[Closed] Skills courses

Usual response on here will be Jedi or Ed O. I have done a day with Ed and would recommend it to most, also booked on a Jumps for Dads course in July (although location is maybe a bit far for you - Gisburn)

I'd like someone to come and fix my front wall - it's not in great condition, but the reputable brickies & builders near me are having trouble fitting it in.

Should I just give the work out to a potential cowboy who can do it straight away?

Contact Jim at [url= http://southdownshosting.co.uk/sussexmtbtours/ ]http://southdownshosting.co.uk/sussexmtbtours/[/url]

Worthing based so in your areaish.

(this for the Op not re: the duff wall comment)

Astounding Adventures are good.

I am also in the Worthing area and have a few bags of cement left over from some DIY. I'm sure I can bodge that wall up and though not a real cowboy I can get into a bit of roleplay 🙂

Astounding adventures in the surrey hills - although jumps and cornering will not be on the same course unless you book a private lesson.

I'd like someone to come and fix my front wall - it's not in great condition, but the reputable brickies & builders near me are having trouble fitting it in.

Should I just give the work out to a potential cowboy who can do it straight away?

What a ridiculous thing to say 🙄 you mean to tell me there are no other good/professional/worth while skills course providors in the SE? Taking nothing away from Jedi, his reputation speaks for itself but there must also be an alternative

this not worth an email?
http://www.mountainbikeskillscourses.co.uk/locationf.asp

another one http://www.purplebikeshed.com/mountain_bike_tuition.htm

I mean with both of these it's be worth asking them what they can offer, they may not specialise in the skills you want to brush up on but they got to be worth a try?

[url= http://www.astoundingadventures.co.uk ]Astounding Adventures[/url]

@neil853 There are other people offering courses in the South East, however having visited UK Bike Skills I wouldn't recommend anyone else.

@chayle - aside from Jedi's approach to coaching his facility is outstanding. Book on a public course if the (weekend?) one-one's are all booked or take a day off. I took a slot mid week a few days before Christmas.

Www.bike-it-all.co.uk

Courses are built around what you want, and one-to one is no extra charge. I'm riding in Scotland for the next week, but if you email me from the website I should be able to pick up the email.

I use various venues depending on what you need, but for what you describe I'd probably use Bedgebury.

[url= http://www.tomdowie.com/ ]Tom Dowie @ Chicksands[/url]

To everybody who replied,

Cheers chaps. All the advice is very much appreciated.

Knew this would be the best place to find out

Thanks again

Craig

the duff wall comment

What a ridiculous thing to say

True story! I really am in this position.

For those who don't like my story/don't relate well to analogies I have a session with Tony booked for October.

I've not really gone in for joining in with the online Jedi-love-in, but I've had 2 sessions with Tony thus far and the 2nd was even more of any eye-opener than the 1st.

[b]OP[/b] it's worth the wait

jambalaya - Member

@neil853 There are other people offering courses in the South East, however having visited UK Bike Skills I wouldn't recommend anyone else.

Amen brother! If there's 2 people in the country as good at coaching as Tony is I'd be surprised. If there's anyone better then I want to know where to sign up.

@chayle - aside from Jedi's approach to coaching his facility is outstanding.

This is also true.

you mean to tell me there are no other good/professional/worth while skills course providors in the SE

I mean to tell you there are shysters in every industry, some of them don't even know it. They might think they are offering a good service, but if they don't know how good some people in their industry are, they might not realise they're shit at what they do.

HTH

Wait for Jedi. Totally worth it.

I say wait for jedi, the most un-dissapointing experience I have ever had.

Can't argue with the feedback from people who have been coached by Tony. Where do I sign up?

I did this the other way round to most people-my first skills session was with Jedi.

I can echo all the positive stuff above, but what stuck out most for me with his approach was that the teaching wasn't really about a 1,2,3 guide to riding a set of features, but an approach to riding= a style if you like, that can then be used to ride the trail better.
On the day, Tony had a lot to say about the whys and hows of teaching, and is pretty heartfelt about his approach.
Out of curiosity, and to compare what Tony was doing with somebody else, a month or so later I took a skills day from another provider, and basically felt that I was being coached to ride a specific set of obstacles in a slightly clinical way, and with a style rather at odds with what I'd previously learned.
I'd liken it to the difference between learning about a subject, then being encouraged to , and being coached to pass an exam.

Different methods work better for different people, but I'd venture a guess that Tony's approach is a bit at odds to much of the rest of the industry, and I suspect that his success might bring some changes.

I'd say wait for Jedi. It's not like you can't ride between now and then.

Leon is an excellent coach & rider -

http://www.mountainbikeskillscourses.co.uk/location7.asp

Another vote for waiting and doing a day with Tony. You will not regret it. I'd echo some of the points above: Herts Shore is purpose built to ensure that you get the most out of the day - it allows Tony to focus on how you learn and thus making the experience as best it can be for you.

I've done the public Singletrack and Jumps and Drops courses with Tony and there's one reason why I keep on recommending him: I wasn't told how to ride certain obstacles, Tony gave me a new mindset which I can use when I'm out on the bike. To this day I still find myself approaching a section (be that a corner, drop, rock garden / roots) and thinking to myself looking, footwork. Just the other day I went out for a ride at Aston Hill in the wet, muddy slippery as ice like conditions and ended up enjoying myself more because I had this stuff running through my mind when approaching things whereas previously, I would have been on my arse wondering what had gone wrong.

Go see him, you won't regret it.

Whilst waiting is the perfect answer, I too am in a similar situation. I'm off to the Alps in 6 weeks, contacted Jedi a month ago for some training, only to discover he is completely booked up until sept/oct. So, I could either wait until I have killed myself on the alps, then go to Herts for reconstructive surgery in oct, or try and squeeze in somewhere for a quick session to help me out in the short term.

As it happens, I am in a similar area to the OP, and will be doing a few hours coaching at Quench cycles, Bedgebury.

I was thinking of doing the public session with UK Bike Skills. Has anyone does this and did they find it beneficial? Class size is limited to 8.

I guess the demand for Jedi's services is ratifying the feedback given here about how good he is. I can understand that you'd like to get some coaching in before then - I'd recommend booking a session in with him for when you return anyway to cleanse you of those bad habits then 😉

Hello people. It's good to see there's some great coaches out there. One name that is missing from the list is Tom Dowie over at Chicksands Bike Park in Bedfordshire. I've had quite a few lessons with him and he really is very very good at coaching. He seems to have the knack of understanding how to build your skills & confidence very quickly, and also works out just how much to stretch you so you start doing things you never thought you'd be able to do, but always wanted to. One of the other great things about Tom is that he always makes time to run skills courses for his clients, even though he's competing across the globe on the world stage!!! Don't just take my word for Tom Dowie's coaching abilities, just see for yourselves on this before and after video of my riding. He does individual tuition as well as group lessons, so it's really flexible on how you like to learn.

I've linked his website to this as well if you're interested:

[url= http://www.tomdowie.com/ ]Tom Dowie's Website[/url]

Hope this has been useful. Keep it cool people 🙂

One name that is missing from the list is Tom Dowie...