Local MTB guide job??
nasha48
Posts: 231
I've been thinking recently about earning myself a bit of extra cash at weekends as a local MTB Tour Guide. Having looked into it in a little more detail it seems that as a minimum I would need to gain a CTC Trail Guide qualification (circa £400?) and also take out a public liability insurance policy. My initial thoughts are to creating flyers and getting them around all the local campsites/bike shops etc, taking calls and organising suitable rides (basic 15 milers to 40 mile including a little semi-technical stuff) charging something like £5 - £10 each rider. One thing I'm slightly concerned about is that although I am quite happy to with maintaining the basics of my own bike (bleeding brakes, chain links, punctures etc) I'm not sure how I'd get on if someone's bike suffered, say, some broken spokes or something then the ride effectively gets cancelled and I'm dealing with some disgruntled customers.
Anyway, these are just initial thoughts. Hence, I'd be very interested to hear from anyone out there who has experience in this sort of thing, including costs involved, problems to look out for, likelihood of it actually being popular/worth it etc etc. I'm already thinking I would have to fork out over £1000 initially just to get set up which is obviously likely to be considerably long time before I would make any profit at all.
Regarding experience, I've been riding MTB for circa 6 years, have learnt most of the basics concerning bike set up/maintenance, rider weighting, a bit of basic technique, familiarity with local area (New Forest) and I'm physically fit (for now at least!). However, I'm certainly no expert by any means hence I've suffered a handful of painful offs (let's face it though, that's how we learn!) Any advice, guidance, things I would need to consider etc would be very much appreciated. I just want to keep it as simple as possible, but realise there may be essential hoops that need to be jumped through.
Anyway, these are just initial thoughts. Hence, I'd be very interested to hear from anyone out there who has experience in this sort of thing, including costs involved, problems to look out for, likelihood of it actually being popular/worth it etc etc. I'm already thinking I would have to fork out over £1000 initially just to get set up which is obviously likely to be considerably long time before I would make any profit at all.
Regarding experience, I've been riding MTB for circa 6 years, have learnt most of the basics concerning bike set up/maintenance, rider weighting, a bit of basic technique, familiarity with local area (New Forest) and I'm physically fit (for now at least!). However, I'm certainly no expert by any means hence I've suffered a handful of painful offs (let's face it though, that's how we learn!) Any advice, guidance, things I would need to consider etc would be very much appreciated. I just want to keep it as simple as possible, but realise there may be essential hoops that need to be jumped through.
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Comments
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Hi,
Just sent you a PM - give me a call if you want to know what's involved.
Cheers,
IanI'm very responsible, whenever anything bad happens they always say I am responsible.....0 -
Thanks Ian, much appreciated. I've had a look at your link, very interesting indeed and led me off to some other useful links too. May well give you a bell sometime in the next few weeks - will PM you beforehand. Leigh.0
