Mrs d00m has kindly bought me a half day skils course at Cannock Chase as a birthday gift. Just wondered if anyone out there has been on one of these courses and could give me some advice on what to expect.

I’ve been riding on and off for 20+ years but over the last 12 months(since buying a new trail bike) I’ve dropped 2 stone in weight and I’m enjoying riding more than I ever have. I’ve never done anything more than xc riding though to be honest so not sure what ‘skills’ I can improve.

Depends – on your current level, what you want from the course, the instructor and the group you are with (assuming not one to one).

The first course I did focused on line choice, cornering better, lifting the front wheel (both over uphill steps and in order to clear small drops) , dealing with trail obstacles. Also basics like bike setup and body positioning.

Chances are you will learn more than you currently expect.

Which company is it with?

Its a half day 1 to 1 with thebikeschool.net I think

Then I can’t comment. Had it been Chase Skills, I could have answered your questions.

I’ve done a course at Cannock with thebikeschool. Adam took my group and he’s a nice bloke and patient. Really enjoyed it and learned alot about what I should be doing, as well as learning that sometimes I wasn’t actually doing what I thought I was. Don’t expect to come out of the course riding like a pro. You still need to practice what you’ve learned, and that can be difficult as you may need to change completely something that you’ve been doing since the first day you rode a bike, and old habits die hard. Go into it with an idea of a couple of skills you want to work on – for me it was wheelies, and manuals (still can’t do them, but am much improved and now know how to do them and am working on it). Other than that, its great fun so make sure you enjoy it.