Courses at Llandegla
Has anyone done any? I'd really like someone to help me technically via a course but I'm not really sure where I fit or if the cost is worth it. The core skills says are you happy with blues - yes, blues are easy. The jumps & drops course says are you happy with reds - yes find reds just the right amount of fun/fear but I can't jump at all & the core skills covers jumps too. Any thoughts? Thank you 
Karen x
Karen x
0
Comments
-
I looked into them a while ago, they sound quite good but are very expensive for what they they provide..
I was tempted to book onto one then we went on holiday to Canada where we did a days course with bike Hire and Uplift pass in whistler! for the same price as they just provide tuition for!... and I could be wrong but i'd be suprised if the calibre of tution at Coed llandegla can match the mountain guides/trainers in Whistler
tafter that I could only conclude they where taking the Pi55 with there pricing....but this may have changed.
theres also some lads at cannock that do a free DH bike course and I can recomend them highly ....great guys and some good training all just fo the fun of it
www.racersguild.co.uk/Cannock/home.html
Theres also some courses in the peak district (forget the name) run by a really nice bloke and his grilfreind which is also superb and much cheaper (although more XC orientated)0 -
The cost when I was there in October was - now hang on, I AM Very old - was about £200!
Or something as stooopid! Think it would be difficult to learn much in a day, as it's not just practice, but it's also "Good Practice that Makes Perfect..."
I would personally say, £10 per hour for one-to-one tuition is about right.
My Mrs and her sister both teach fitness/aerobics and they charge this up here.
But, a mate in Cardiff quoted about triple that for a Personal Trainer.
Also, are they Qualified to Teach...not just got a piece of paper, but can Actually "Teach?!"
I've taught hundreds of courses, coaches, instructors, tutors and have got to say, there are some that are there for their "Passion" of the sport, others are there ONLY for the Certificate..."Paper Chasers" as I call em.0 -
The core skills is £100, the jumps & drops is £130. I know it sounds a lot, but they do seem to be popular courses & surely at that price they MUST be good??
I have to admit, biking is my second sport so I am hoping a course can help bridge the practicing gap time (yes, we all want a quick fix!), but also hubby broke his collar bone a few weeks ago & I don't want to follow him, so just really looking for someone to check me over & give me things to go away & practice so I can progress. Just a bit concerned the core skills is stuff I can already do but the jumps & drops is too advanced for me? Maybe a 1:1 would be better??
Kx0 -
If you in Kinmel Bay, try the Llanrwst Mtb Club that runs out of the sports centre.
Ask for MARCUS POLITIS, the Coach/Leader. They have a BC Skills Kit, which has cones, limbo poles etc, and used to run stuff there, as well as on the Marin Trail.
It can be set up outside the sports centre on the grass in these late Summer eves.
Very safe, controlled environment and although it's basic, it'll give you a grounding in bike handling, gear selection, braking, start-stopping etc.
( I know they had the kit, as I gave it to em! )0 -
£130! unless its either
- 1:1
- The version they do run by the athertons
- including bike hire and lunch
is ridculous...
but there's always fools desperate to be seperated from there money, and if its the slovenly, ignorant teenagers that also staff the shop there doing the training then I would really have an issue with it.0 -
Splottboy wrote:If you in Kinmel Bay, try the Llanrwst Mtb Club that runs out of the sports centre.
Ask for MARCUS POLITIS, the Coach/Leader. They have a BC Skills Kit, which has cones, limbo poles etc, and used to run stuff there, as well as on the Marin Trail.
It can be set up outside the sports centre on the grass in these late Summer eves.
Very safe, controlled environment and although it's basic, it'll give you a grounding in bike handling, gear selection, braking, start-stopping etc.
( I know they had the kit, as I gave it to em! )
We have a caravan up in the hills behind bodelwyddan so I'll give them a try.0 -
surely at that price they MUST be good
for that price I can get a session on a race track driving a race prepared car with a trained racing driver!
there is no comparison in terms of the costs and skills required in running those two things...
even www.dirtdivas.co.uk (womens specific MTB courses) they do it for much less then the inflated one planet costs (e.g. £85 for jumps&drops)0 -
Ahh the dirt divas is a bit far, but ta for the llanwrst idea - I'll hunt them down
Appreciate all your responses x 0 -
Someone must know what they actually teach you at these courses. Surely you can just youtube what they teach you for good technique and just go and practice it?!0
-
Yeh there's an itinery on the website but It doesn't work like that though does it. I'd been snowboarding for 6 years, had one lesson to get started then went it alone for 16 weeks. Last year I did a course with friends because we were all at different abilities & thought it would be fun to do a course together, even if we got nothing out of it. I learnt soooooooo much from that course & I thought I rode pretty well before it. I didn't realise how much breaking everything down and little technique changes could completely transform my riding. You can't pick stuff like that up off You Tube. I never really valued tuition before that.0
-
well, if I'm up at llandegla, I'd happily give you some advice and tips for free.0
-
Got a feeling that the £100 English Pounds - or more - was for a Minimum of 6 or so.
So, you and you're mates book someone, and they get over £600? For a few hours?
Don't think Elvis, Tom Jones or Frank Sinatra got this at their peak! Ok...maybe Elvis, but that was paid in Hamburgers, so it doesn't count.0 -
k31RON: Then it wasn't just me and the Mrs then?
We also thought that the "biking staff" had an attitude...
They seemed to have some sorta Superior been-there-done-that" approach.
It seemed like they were there for THEIR OWN purposes, not for the punters, and they'd be doing you a favour by actually...talking to you!
Apologies if I'm wrong, but we both noticed something was not right, or at least not as it should have been.
When I was in Whistler, the attitude was TOTALLY the opposite, as the staff at the bike hire shops couldn't do enuff for you. ( I was offered a Summer season guiding by one.
DAMN the wife and two kids/dog new job waiting for me back home! )0 -
Splottboy wrote:k31RON: Then it wasn't just me and the Mrs then?
nope, we go quite regularly, and all the shop staff that me and my mates have encountered are truly shocking and really can't be ar5ed...as they have better things to do i.e. look gormless and lick windows.
last time I needed to buy some gloves (as i didnt have any winter ones with me) and the staff behind the counter seemed to think I was asking her to swallow dog turds rather then let me try some gloves on or help with any form of recomendation....asking for any advice was met with a surly look, a lot of sighs followed by complete product ignorance....I now try my utmost to ensure i never have to buy from that shop, which seems a real shame...the canteen staff on the other hand are really nice and freindly and make a good burger0 -
Hmm, I've always got on well with the shop staff at Llandegla as well.0
-
I have done a course at Llandegla. Myself and a mate booked a 2:1 bespoke day with Bob. We basically both wanted to improve our jumps & drops ability rather than the 'hit & hope' method we usually use. We could have done it with a group but then we would have been limited by others ability or them by ours. It also gave us chance to use Bobs skills for other aspects of our riding.
We are both fairly decent AM riders who regularly use the Uplift service at Innerleithen & Ae Forest.
Was it worth it? Is the Pope a Catholic? It was great. He broke the technique down into easy to manage stages, videoed us, critiqued our body position, our ability to pump the track etc.
We had coffee on arrival, lunch, and coffee and a cake in the afternoon all included.
We progressed through the day and were pumping and clearing the doubles, tabletops and the drops section with confidence & control. He then sent us the DVD of our day.
This was about 2 months ago and the improvement it has brought to our riding (twice a week minimum) is noticeable.
Expensive - yes, worth it- definitely We are going for an hours refresher sometime in July.0 -
Yep, food/canteen staff were great too.
Glad someones had a pleasant experience, as it would be a shame for the staff to put off riders/punters.
Could have been a bad day, but then, there was a "regular" that said the same thing.
IWOW!!! 've just recalled that I did a Mtb Leaders course for Jim Gaffeney and some others bout 10yrs ago! Just had a "Flash Backwards" to Loggerheads country park.
Now, if I could only find my car keys...0 -
Thanks Mike - this thread was never meant to be a "is it expensive", rather a "which should I do, Core skills or jumps & drops?" - It's always expensive but having had snowboard lessons & downhill mountainboard lessons after trying to go it alone I know the difference it can make & that's what I want. I think I'll probably just give them a call.
Thanks all 0 -
sorry bartie but my nomination for rubbish/ripoff service must be heard!
they have shot their bolt with me....noticed my exhaust had become partially detached and strolled in to the shop/reapair bit to beg a couple of cable ties to get me home
guy asked for 50p for them, i said: your joking right, him: no if we gave cable ties away for everyone who came in etc etc!
i mean that is tight, reallly tight man :shock:0 -
Well, if they are charging £100 plus for courses, and 50p for vip ties, the owners/staff must be on a huge wage!
Maybe that's why they look down on us punters...we obviously don't move in the same social circles, LOL!
( Didn't a TV show years ago do a skit bout an Audio shop that took the piss out of someone trying to buy a stereo? Bit like deja vu...)0 -
it was 50p, chill out for your god's sake.
They don't actually get any funding to run the place, it's not a forestry comission handout. Give the guys a break. They've always been polite, friendly and reasonable to me and everyone I ride with.0 -
yeehaamcgee wrote:They don't actually get any funding to run the place, it's not a forestry comission handout. Give the guys a break. They've always been polite, friendly and reasonable to me and everyone I ride with.
that maybe true, but One planet dont run llandegla thats Upm Tihill (who do get forestry commision funding). One planet just does the "facilities",
I'm sorry to say yeehaamcgee but you do seem to be in a minority, maybe you get preferential treatment for being more local..
there just plain rude in that shop to most other punters and all the other non funded bike shops manage to be civil0 -
Nope, UPM, the paper company OWN the forest. Everything else is run by OnePlanet. And you can bet your arse that UPM don't let them use it for free either.
I'm not particularly local either, it's over an hour's drive away.0 -
I visit Llandegla about once a month and have always found everyone who works there friendly and helpful (the young lad on Sundays at the entrance collecting carpark fees needs to learn how to smile though)
It would be interesting to hear from more people that have done any of the skills days how good they are and are they value for money. Up to now some critics on here making an unjustified opinion on cost when they have not done any of the courses.0 -
yeehaamcgee wrote:Nope, UPM, the paper company OWN the forest. Everything else is run by OnePlanet. And you can bet your ars* that UPM don't let them use it for free either.
I'm not particularly local either, it's over an hour's drive away.
one planet dont develop the track (i.e. the important bit) thats UPM and the forestery commission..0 -
i'm local enough to ride to llandegla in about 3/4 an hour.
to be fair i usually only use the trails there at night or one-way as an "up" or "down" to connect to loops over the moors above, so maybe not their target customer who parks, has lunch, coffee, washes bike etc.
yeehah, i know its only 50p but losing the attitude and a few pence on the ties could have generated good will worth a whole lot more...i cant understand service providers who think they are doing their customers a favour.......still their loss not mine.
The girls behind the cofee bar have always seemed civil enough like.
I think the trail centre is a great thing bringing a hell of a lot of visitors and their ££ into the llandegla area: remember though OP do have a captive market and no competition at the site....in these circumstances and given how well they are doing (judging by the full car parks on weekends) the pressure to provide value and high levels of service can slip.
Just my opinion0 -
Went up there yesterday, everyone seemed lovely to me. I've booked the Core Skills for 19th June as they said it would be better to break down my riding before moving on to jumps as part of the core skills course is jumps anyway. I shall report back!! 0
