A little lighthearted sidetrack for Star Wars fans.
A repurposed model of Virgin Mother Mary, transformed into Ventress, one of the Nightsisters, aligned with the Sith.
The original model came with a tacky led plastic flickering nightlight, Jayne decided to do a little better, the video was to capture the flickering of the Sith holocron.
This time taking to the single track country lanes near where we live due to a road being blocked.
Includes us riding up Cheddar Gorge, a beautiful natural valley cut into the Mendip hills in South West England.
I use these clips when discussing training points, I welcome discussions on all the videos I share and leave little "breadcrumbs" in order to discuss finer points.
""Life is like a river flowing on and on, ever-changing. Sometimes it flows slowly, and sometimes swiftly. It is smooth and gentle in some places, but later snags and rocks crop out of nowhere. As soon as we think we are safe, something unexpected happens.”
– Buddha
They say that over 50% of accidents happen within 5 miles of home. Well this is all within 5 miles of my UK home. It's where people spend a lot of their time. Anybody into near miss reporting? there are many "Easter egg" moments in here for you. I welcome discussion on if you see things as I see them. Oh, and nothing really exciting happens, that's the trouble with reality, most of the time nothing does.
“It is better to travel well than to arrive.” - Buddha
Trying to edit down 3 hours of footage into something of interest is always difficult.
In this re-edit of the ride we took 5 years ago,
from Phuket Town on Koh Phuket Island, to Khao Sok National Park in Surat Thani,
I focus on the interactions between road users.
Some might call them "near misses". I have including footage that in hindsight, I should have done differently.
But Hindsight is always wonderful.
Some places I push limits and bend rules. Yet this was a successful mission. We did 180KM in under the time Google maps suggested and both arrived safe with Zero Accidents, while riding what has often been reported as the most dangerous roads to ride a motorcycle in the world. There is footage in here that some safety warriors will/have used to fault me. We chose to ignore the ATGATT advice and enjoy the relief the aircon gave us. Once on the open road that was.
Close quarter interactions on the island of Phuket required an extra level of caution. Not saying that our injuries would be less later on. But the chances of injury had depleted with the reduction in interactions.
Hope you enjoy the ride.
The route on Google Maps - https://goo.gl/maps/tm8nfCubio5Tntvq9
Marcus is over from Thailand, we are looking at comparisons between riding in Thailand and in the UK with a view to sharing better post test training advice to riders in Thailand and Asia. This is some footage of our first local ride out together with me in front.
Near hit? Near Miss? Background noise? Does the ZERO accidents mean this environment is safe?
So how many "discussion points" are in this video? It's only about 5 miles of road 2.5 either way. The local Sea Front. Speed limit of mostly 30 with a drop to 20MPH.
The most common motorcycle accident in the world is the SMIDSY (Sorry Mate I Didn't See You). Normally a driver turning in or out of a side road.
So how many potential SMIDSY's are in this clip?
We may go years without a SMIDSY. The countries with lower road fatalities tend to focus more training on the real world interactive skills which in turn helps road users to predict and avoid the confrontations. Only this can also draw road users into a false sense of security. I find riding in Thailand easier in some respects than riding in England, as I know other road users do not play by the rules in Thailand, so I expect right of way errors to be more common. While in the UK, we expect people will play by the rules, so more likely to be caught out when someone makes a mistake.
The chance of surprise remains at 100% for 100% of the time.
