Recommendations please for a ‘friend’ of mine. NWest preferred.

Hello

Give MB7 a call.

Not NW area but well worth the trip to Scotland.

Call Andy 07866 776640

I do skills days. SMBLA qualified.

peakcyclehire@gmail.com

Dirt School. Chris Ball knows his stuff man, if he is good enought to coach pro downhillers…

2nd Chris Ball

but this guy is good and does his courses around Rivington

http://www.mountainbikeinstruction.co.uk/course.asp

Ed Oxley – Great Rock here: Skills Training

Anybody have any suggestions for the South West/Bristol area?

Cyclewild. Jules is based in Aviemore but does courses all over. Cyclewild

Another vote for Chris Ball and Dirtschool.

Emma at the hub (At Glentress) used to run coaching sessions (I had one with her a couple of years ago). She probably still does.

What level is your friend at and what skills does he want to learn?

Had a cracking day with AQR in the Peak District last weekend.

+1 Ed Oxley – Great Rock

Going back down to Hebden Bridge on the last run of the day with Ed I’ve never felt as comfortable and confident on my bike. I can honestly say I had no fear taking on steps or the large drops with Ed’s help and guidance. Obstacles I would have previously walk/ridden around and missed out the fun of. I’m really looking forward to the “Stop Crashing! At Lee Quarry” day and picking up some more skills.

Llandegla do various skills courses by their own staff. The Athertons also do courses there at certain times of the year.

Ta so far. Food for thought- I did think Athertons but I dont need any ‘air’ skills. Mainly consistency to give me confidence and get rid of illogical fear.

http://www.dalesmountainbiking.co.uk/ – stayed there a couple of weeks ago. Great place, and so I believe, good courses too….

If Llandegla is within reach I’d recommend that – not Athertons, but the regular skills instructors. They use the system that Ian Warby brought in to the CTC, which is very powerful yet simple. Same way of doing things as us at allbikedup.com (Surrey Hills) – I think it has a lot more impact on your every day riding than, for example, learning to trackstand and bunny-hop which might be useful for just a few seconds per ride.

Obviously there is nothing wrong with learning trackstand/bunny-hop/wheelie/manual – but there are a hell of a lot more essential elements that virtually every rider can benefit from working on first.

another for Ed- o and great rock Local as well

I did a session with Ray Mazey (MBI) at Rivington. I was in a rut of going over the bars and smashing my knees up so I decided to do something about it. The day was basically split into the morning when we did various drills/exercises etc and the afternoon when we just went for a ride (round Healey Nab) putting it into practice.

I didn’t learn a huge amount that I didn’t know theoretically beforehand but one of the drills in particular worked for me. Without going into too much technical detail (that only relevant to me), when coming across sudden, unexpected ‘technical’ features on a trail I was instinctively doing something that made it more likely to go OTB. He got me doing something that makes OTB less likely.

Since the lesson I’ve crashed less so I’ve enjoyed my MTBing more. So it was definitely worthwhile.

I had a good day out with Ray at MBI (Rivington). Turned out I was the only one on the course to show, so it was all at my level (pretty much beginner then, not much more now). Got me riding down steps and not braking when panicked.