My riding style can only be described as survival. First bike I owned was a CB750, then a 1100 Eddie Lawson replica before moving to the UK and getting a sensible Fazer 600 before moving back up to BMW1100RS. Not the usual start but then I learnt to ride on a Honda 250 off-road farm bike on a wattle tree plantation where safety gear was a helmet and hiking boots and getting it wrong meant being impaled on a tree stump. (Editor's note: Deon is originally South African, hence some slightly odd references. Like Wattle trees.)

So after the birth of my twins, an embarrassing 5mph slide and  too many recent close calls on my commute I decided to embark on some advanced rider training with Rapid Training from Aylesbury in a bid to stay a while longer without doing permanent damage. (Strange how I remember being able to bounce better when I was 18). The problem with advanced training is the fear and expectation, the fear of having someone dissect your 15 year riding style and designating this as a danger to yourself and the public and the expectation that afterwards you will be cornering like some possessed demon sending sparks round every corner.

So after a uneasy nights sleep I woke to the sound of English summer at its worst. Great - cornering in the wet! I hope I come out of this alive so I scribble directions onto a piece of paper and rush off to meet my instructor. As I set off the sun comes out baking, a good omen for the day, and the thought of spending the day on the bike instead of work is intoxicating. So much so that I miss the turnoff and arrive late. Feeling slightly intimidated as I go through my biking history with the instructor, Mark Edwards, and sign the paperwork dissolving all responsibility for my death.

Sun is shining and although some parts are still slippery and wet the roads are magnificent. I am swooping through fantastic corners on roads that will take me months to find again, keeping the momentum going when a sharp right hander has me slamming the brakes mid corner. Thankfully the telelever suspension works in my favour as there’s no dive but I run wide. This carries on as most corners are ok but some are a complete disaster. We pull over and Mark cuts straight to the chase. I carry to much speed into the corners and gear to high. Fast in slow out. It was that simple but at least I am not the worst as Mark explains that some don’t make that corner.

So nerves settled I follow Mark as he demonstrates how it should be done. I couldn’t seem to keep up. I would catch up on the corners only to watch Mark disappear down the next straight. Mark stops and it’s my turn to try “position, brake, gear” a phrase he repeats throughout the day. It takes a while but by lunch time I am getting it together, not perfect but better.

Lunch is at Ma Larkin and we talk bikes and track days as I’ve never done one and it’s another side of the training on offer. The diner is filled with bikers on their way to the bulldog bash. Why would anyone ride a trike that has all the disadvantages of both forms of transport? It starts to rain and doesn’t stop all afternoon.

So wet weather riding and with expert tutelage and the new mantra of Position, Speed, Gear constantly running through my brain, I am not much slower but more importantly feel like I’m in charge of my bike. As someone who uses his bike everyday to commute to work, sometimes going on auto-pilot, it feels alien to concentrate on my journey and not my destination. We keep the momentum going getting just ahead of the rain only to stop and talk about the last bit of the ride but by 4pm I am wet and had enough. I think Mark is starting to feel the same so we ride back to his to finish up.

The training was not what I was expecting. There was no one criticizing my every move in a bid to ride like a demon, instead just some well observed pointers that will keep me alive for longer and have gotten me back to enjoying my riding instead of just using it as a means to an end. I will be spending the rest of summer trying to find those fantastic roads north of Aylesbury and I have booked a novice track day as cornering skills will be better honed on a road where everyone is at least traveling in the same direction.