Hi everyone,

Do any of you have one of the various qualifications?

I’m seriously tempted to dip a toe in the water in terms of MTB guiding… (Part-time to begin with)

I’ve been riding for 15 years and have read a fair amount of the CTC info.

I’m just really interested in peoples’ real experiences…

How do you ‘use’ it? What kind of work do you get? Was it worth the money? Do any of you use it part-time?

Cheers,

Phil

Doing/done my night riding module with;
http://cycle4adventure.co.uk/

I have the MBLA mbl cert. I do a bit of volunteer stuff with local Go-ride club and with LEA delivering cycle skills to 8/9/10yr olds.
There are a few guys locally who have web sites/business offering their services but not sure they get much in the way of making money other than as a “hobby”
Had the chance to do something for myself but I do not consider myself fit enough to keep up with “customers/clients” 🙄
Living in Dumfries & Galloway I doubt if anyone needs to be guided around a Stanes route ❗
I do however have quite a bit of local hill routes 😆 but reckon paying guest would balk at paying for a hike a bike session 🙄

Just signed up to get the TCL/MBLA.

Don’t need it from a work point of view – purely for my own interest – and not sure it will add anything to my technical cycling ability, but I like having something to work towards and looking ahead I thought that when my daughter is a bit older (she’s 3 now) I’d like to be able to help out with school/scouts etc and take some kids out – nowadays of course 20 years of experience on bikes and hills means nowt without a bit of paper to prove it!

It all feels very “establishment” (BCU membership etc etc) but I’m looking forward to it. Despite loads of outdoor experience of all kinds, I have no “qualification” and I think this will give some kind of indication to others especially kids/parents that I know what I’m doing.

To do it as a job you need a fair few MTB quals not just SMBLA/TCL and it comes at a price.

This is the one i am doing this year if anyone wanted to persue it as a job

http://www.peakleaders.com/instructor_courses/Whistler-Mountain-Bike-Coaches-Camp/5

I’m MIAS level 2 qualified. To be honest there’s not much to the course, It’s more about dynamic risk assesing and making sure you know the limits of your group and how to get them to ride more than any riding technique. anyone with a decent off road riding ability and a good measure of common sense would pass.

I’d like to be able to help out with school/scouts etc and take some kids out

Good luck on that one. My experience is that schools/scouts/DofE etc like to keep it in-house and it can be difficult(not impossible)to get into.
I helped start a swimming club at my kids school when they were younger and others sprang up around town. We were all parents, did the SASA teachers quali and some did RLSS courses to teach life saving. After 16yrs or so due to LEA jobsworths we wound the club up depriving 200 or so kids weekly free swimming lessons.
If you do want to pursue this for our daughter & others get yourself onto the schools parent board/council or whatever to give yourself a foothold and voice. Others on this forum have had the same well intentioned idea but come up against all the beurocracy and jobsworths going.
Have a word with your kids school a find out if they would buy into you working with them. If you are in Scotland you will need a Disclosure Scotland cert or the English equivalent.

Schools may be more interested in you doing this;
http://www.dft.gov.uk/bikeability/

Or the Scottish equivalent;
http://cyclingscotland.msol.org.uk/local/training/

Another route you could consider is becoming a BC Lev2 coach and then bolting on the mtb module;
http://www.britishcycling.org.uk/go-rideracing/

“My” club; http://www.steppingstanes.co.uk/

Thanks Trekster – all good advice – you’ve clearly been down this path and know it well!! My daughter is only 4 so a while away from taking her and her mates on bike trips but it will come soon enough.

Just thinking back to my own days (not THAT long ago) in the scouts/BB when fathers who knew what they were doing frequently took groups away camping/canoeing etc etc. Clearly things are much tighter nowadays but I hope to be able to bring something to these kind of organisations in the future. Difficulty is that I have no connection with schools or other youth groups in the area just now but will once the wee one is big enough.

One of the main reasons also is just for my own “personal development” (yeah I know) but I like to be “doing something” outside of work that has an identifiable end goal. Did an NVQ in Indian cuisine a couple of years ago and can make a pretty good curry!

I’ve done the MBLA TCL and MBL over the last yr or so, mainly cos I organise rides for my local club and we get people out riding with us who are relative beginners.

The awards have given me more confidence teaching riding skills….a bunnyhop may be so instinctive after 20yrs riding how do you explain how you actually do it?

plus the club feels with me being qualified should a newbie rider crash and try to sue me/us then having recognised qualifications are a help

I really enjoyed the training with Jonathen Collins at 1Bike1 and would recommend him…learned a few new bits round Nant BH and Conwy that were great to ride too.

passing isn’t that easy either you do need to put a bit of effort into navigation, leadership styles and lesson planning…seen people employed in outdoor pursuits fail!

I’ve done a bit of paid coaching and believe you can find work via BC and MBLA websites…its great to see beginners improve having mastered a couple of basic techniques…One guy halved the time it took him to do the red at Llandegla after 2hrs coaching

MBLA here also – Second what Whytetrash says above – Jonathan Collins at 1Bike1 (now called 1MTB1)up in N.Wales top trainer + great location for the course at Nant-BH.

Just thinking back to my own days (not THAT long ago) in the scouts/BB when fathers who knew what they were doing frequently took groups away camping/canoeing etc etc. Clearly things are much tighter nowadays but I hope to be able to bring something to these kind of organisations in the future. Difficulty is that I have no connection with schools or other youth groups in the area just now but will once the wee one is big enough.

Scouts is ridiculous now on the paperwork. The paid up administrators have to keep themselves in a job so keep adding requirements/forms that make the life of the volunteers who keep the Scout movement going absolute hell (parents involved in Scouts for years from Beaver/Cub/Scout Leaders to AGL and GL). Can’t get away with half the stuff I used to do as a Scout (only 20 years ago!) because of the “OMGZ THINK OF THE CHILDRENZ!” in the Daily Wail when an accident does happen. Soon it’ll be knot club and nothing else. A truely thankless task.

Got my TCL next month, god knows what I’m going to do with it!

I’ve got the Mountain Bike Leader Award. Did it to cover me for running a MTB Club at the school I work in. We run approx 9-10 rides a year and a weekend residential to Wales.

The award gave me the necessary paperwork for this, but i’m not sure it would open up any opportunities outside work, other than perhaps youth work / club rides.

The award gave me the necessary paperwork for this, but i’m not sure it would open up any opportunities outside work, other than perhaps youth work / club rides.

You/anyone can set themselves up in business, create a web site, make up some posters etc and find local guiding work that way, same as all the posters and advertisers on here and in the mags.