Team Work on Two Wheels

Riding motorcycles can be a risky business. Sometimes I think to myself. “Who in their right mind would do it?”. 

Let alone ride 6000 miles in the past year. Like I have. Enjoying, well almost, every minute along my two wheeled way. Inside the solitary bubble of your bike helmet, you have highs and lows. On some journeys. I often wonder why I do it, especially on those cold mornings and dark evenings. Constantly trying to make my lonely bubble a safe one. 

Returning to biking after any period of time is a challenging thing to do, but last summer the chance came for me to set off for a weeks tour of Normandie, France, with my lifelong friend, Stuart. Stu and I met at the age of 11, us both sharing the five mile bus to our senior school from Runcorn. Having a good laugh on the way to and back was a huge part of our daily trip. Maybe even the best part of our education. Looking back now our friendship has always included a journey of some sort or other. Always the travellers. Always looking around the next bend for an exciting adventure. On that bus something clicked between us and we have stayed very close friends ever since. Sharing the love of bikes, we now spend as much time as we can out and about and discovering the exhilaration that goes with biking. 

Speed merchants ? ...We definitely aren’t. 

Cool ? ...Er nope. 

Careful and we hope, elegant riders ? ...We try to be. 

In our own bubble with a single vision. To live on this incredibly beautiful and exciting planet for as many more two-wheeled years as we can make. We want to be 70 year-old bikers. Taking off our helmets, we want people to be thinking. "Aren’t those two, waaaaay too old to be riding ?". 

Returning to Normandie

Day Two of our journey and we are out on the west coast of Normandie. We set out from the glorious, enchanted medieval town of Dinan. Staying a night there was like staying a night in a Harry Potter movie. If you haven’t been. You must go.

Quite a contrast to hi tech motorcycling these days. Most people wouldn’t know it but we have Sat Navs, Cruise Control, Heated Grips, Biking Computers and Power Outlets to charge up our dash mounted iPhones and all the gear that a 55 year-old - not so cool biker-dude can spend his pre-retirement budget on. Oh and I haven’t even mentioned our Smart Helmets, both fitted with the latest blue-tooth tech that makes the helmet a 4K camera, video camera, FM radio, connected phone and the helmet to helmet comms system, allowing us to chat to each other - Runcorn to La Rochelle and back. 

Amazing. And as it turns out. A big help in ‘safety bubble’ making…

It happened at mid afternoon. We had a good 100 miles under our belts and the heat of the afternoon sun was beginning to take its toll. Looking down at my temperature gauge, I could see that it was hitting 31 degrees and boy was I in need of a break. Just a few more miles and we could stop for an ice cream at a road side cafe. But these were rural French roads we were on, mile after sun drenched mile with crops of cabbage, potato and waves of sweetcorn either side of our mostly empty roads. Not many cafes out here though. Just farms and tractors.

The first warning sign of impending problems was just a quick comment by Stu over the blue-tooth comm.

“Small patch gravel” I heard in my helmet, as up ahead of me, he entered a mini round about. “Got it, thanks Stu”. 

It wasn’t much to worry about. Just a trace of gravel, probably a half shovel but I really appreciated Stu’s alert anyway. All was safe…until the next roundabout.

“GARETH, BIG GRAVEL”!. Stu shouted it this time. He had seen it and nimbly negotiated it. But this time it was ALL across this roundabout. 

Too late for me to brake, I was already leaning over and gliding in. As I entered I did all I could to avert disaster. 

Slowly shut down throttle, straighten up and balance as well as I could…..luckily as I hit it I had lost as much speed as I could. But must have still been at 20 mph. Leaning over to the left, for a fraction of a second my front wheel lost grip (not good) and slid over to the right by probably an inch. Not much but at 20 mph IT’S A LOT. And plenty scary !

Enough to shake me, nearly losing the front is not at all good but then fortunately, the beautifully engineered BM gripped again and all was safe. That was a very, very close call I thought. But, by hook or by crook, we were both safe. 

Stu’s message had saved me.

Riding on I had plenty of time to reflect on what had just happened. Could I have foreseen it and prevented the situation in the first place ? All accidents are preventable right ? What could I learn ?

On reflection, it has struck me many times of how Stuart and I have made ourselves into a great team. 

This week I’ve been teaching teamwork and how to form a great team, to a large group of some of the best engineers in the world. I always start with the foundation stone of all great teams. Trust. The kind of trust that creates a safety bubble between two friends working as a team riding motorcycles across the west coast of France.

Here are some factors that I think helped Stu and I on that day, that would help any team member or leader of a team.

• TIME SERVED. We have put time in. We go back to 11 year olds. Great teams go back a long way. They build up TRUST through spending times, good and bad together. And so look after each other.
• COMMITMENT The situation - we were both ‘in it together’. Two bikes but riding as one interdependent team. Committed to each others success.
• CARE. We care - yes about each other. If one goes down, we both do. Men are notoriously bad at expressing this sort of thing but we do actually care for each other. Deeply. We just don't say it much. For a lot of men it's silent care. Great team members care for one another.
• NO LEADER. This team doesn’t need a leader. We are a team of leaders. No boss required. Most responsible team members turn to the boss quite rarely.
• TALKING. The biggest thing. The small patch gravel. The warning signs - they were all there. The first gravel patch was a warning signal. If we look for them we can often see warning signals, way before danger looms around the next bend. It's true in life too. By simply talking we can reduce risks to manageable levels together.

Motorcycling is undoubtedly risky, but the sense of freedom and adventure can be simply breathtaking. We spend so much of our lives cooped up, in front of a screen, in an office. A chance of freedom is a very rare and beautiful thing. And that’s why motorcycling for me is so exciting, inspiring and rewarding.

No one knows what is around the corner for any of us. But with a small trusting and caring team - even as small as two people - that just simply talk to each other and care for each other, most risks can be managed and we can make it through to the next stop on the journey. To the next cafe. To the the next ice cream. To the next adventure together.

Even when life throws a patch of gravel at you. A trusted friend, looking out for us can make all the difference.

Talking to us. Caring for us.

Gareth