Ladies course at Bedgebury.

coppirider

Hi everyone,

Bike radar newbie here!
I thought I would let you all know that there is to be a ladies specific course coming up next March at Bedgebury forest run by the club BFCC.
The club has three excellent BC coaches and has already run junior and adult courses last year which were attended well.

Please have a look at the website:

http://www.boarsonbikes.co.uk/courses.html

It's a really friendly club, but there is not enough women in it!, so come on down to Bedgebury and have a look.

Ali.x.

plasticsword

I've never done a mtb skills course before but think it'd be a great way to accelerate my learning.

coppirider do you know what is involved in the course? The website you posted was good but not overly informative.

My only concern is that I like to take singletrack at my own pace*. 13km with other riders sounds like uneccessary pressure to me. Has anyone been these sorts of courses before and can tell us what they're like?

*

coppirider

Hi plasticsword,

My son has done the go-ride course last year and I was around last Saturday at Bedgebury when the adult skills course was happening and on both occasions the morning will be taken up learning skills at the specially designed ride skills area, and then after lunch we will ride some of the singletrack and practice the skills learnt. I doubt whether the whole of the singletrack will be tackled on the first afternoon.

There definately won't be any pressure put on you if you don't want to do something you are not comfortable with, and the emphasis will be on fun and will be designed around what the general riding standard of the group is, no doubt the atmosphere will be pretty relaxed all round. Let me know if you need any more info, and if I don't know I can find out for you.

Ali.x.

plasticsword

Sounds good, my only issue was if the course was based on learning the techniques first, then doing an entire route to put the techniques into practice. My endurance level is awful but I enjoy short sections of technical stuff.

Would love to do the course, its just a matter of seeing how difficult it will be to travel via public transport to the location. :evil:

Thanks!

breezer

The course is probably only half singletrack with the other half being fireroad and its split up into sections so it sounds ideal for you. Its very easy to route back to redo bits without having to walk up the singletrack the wrong way which would be dangerous. Plus if the world ends and you can't ride anymore, it often passes the shorter family route so you could divert onto that and fireroad back to the cafe.

If you take the train from Charing Cross etc to Hastings then it will go through Tunbridge Wells etc and looking at the map, Etchingham is probably the nearest station to Bedgebury, its about 5 miles away. Nearer the time you may find others on here either from London or nearby who could assist with transport

Mrs Toast

plasticsword wrote:

IMy only concern is that I like to take singletrack at my own pace*. 13km with other riders sounds like uneccessary pressure to me. Has anyone been these sorts of courses before and can tell us what they're like?

*

I know that feeling well!

If you don't fancy doing a group course, companies like
http://www.dirtdivas.co.uk do one to one lessons. I did a Dirt Diva taster course at one of the Specialized/Giant demo days last year, and I really enjoyed it. I went in the intermediate group, there was about nine other women, I think. Great fun, and I learnt a lot, even though I was the most inept and unfit. Only problem is that the full courses (never mind the one-to-one lessons) are rather pricey.

coppirider

Well, there are only 2 or 3 of us so far, so it will be more like a one to one course! and the standard if I speak for myself will not be fast and "radical".
As you say its good value for money and should be fun.

Ali.

plasticsword

The DirtDivas look quite comprehensive (judging by the price and choice of courses available). Definitely something for the future, esp since they're in Berkshire. Was at Swinley not too long ago and noticed how accessible it was by public transport.

Might try to swing a lift from my partner to Bedgebury. He can play in the woods whilst I take the course. Everyone's happy. 8)

coppirider

BRILLIANT!!

becs p

Hi guys,

Got out on the trails at the weekend. Did the crab and winkle from Whitstable up and round CLowes Wood and back. Was out for an hour and my fitness seemed fine.

Consequently I've sent off my application for the Ladies weekend at Bedgebury.

coppirider

Hi becs,

Oh, I'm so glad to hear that you will be going, looking forward to meeting you!

Ali.

plasticsword

Are the two dates for this course covering the same material, or does the 2nd session follow on from the 1st? Anyone know?

coppirider

Hi Plasticsword,

Judging by the way the course in January was run, it will follow on from what has been already covered the previous week, although saying that it depends on how many book up for just 1 week or the two weeks.

I am pretty sure that if its the concensus of everybody that they want to go back over something again, then the coach(es) will not mind. As it says in the course description, there isn't a rigid plan to this, and it will be flexible to the needs of the riders.
Not sure which coach will be doing this, but they are all nice fellas who are really laid back.
Hope this helps, getting quite close now and I'm getting quite excited!

Ali.

becs p

I'm booked in for the course, but I keep hearing bad things about bedgebury in that it's a complete mudbath.

It's no fun wading through deep mud, how are you supposed to learn anything?

coppirider

Hi Becs,

To be honest, that would be an apt description at the moment, but then probably most places are pretty muddy, taking into consideration all the rain, snow, thaw then snow again that makes the ground a bit of a mess this time of year.

Rest assured though that the actual coaching will be in the go-ride area, which is away from the normal singletrack and because most people don't know where it is, and the people who do have been discouraged from using it since the end of last year, it should be in quite good nick.

Hopefully, there will be a nice spell of dry weather leading up to the 14th, (you never know!)

See you soon.

Ali.

coppirider

For anyone who was thinking about this course, if you would still like to do it then there is still time to get your application in, but be quick as there are only 3 more spaces left!

See first post for the link to the website.

Ali

GoNads

I rode Bedgebury last weekend with the fiance and I managed the whole think alright, so fitness wise I don't think it would be too evil, there are a few climbs up singletrack that were a bit tricky but no big problem.

I would say if your planning to do public transport there maybe give them a call, having travelled to Bedgebury every day for 10 years for school and the horse riding there it's not the easiest on public transport with a bike, Etchingham or Stonegate are the nearest stations but still pretty far away.

I'd loved to come join in but $$ is low after getting a new bike!!

Have fun!


p.s. if you decide to just go ride Bedgebury I found the course a little tricky to navigate and beware that at certain points it spits you out from a fast bit to family ride track and the OH nearly took out a kid on a spiderman bike....oh and parking is £7.50!!