Hi Chaps,
I went to Kings Lynn for mine - Steve at C&A Motorcycle Training is RPMT, and a retired Police Instructor/Inspector, and he is extremely good at what he does!
I'm advanced car capable anyway, so some of what I knew from that could be applied. And, this time last year I did some "return to biking" training when I got the Triumph, as I'd been away from 2 wheels for at least 15 years, and the last bike I rode was a GPZ500. He taught me quite a bit of the advanced stuff during those sessions, so I was fairly well grounded anyway.
I just did the "Initial assessment" and was found to be of an acceptable standard. The book was of great benefit, as a lot of information in there is very applicable - such as planning overtakes, bend planning, chasing "Limit points", taking & using information etc - as you will be asked questions on why you thought it appropriate to do certain things you did on the run. One that sticks in my head from the ride, was in town, there was a junction to the left of me that I couldn't "Clear" by glancing into it, as there was a high hedge round the corner. So seeing that there was nothing coming towards me that would put me into conflict with other traffic, I pulled a quick right lifesaver and moved out on to the white line, in case anything was to emerge from the side road, thus giving them more scope to brake. That met with a "Spot on". One other thing to remember is the "Always ride in such a manner that you are able to stop safely in the distance you can see to be clear". You will gain brownie points for using that!
There are some "on board" vids on YouTube of Advanced Training, with commentary/advice from the Instructor. I think the channel owner is called "Advancedbiker". Again, well worth a look.
We travelled from Base (Saddlebow, Kings Lynn), through town, out past the Hospital, through Gayton, round the bottom of Great Massingham. Right on to the A1065 to Swaffham, then right on to the A47 as far as the A1122 roundabout, where it was coffee and first de-brief. Then it was A1122, past RAF Marham and right toward Shouldham as we came into Fincham. Through some relatively unknown twisty bits, then picked up the A134 at Shouldham Thorpe, through Wormegay and then onto the A10 back towards Kings Lynn and base.
Quite a nice ride out, most of the back roads I had never ridden before, and once the rain had stopped and the high wind had dried things out it was quite fun.
One thing that Steve did pick up on, was my lack of confidence in bends initially. I always thought the Sprint was a bit of a double decker bus when it came to corners, and he noticed that coming into a bend I was rolling off - thus shoving all the weight to the front, and unsettling the rear end, to the point whereby it was visibly twitchy. A bit of gentle shouting at me over the radio had me powering through every time, and the bike felt much more stable.
Luckily I suppose, when he trained me last year he managed to beat all of my bad habits out of me, and most of what he taught me has stuck! I did my return training on one of his Honda CB-F600 machines, as he thought that a 900cc with bags of torque would be a bit much for me to jump straight on!
It's well worth doing, as I'm getting insurance quotes - and it has halved them with some companies (£62 TPFT from Bennetts) and £130 FC from MCE, with breakdown, legal, helmet & leathers and just about every other type of cover thrown in too! Also, I'm hoping to volunteer to SERV, the blood bike people. They stipulate some kind of "Advanced" qualification, be it DSA, IAM or RoSPA. Really ought to get round to giving them a shout!
If you do happen to do it with Steve, then whatever you do, don't try and outride him... you won't! He'll be on a CB-F600 (or even his Z750 if it's a nice day), and some of the stories he has told about people showing up on 1000+cc machines and trying just that are quite amusing!
J