I am about to be assessed doing a 'led' cycle ride before taking a local council post as a community cycling leader. I managed to get the post despite not having Nation Standards qualification in cycle leadership (or similar) - and was honest about not having one. If I get through the assessment I'll get the post and a place on a 4-day National Skills course. Can anyone advise me on things to look our for? I'll be tagging along with the ride leader for the first half of the ride, then taking over for the last part.
Help much appreciated!
Los
Buy & read Cyclecraft by John Franklin..
google cycle skills and read lots of links
I have done this but only use it for teaching kids in school playgrounds atm;
http://www.cyclingscotland.org/educationandtraining.aspx
The Engish version is Bikeability;
http://www.bikeability.org.uk/
And just to confuse the issue CTC do;
http://www.ctc.org.uk/desktopdefault.aspx?tabid=5116
See if you can find out what the route is
Then using the Franklin book try and do a risk assessment from the beginners point of view
What does the job as a community cycle leader entail?
Wot he said.
Also, on the assessment, think about the sightlines of the students, don't talk during any demonstrations you do, talk before and after. Give clear instructions about where and when you want people to be before and after an exercise so you can concentrate on one student at a time, and they can all see the exercise and learn from other's mistakes. Find something to praise in everything. Bit of a shame to see you being assessed before you learn this stuff but good luck, it's not rocket science, you'll be fine.
Cheers + what he said.
Ask group to observe other candidates and contribute to discussion of task and how it was executed.
Then ask the group how they thought things went +s and -s The questions being along the lines of - how was that, what was good and what could be improved. Get the group to discuss(assuming you have a group)
If you ride on the road regularly then you may find it is what you do anyway but without thinking or breaking it down into the different component moves.
Put the sh**" up my tutor when he asked what was the most dangerous manouver in or around my town. Took him to the biggest roundabout which I occasionally ride round(would never ever take anyone, there is a bridge). From the 10 on the course we were the only 2 to ride it!!! Daft really 🙄
cheers all.
the basic premise is organising and delivering planned cycle rides within the borough, aiming particularly at disengaged and disadvantaged youths and adults - with the overall aim of achieving the Get Active vision of a 1% increase in active leisure pursuit per year
I'd like to offer more advice to the other posters, but I'm slightly confused... (easily done)
If you are going to be employed to lead rides then being a National Standards Instructor isn't that much help as that (4 day) course shows you how to teach/instruct/assess to the National Standard. Yes, there is some 'leadership' in there, but that is not what the course is about.
If you want to be a qualified ride leader then ther are other, better courses out there (although these are mainly Off-Road based) e.g. CTC MTB leadership qualifications.
If your ride is all about leadership then group safety and meeting the group's aims are paramount. This may mean riding on a road and not in the 'approved' National Standard way, but by the sounds of things you may not be training your group, just leading them.