Rider training in the Waikato

[Blackbird]

There was a recent post about getting training in the Auckland area. If anyone is interested, I did an advanced roadcraft course in Hamilton a few weeks ago which was great value. 1:1 instruction using helmet radios. High speed braking exercises were my favourite and scariest part. Most of us simply don't realise just how hard you can brake with a modern bike given the right technique. My wrists and shoulders had just about packed in by the end of the exercises. Knowing how hard you can brake might one day be the difference between incurring serious harm and getting off scott-free.

Anyway, the guy is Ward Fischer and he's an ex-chief traffic instructor. This is his website: http://www.roaduser.co.nz/.

From memory, it was around $100 for about 3 hours instruction and assessment. Worth every cent as I'd never had an independent review of my riding skills. Be ready for a bit of ego damage!

[Coldkiwi]

Bllody good. I saw a stand at big Boys toys from the Advanced motoring institute and they had a bit of a bent on bikes but were more for cars. This sounds fantastic though because I've been looking for some more tuition beyond being told to indicate when I do a u-turn in a caldesack! (stupid bloody rule that I got pulled up for on my full licence... where the hell else am I going to go at the end of a road!?)

[Blackbird]

Ward Fischer will tailor a course to individual needs. In my case, I wasn't interested in race skills. I just wanted to increase my survival skills on the open road. He followed me for about 45 minutes through town and country watching what I did, then we had a debrief and worked on skills improvement. If I remember correctly, he had a big hand in the new bike licensing and training syllabus.

I sweated buckets during the course due to the stress of wanting to do well and it was blowing a gale which didn't help either. Slept well that night!

Might have a go at Freddy Merkel's track skills course at Taupo next year.
:roadkill:

[Blackbird]

If this works ok, here's the write-up I did on the course in MS Word format. Fingers crossed.....

[SPman]

Sounds good! - could well be worth a look at. We all think we're shit hot riders on the roads, (well we've survived all these years), but a bit of observant feedback is always worthwhile.

What course does Freddie Merkel do? That could be fun. Not everywhere you get an ex WSB champ to get advice and tuition from.

[Blackbird]

Yep, a reality check from time to time isn't a bad thing. In my case, I don't get to ride as often as I'd like to (bastard when work gets in the way eh?) so it's good to do something formal once in a while.

Freddie Merkel owns an engineering busines in Taupo, but he still runs rider schools at the Taupo track and Manfield too if I remember right. I know he runs schools at Taupo for the B.O.P Ulysses riders, so I'll try and find out a bit more and post it up.

Safe riding

[denill]

Merkel Engineering Ltd - Taupo - 025 403 927

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[denill]

For what it`s worth. An extact from:http://www.silver-bullet.co.nz/
Not sure how dated it is?

There is plenty of track time throughout the day to put into practice the theory that they teach. The course is very much a practical course - anyone can learn the theory but it takes practice to do it properly. The highlight of the course is two 20 minute Personal Training sessions with current road racers. On the first course I got Fred Merkel, former World Superbike champion. The personal training is *very* helpful and almost worth the $160 course fee alone. All the instructors are current racers with lots of experience and you get the impression they really want to help - I don't think its just a job for these guys - they really enjoy passing on as much of their knowledge and experience as possible.
In any case, no matter what your level of experience, you can still learn more, improve your skills and gain valuable experience by attending one of these courses. I would recommend them to anyone. I, for one, will continue to go as often as time and money allow...