in front of me, bike behind me and nothing behind him.” The scene is set, what else can you see? “Opposite direction campervan, then a side road – clear now. Road is straight then drops out of view. Probably a right turn based on the tree line.” So as you build out, highlight the threats in order of importance (but not necessarily proximity). The camper and the intersection. As they are further up the road, you have time to keep looking past them. The tree line is what we’d call an observational link.  It’s you going slightly Sherlock – if you can’t see the road but the tree line kinks right, suspect the road does too. So you’ve covered everything you can see. If you have time to fill in information, keep looking for new info and start making educated guesses. “Rubbish bags on the side of the road, could be a rubbish truck round here. Two pushbike cyclists on the left – could be a group out.” More links. As you approach the corner, keep looking: “Road surface is shiny in the wheel tracks – “ You know (at least I do for sure in New Zealand) the chip seal roads that wear down in the tyre tracks and go all shiny with the tar left there? This is another threat – so if it’s dry, wet or very hot/direct sunlight, you may handle this differently. Dry, usually nothing required. Wet, stay in the friction part of the road (the centre of the lane, perhaps) and the same if it’s hot – the tar can start to go soft and it becomes slick in places. ” – and damp in the shade, staying in the centre of the lane.” Threat spotted, mitigated. “Decelerating, down into 3rd, limit point opens up and accelerating now. Straight road ahead….” Your handling of the machine is included in the negotiation of the corner and as you exit, you start taking in everything new you can see to continue the commentary.

Key Phrases.

• Mirror check
• Speed check
• Speed zone change
• Oncoming car
• Side road; clear
• Side road; he’s waiting/he’s going/he hasn’t seen me
• Parked cars
• Parked car with a driver (so what? Watching for brake lights (foot on the brake to start the engine), indicator (sometimes), front wheel turning or moving)
• Cyclist ahead
• Positioning for safety (giving up your position for safety reasons – i.e. moving away from your ideal line in a corner or in the lane)
• Positioning for view
• Treeline/powerlines going left/right (careful with powerlines – sometimes they swap sides)
• Surface gravel/Gravel in the centre/Shoulder gravel/Debris everywhere
• Wheel tracks are shiny
• Birds (don’t underestimate this one…almost took a hawk in the face on the south island trip…I don’t assume birds will clear out in time anymore)

Mantras

Lastly, tying a series of actions to one trigger makes it easier to do a consistent job while riding your bike. Two very simple but useful examples:

“Speed zone change ahead, mirror check” – you’re coming up to the sign. If you’re decelerating for a lower limit, check your mirrors for someone who isn’t paying attention to the following distance. If you’re about to pass the sign and accelerate to the new limit, mirror check for the guy who’s in a rush and will overtake you the second he gets a chance. Do this every time you pass a speed zone sign and your mirror work will improve hugely – you’re also adding to your situational awareness.

“Mirror check, indicate, head check.” That’s the recommended order from the Roadcraft book – saying it out loud covers everything. Mirror check for the gap, if the gap is there, indicate for it and head check/shoulder check/life-saver/blind spot check – whatever you want to call it – to save your bacon if something is hiding in your blind spot. Then manoeuvre. The whole process take 5 seconds, but I’ve caught a couple of occasions now where someone was in my blind spot.

Building blocks for Observers

Initially commentary can be a bit baffling. In flight instructing, it’s referred to as ‘patter.’ For many people, driving or riding is something that happens in silence, to music or over conversation with passengers. The skill of talking about what you’ve seen, what you consider a threat and what you’re doing about it is new and needs practice to be smooth and useful.

If your trainee is struggling with getting the right amount of info across, is overwhelmed or is hesitating, sometimes it’s because they’re seeing so much and can’t articulate it all. Overload. I’ve found it can be useful when introducing commentary (or troubleshooting it later on) to restrict the subject matter. Ask your trainee to only provide commentary on the road signage they can see. Or traffic. Or observational links. Or commentary on their current positioning. When you ask someone to focus on road signs, you’ll start seeing them everywhere. It’s handy for a couple of reasons – if there’s nothing to see, there’s nothing to say. This takes the pressure off during quiet moments. Also, your  trainee practices commentary on lots of different subject matter – it builds a memory of talking about something and also helps refine key phrases. I find when you ask them to go back to full commentary, they have an easier time of keeping the flow of info up and also prioritising what they spot. If they’re seeing everything, there aren’t enough seconds to say it all – they have to be a little bit selective in some situations.

An example for introducing commentary to open road riding. I have found teaching how to spot the limit point and what it means can be quite challenging. Commentary is useful in that I can get a feel for whether the trainee is looking at the right thing as they talk their way through a twisty stretch of road. It’s a busy environment, so here’s some food for thought when you set this up for the first time.

Choose the right road. A good windy stretch of road is best – not too tight or technical, as the limit point starts to jump around when the view is really restricted. Windy is good, as the limit point moves around more smoothly in sweeping bends.

1. Slow down (70% of your comfortable ‘making progress’ speed) to give the trainee some extra brain space to start talking as well as riding. Also, it’s easier to spot the limit point moving if this is happening more slowly.
2. Restrict the key phrases available. A good start would be something like “Limit closing, constant, opening” as you make your way through a turn. Or you could try tying it to the throttle. “Decel, maintain, open”
3. Start building up the key phrases. Introduce positioning commentary, such as “position for view, position for safety, moving to the left/right for the next corner”

Overall, you want to know that your trainee is reasonably consistent before you add complexity. No point overloading as this tends to slow progress.

I’ll keep updating this post as I come across more info – definitely keen on feedback too. This is aimed at IAM guys.

Blue side up!

JK

I was surprised by two sheep in a corner, and slowed down wondering why they were out. Turns out, they were the stragglers…