Driving Standards Agency Approved

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David "Squeaky" Mitchelson.

I started riding in February 1984, and past my test in the July.  In 2003 I passed the BMF advanced riding Blue Ribbon course, and became a down trained instructor with Ridesafe in September 2008.

My bought and paid for my first bike a GS125, which I continued to ride till I bought an XJ650 in 1986 as an interim bike intending to get a BMW one day.  Sixteen years later I finally got a brand new bike, but it's a V-max, and I love it.  This is the bike I use for instructing.  I've owned an Enfield "big head" Bullet, which I rode for a year while the XJ was under restoration, but the rear brake and gear leaver were swapped round. I now have another GS125 that I use for commuting, cheap to run.

Since I started riding I have never ridden less than two thousand miles a year, and did nearly ten thousand the year I got the V-max.  Averaging around seven thousand.  I've been to a few rallies, and like to use my bikes for holidays. Touring Scotland, as far North as Dunnet Head, the West Country as far as The Lizard, Wales and the Fens.  I've been to Germany and plan to go to Spain.  Nothing beats riding a bike through a place like Glen Coe on a good day, be it alone, where you don't have to worry about any one else, or with my partner on her bike, sharing that experience. 

I worked in Traffic Management, and Highway Design, for Leicestershire County Council, for eight years, and have an HNC in Civil Engineering.  I gave that up in 1994 to become a boat builder, and have a City and Guilds in Furniture Studies.  For the last year I have been working in a secondary school as a workshop technician.