Training
Mountain bike instruction and skills courses
CTC – ABCC approved M.I.A.S qualified instruction
Experience the fun and exhilaration of Mountain Biking and ride to your full potential with full M.I.A.S level 2 qualified instruction. From beginners to intermediate, to seasoned, to women specific, to one 2 one, even club and group tuition. We cover riders of all ages who wish to improve their technical skill and ride portfolio. Our courses can cover complete basics to get you riding the trails with confidence bringing you on to tackle radical descents, drop offs and drop ins. We can tailor our instruction to suit your requirements so as to get the most out of your time with us. Our time is your time and we are dedicated to you leaving with a sense of accomplishment, not to mention a massive smile on your face!
“Reservoir Goats – All you need to enjoy the ride“
- RIDING SKILLS
- BIKE SET UP
- EFFICIENT PEDDLING
- TECHNICAL DECENTS/ASCENTS
- RISK ASSESSMENT
- BASIC ON TRAIL MAINTENANCE
- DROP OFFS/DROP INS
- JUMPS/NORTH SHORE
Rates
MTB day rate all levels 10.00am – 4pm £60.00
(group discounts for 6 riders 10%)
MTB hourly rate all levels - £17.50
Contact
Tel: 01908 322566 - Mob: 07816 500286 - Email: mrspesh@gmail.com
Or book on line:
Feature skill – The Drop off
Basic rules apply to all technical mountain bike skills; confidence in yourself and your bike! The bike regardless is only as good as the person on it and most decent mountain bikes will handle most things these days. Always case the area/drop off before attempting (basic risk assessment). A good idea when attempting for the first time is to lower your seat as far as it will go so as you have plenty of room to manoeuvre the bike. Perhaps ride up to the lip of the drop off first, as your eye to ground level will have altered your mind's perspective, now you’re on your trusty stead (if you’re not feeling it leave it for another day when you’re fully dialled in). If it’s flat Plato to Plato you may need to huck the front end! If your landing zone is a down slope you can just carry your speed and let the bikes trajectory and gravity do the rest. Approaching the drop off always focus on where you want to go "not at the scenery around you including goading mates“. Approach with confidence, stay loose on your bike, adopt the ideal body position as picture below and flow! Hey presto you have just nailed a drop off. For a flat to flat plato as you approach the lip just pull up slightly on the handle bars so as to keep the front end level with just the right amount of pace focused on where you want to go and again you’ll have nailed the drop off. Same technique applies regardless of height!
Feature skill – Radical Decents
Regardless of terraine these need to be cased first (basic risk assesment) with three main areas to look for i.e.: line approach the line of decent - The exit. Again if you're not feeling it ? Don't do it ! Saddle at it's lowest position Mr Spesh nails this one. This was a blind approach that required a small front wheel huck to enter the decent before shifting your weight and body position back so as to lower your eye-2-floor level enough to stay in control of the bike and ride the decent out. Staying relaxed at all times and letting your bike's suspension take the hits. The grabbing a hand full of front brake is 100% ambulance. The key here is modulation and brake bias between front and back enough to keep you rolling at a optimum pace. Stay focused and look at where you want to go and ride it out! There, you just rode a radical decent.
Feature skill – Northshore
A relatively new skill on the block when it comes to mountain biking, but now has become an essential skill to have in your ride portfolio! With the explosion of freeride, with its roots emanating out of Canada and the likes of Whistler, riders began to explore more radical ways of adding to the everyday trails. Hence the construction of various wooden structures offering a whole range of things to tests one's skills and nerve! Riding Northshore is almost liken to when you first learn to ride a bike, its all about balance, the only difference is height and the old fave mind set, lets face it we can ride a 6' to 12' single track all day long but as soon as you raise it off the floor the whole mind set sets off alarm bells. Here Miss Smile started just riding along kerbs in our local city so she had the pavement one side and the road the other, the kerb was about 12' wide – then she moved up to trying some raised scaffold planks about 6' inches off the floor just to try and gain some confidence. Keep going over and over until you feel dialled in; momentum = balance, not too fast but not slow enough to start you wobbling and weaving. A nice low ratio gear is selected and get your saddle down and out the way so you can move your body position, elbows, knees and legs to keep that balance. You will also get a better sense of balance when your up on your pegs with your weight shifted forward so your eye line, when looking down, is over the front axel again this will come with practice as it feels a bit strange when you first try it but stick with it, and you'll become more comfortable on raised sections. Riding with flats is also a good start as you can bail from your bike if required when it gets a bit dicey! Miss Smile here continued to practice on some sawn off log sections in Glentress green zone freeride section and then moved onto some higher shore as the confidence and balance grew. With this new found confidence she was able to take this high stuff in her stride out on the Red route in Glentress' Ewok Village. Again it's like every discipline, the more you practice the more confident you will become.
Mountain bike Hire
We also offer mountain bike hire on our training days. We currently have a Medium Specialized Rock Hopper Pro hard tail, fully rebuilt to offer you all you need to tackle the most demanding trails. Equipped with the best components like FSA Bars, Stem, Headset, BB, Crank – SRAM X9 shifters, Front mech, Rear mech, cassette, chain – SDG bel air saddle – Thomson elite post – Hayes Disc brakes – Fox front forks 120’s – Kenda tyres.
The bike can be hired per day and weekends.
Rates-
Day rate £20.00 per day Mon - Sun. Deposit £25.00 refundable on return.