David. wrote: With the IAM (unlike RoSPA),there is no mandatory re-test required to maintain membership & demonstrate that skills are being upheld.
Not strictly true, depends which membership you take, if you opt for Fellowship, you retest every 3 years the same as RoSPA. I have both IAM and RoSPA, but in our blood bike group IAM get check rides every 3 years and the RoSPA take their tests again. We did consider asking IAM to convert to Fellowship, but not all are keen on having to take their test every 3 years. I think the thing that surprised me was, just because someone has passed an IAM or RoSPA test, does not make them an advanced rider, I have seen members that have been riding for 2 years, then passed their IAM, but under no circumstances would I class them as advanced riders. Years of experience, 1000s of miles give you that experience. I try and do some kind of advanced training every year to keep the skills going. I also have found that a lot of peoples slow riding skills are abysmal, in that they don't know how to do it and never practice.