Anyone been on a skills course?

ross_mcculloch

Quite fancy treating myself to a place on a MTB skills course somewhere in Scotland in the new year.

Has anyone ever been on one?

nonnac85

not in Scotland but I did one with Get Mountain Biking in Woburn which was very good. Although there were a couple of us in the group, the leader, Helen went out of her way to help with individual requests etc.
Also you get to meet people of a similar level to you then you can push each other on.
I found that as well as teaching you new stuff, you become more confident in the skills you already have.

stumpyjon

Nope, but I am of the same frame of mind. I need some help getting my riding to the next level technically. Skills course may be just the ticket, just not sure how to get it in my stocking though :roll:

lunaeventer

Yep, contact Iain at MB7 & have a look at the website. Great guys & excellent at putting across their points to all levels of riders.

http://www.mb7.com/

chuckd

I'm a beginner myself and went with http://www.transcendtrailacademy.com/. I had a 1 to 1 half day course (fundamentals) and highly recommend it.

Went through basic setup of bike, handling etc. It's amazing what you can get done even in half a day.

JA27

http://www.dalesmountainbiking.co.uk/ Stu's an excellent fella, and the new bike centre 100 yards from my house looks excellent

Anonymous

definately do some reseach and make sure who ever you go with has a good reputation. i recently recieved a mtb coach award and am abolutely dog toffee, but according to the qualificaion, i can take folk out for a ride and am supposed to be able to teach folk the basics,

im confident i know all of the theory about how to ride well, its just that i am rubbish at putting any of it into practice, although i have heard it said that those who cant do...... teach.........................

lunaeventer

Was so impressed with guys from MB7 that after doing a weekend course last year I did a further 3 hour 1 to 1 session this year.

Have also bought a 1 to 1 session for someone I know for a Xmas present. Shhhhh! Don't tell!!

singlespeedexplosif

Had a full day 1-to-1 with Nigel Page earlier in the year, at Delamere Forest.
Amazing day and a seriously nice bloke. Highly recommended...considering the amount we happily spend on shiny bits for our bikes, it makesno sense at all not to spend a bit of cash on some coaching..!

http://www.npracing.co.uk//index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=33&Itemid=42

daniellesheridan

Try Astounding Adventures - http://www.astoundingadventures.co.uk/

We are an adventures activities company providing MTB courses in The Surrey Hills, North Wales (Gwydyr Forest) and North Yorkshire (Dalby Forest).

We have a range of skills courses including:

Core skills
Singletrack skills
Drops & jumps
Trailside repairs
Adventure race skills
Mountain bike navigation
Night riding apprenticeship

All of our coaches are fully qualified and highly experienced.

We also offer guided rides in The Surrey Hills, North and South Wales, The Lake District, The Peak District and The Yorkshire Moors. If you can tear yourself away from your bike, try our range of hillwalking and rock climbing courses too.

Check us out!

Danielle

Steve_b77

I did a core skills course with One Planet @ Llandegla, it was very useful

daniellesheridan

Steve_b77 wrote:

I did a core skills course with One Planet @ Llandegla, it was very useful

They are great guys; I met them recently at the Cycle Show at Earls Court where we all helped run the Volvo/Tyrol skills track.

Cheers!

Danielle

Stephen-Hawking

Scuse my ignorance - CTC??

jweston

Stephen-Hawking wrote:

Scuse my ignorance - CTC??

Hi Stephen

The CTC is the new name for the Cycle Touring Club.

They changed the name because of the association with beards, tandems and real ale drinkers. These days they're a much more all encompassing club working on behalf of all cycling interest groups with a growing MTB contingent. So the whole touring part of the name really gives you the wrong impression of where they are today.

Ian Warby heads up the new coaching scheme. He's a very experienced bike coach and works with many professional racers. He put together the new coaching scheme drawing on many years of experience coaching mountain bikers.

There are several other coaching qualifications for instructors such as the Scottish Mountain Bike Leaders Association (SMBLA - more leadership than a coaching qualification), the OTC Leader and Skill Award (which has now been absorbed into the CTC) and the Mountain Bike Instructors Award Scheme (MIAS - which is generally poorly regarded).

Hope this helps

Jessica

Gizzo

I've been on a few skills courses and training sessions around Europe. I find you learn slightly different things at them all.

In Scotland I went to a Dirtschool session held at Innerleithen by Chris Ball. Top guy - really knows his stuff.

Check out www.dirtschool.co.uk

Stephen-Hawking

Thanks Jessica, yes that's informative.