{"id":18,"date":"2011-08-29T11:45:53","date_gmt":"2011-08-29T11:45:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/betterrider.skirnir.com\/?p=18"},"modified":"2011-08-31T20:41:03","modified_gmt":"2011-08-31T20:41:03","slug":"observed-ride-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/betterrider.skirnir.com\/?p=18","title":{"rendered":"Observed Ride #3"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>My third observed ride today, and another 8:30am start at the Steading. On the ride up to Hillend on the bypass, there were strong gusty crosswinds, and I was having trouble staying safely up to speed. I was a little frustrated with the weather, as I wanted to really focus on making good progress on this ride with Alan.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/maps.google.co.uk\/maps\/ms?msa=0&amp;msid=206818085769387112586.0004abc02153b19f7f130&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;vpsrc=6&amp;ll=55.881474,-3.051453&amp;spn=0.539204,1.167297&amp;z=9&amp;output=embed\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" width=\"425\" height=\"350\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>This run was a long one, nothing particularly challenging on it, but lots of opportunity to ride at speed, and get some feedback on how I&#8217;m using the system while making a good pace.<\/p>\n<p>I like this diagram to explain the system:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/betterrider.skirnir.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/IPSGA.gif\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-39\" title=\"IPSGA\" src=\"http:\/\/betterrider.skirnir.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/IPSGA.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"122\" srcset=\"http:\/\/betterrider.skirnir.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/IPSGA.gif 800w, http:\/\/betterrider.skirnir.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/IPSGA-300x45.gif 300w, http:\/\/betterrider.skirnir.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/IPSGA-500x76.gif 500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The System (Information, Position, Speed, Gear, Acceleration) describes the approach to dealing with a hazard: gather information early (and continue doing so throughout), make use of the information to form a plan, and communicate to other road users; be in the right place on the road, at the right speed, in the right gear to keep the bike responsive, and finally accelerate back to a good place after you&#8217;re clear from the hazard.<\/p>\n<p>I rode faster today, despite the crosswinds at times on the A68, and felt like I was more relaxed, that observing further ahead was more natural. But it&#8217;s still not flowing naturally at speed &#8211; I had to brake slightly a couple of times, when a little more planning would have had me at the right speed earlier.<\/p>\n<p>We stopped in Musselburgh for coffee and a chat at the end. Some great feedback from Alan again &#8211; mostly just good reminders of things I know I need to practice, practice and practice again &#8211; but also a couple of things I didn&#8217;t know: tips on handling roundabouts when there is no traffic about, for example.<\/p>\n<p>After the ride, I caught up with Veronica in Leith, to help out with the swan ringing. This is one of the cygnets we&#8217;re been observing on the shore since they were eggs. Nice to see someone I&#8217;ve been observing graduate :).<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_38\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"http:\/\/betterrider.skirnir.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/cygnet.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-38\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-38\" title=\"Leith Cygnet\" src=\"http:\/\/betterrider.skirnir.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/cygnet-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"cynet\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"http:\/\/betterrider.skirnir.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/cygnet-300x225.jpg 300w, http:\/\/betterrider.skirnir.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/cygnet-1024x768.jpg 1024w, http:\/\/betterrider.skirnir.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/cygnet-400x300.jpg 400w, http:\/\/betterrider.skirnir.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/cygnet.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-38\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cygnet, ready for weighing and ringing<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>My third observed ride today, and another 8:30am start at the Steading. On the ride up to Hillend on the bypass, there were strong gusty crosswinds, and I was having trouble staying safely up to speed. I was a little &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/betterrider.skirnir.com\/?p=18\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-observed"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/betterrider.skirnir.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/betterrider.skirnir.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/betterrider.skirnir.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/betterrider.skirnir.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/betterrider.skirnir.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/betterrider.skirnir.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":56,"href":"http:\/\/betterrider.skirnir.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18\/revisions\/56"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/betterrider.skirnir.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/betterrider.skirnir.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/betterrider.skirnir.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}