Where to start?

MTBRog

Hi all
My 13 year old son has got bitten by the MTB bug over the summer. We've ridden a range of routes including a couple of reds.
Now, he wants to take things further, join a club and get good at the sport, but I can't find anywhere to get him started. We're in the (notoriously flat) Peterborough area and the few clubs I have found seem to be based around road cycling.
Can anyone offer any advice on how to find a club or do we simple have to move near some hills :shock:
Cheers in advance for any help/guidance

Ride hard

It's not a club per se, but you might want to check out meetup.com

I'm not sure how well it caters for teenagers and MTB's (as I'm more interested in road cycling) however, I can say that all the meetups I've been on have been well organised and you get to meet friendly people.

Good luck!

benpinnick

Welcome to Bikeradar MTBRog(er?). Theres a thread somewhere among the millions of others about how half the users on here found their riding buddies through Bikeradar. Its an easy process in theory - 1. Post notification of need for riding buddies. 2. Get riding buddies.

I suggest a well titled thread announcing (or inviting - your choice, both have advantages) your intent to ride somewhere near Peterborough (thats somewhere north of Watford right?). Once you have some riding buddles lined up, then go along, see who you can trust and take a view on letting the young'un loose on his own.

MTBers generally have less clubs than roadies. Don't know why, especially given how social most MTBers are, but then were also slack. Either way, as Cooldad would say, I don't do clubs.

cooldad

I don't do clubs.
A few years ago my son (14 at the time) told me he'd arranged a ride with some friends.
On the way I asked who, expecting them to be some schoolfriends.
He said some men he'd met online.
After a minor freak out, his answer to my spluttering what the hell were you thinking, was 'don't worry, they ride bikes, they're ok.'
Have since met loads of good people and had a lot of fun. And some weirdos - popstar you know who you are.

Post something in Rides.

felix.london

mtb crazy

or theres london calling who ive been out with afew times and thats fun, though we normally go tgo swinley and surrey hills so possibly abit far for you, but youre welcome to join us.

BeaconRuth

I think it's fair to say that traditional cycling clubs tend to be road-orientated - many go back over many decades and are proud of their road-riding and racing heritage. Since MTBing is not such a long-standing branch of the sport and doesn't really go for 'traditional' in a big way I don't think you'll find many wholly MTB-based clubs, at least, not large ones with coaching and training for youngsters. Maybe in areas with some good MTB terrain but perhaps not near Peterborough!

Instead I suggest hunting down a British Cycling Go-Ride club which may not be just MTB-oriented but they'll almost certainly spend a lot of time coaching kids and teenagers on off-road terrain. At the moment many youngsters in Go-Ride clubs will be off racing cyclocross most weeks, but your son could join in with that on an MTB.

Also, this great series of MTB events is in your area - perhaps have a look at which clubs are involved in it and get in touch with them? http://fnssmtb.wordpress.com/

Ruth

Stiff_Orange

I'm too ill too have my usual moan about people not using google.

but for 30seconds research I found this

http://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/life ... _1_2477049

and here is the facebook site

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=7 ... 347110302/

Simples

warpcow

Try local bike shops even. A lot have organised rides.