Skills courses. Give me your opinion.

Seriously considering it, as I seem to be hitting a wall. Any recommendations. There's one name that gets around that sounds pretty good.

Jedi at ukbikeskills.co.uk is great, went on a group day with him not long ago and learned a lot. Best money I've ever spent on biking basically.

+1 for Tony/Jedi.

He quietly broke down what i was doing wrong and put me on the right path. He even listened to how I wanted to do it (I'm a super-kinetic learner apparently – no use telling me I got to try it myself, repeatedly…).

Best value 'upgrade' available in my book.

I did one with Andy Weir at MB7. Great guy, taught me lots (and I still try to remember it). Folk I ride with have commented that I'm much faster now. I notice it especially in corners.

Another vote for jedi, would highly recommend Tony. 😀

Depends on where you live?
How much this would add to the cost,make or break?
Lots of people doing it now with lots of good feedback.

SO has done one, not impressed at all. But it seems that she's the only one.

AQR – did two days with them, the first was very good and I learnt a lot. The second not so good but partly down to how I was feeling at the time. Good VFM and I recommend going on day 1.

CycleActive – very nice weekend in the Lakes, good riding but the coach had one way of teaching and if that didn't work he had nothing else to offer. Didn't feel I took a lot away from it.

Jedi / Tony – did a 1-2-1 last week and he had me riding better than I've ever done – I think his skill is in assessing how best you learn and then bit by bit increasing what you're doing throughout the day. Expensive but I feel worthwhile.

But above all, you've got to be open to learn and afterwards be prepared to work at embedding new skills which can be the difficult bit.

I think you can set your mind at rest regarding quality – I did one with Andy barlow at DirtSchool that was excellent, Jedi on here gets loads of acclaim and I'm sure there are plenty of others. Whether it's worth 80-100 quid, OTOH, is something only you can judge.

Maybe you ride with lads who know how to throw the bike round, and they'll break it down for you for the price of a pint. Or maybe you've got loads of time on your hands and can hang round the local jump park all weekend and see what's what. Maybe you're skint and the idea of putting down the best part of 100 quid to jump a push bike off a lump of dirt is just a laughable idea. It all depends – for me it was worth it as a one-off, think my missus booked me a session as a birthday present.

IIRC correctly there are a lot of people who rate Ed Oxley, he's got a huge beard and a didgeridoo = epic win

I've not been on a skills course myself, unless you count the one that I had in 1979 under the expert tuition of my dad

I did a day with AQR a couple of years ago, fantastic day out, learnt loads. Best "upgrade" you can buy for the bike.

I need another one sometime actually, mostly cos I've been doing very little MTBing of late and have got rusty again…

My missus has done a couple at Dales mtb in Reeth – she has got so much from them and she has really shifted up in riding skills. I did one with her a few weeks ago (Steep & Rocky) and realised I was descending completely wrongly – I also feel transformed.

As above, depends what you're after and whether you "click" with the instructor, I suppose – we both really got on well with Nicola at Dales.

Have had training with Steve at http://www.chasingtrails.com/ and Mark at http://www.nextlevelmtb.com/ and some guy in the south who I can't remember.

Enjoyed both Steve and Mark's tuition in equal measure, one was at Dalby and the other at Kirroughtree.

Learn't lots from both the key at least for me was to focus on a couple or areas and not learn masses of skills in one session, so maybe jumps and drops or cornering and skinnies that sort of thing.

It's helped me and I will probably sort some more training soon to sort a few bits out, namely doubles and bigger drops.

+1 for Mark http://www.nextlevelmtb.com/ I spent half a day with him down at Mabie forest…he is a very competent coach, my techincal riding ability has improved dramatically since…

Nicola at Dales Bike Centre is excellent – I've done a 1:1 Skills Day with her and learned loads.

Also did one of Ed Oxley's "Stop Crashing" days at Gisburn which was also really good. And I stopped crashing.. ( so much) 🙂

I had a day's one to one with Ed Oxley last year (aka Great Rock). To be honest I wasn't sure what to expect or what improvement could be had in just one day. But boy was I surprised! Ed is a patient, calm & clearly talented coach. By the end of the day I was riding bits of trail c o m f o r t a b l y that I would previously have balked at. The progress I made with Ed was both rapid & long lasting. He has considerably changed my approach to riding trails, including body position, line choice & effective braking. In 18 years of riding, this was the best money I've spent on my bike. Learning to ride it proper!

Oh, & Ed is a fun guy to spend a day with too.

I've been out with http://www.getmountainbiking.co.uk/ had a great couple of days and learnt a lot 🙂

Another vote for the guy with a beard you could lose a weeks shopping in… Top coach/ teacher… And general all round top bloke..

Sorry for partial hijack,, any recommendations for skills coaching North of the Border?

G

+1 Ed Oxley at Great Rock.
Really improved technique on the "stop crashing" course and no more confident as a result.

Done a course with Ed and one with Anthony from TrailMotions.co.uk.

Both were good and have me trying to think about how I ride. Both days were groups, when I've got some money I'm going to book a one to one. That way you can really concentrate on what you need to improve until you get it. More money but you'll get a lot more out of it.

Another vote for Jedi. Best day spent on a bike – I'm so much more confident on a bike.

Skills courses are the way forward! No more spending money to save 100g so I can ride longer / faster as I can save much more energy by riding properly. 🙂

But the big question is where are you in the country? – that'll strim down your options.

hora at horaskillz is very good.

**** knows about bikes but he'll teach you how to fall and roll properly in the street after wine and pints.

thanks for your kind words 🙂

another shout here for greatrock. i learnt more in ten mins than i had in 20 years. by the end of the day not only was i smoother and faster but i was doing stuff i bottled previously and doing them well. i was so impressed im booked in for the flow course and a day out in hebden. defo the best upgrade ive ever made to my riding and for less than a pair of decent tyres.

ive not heard a bad thing about jedi either so i guess it depends on your location to some extent.

enjoy 😉

JEDI !

BigG you wont go wrong with Chris and Andy at dirtschool.

BigG – Mark http://www.nextlevelmtb.com/ is based around Kirroughtree and Dumfries

I'm in gloucestershire, but I am willing to travel.

And another thumbs-up here for Ed-O. 8)

Benji – I'm in Gloucs too and drove over to Jedi with some others.

Thanks for the feedback 🙂

CycleActive get my vote. Really friendly and focused on helping you get better.
After a couple of bad offs my head needed straightening out helping me relax and learning technique for jumps and drops. Covered loads of stuff in 2 days and has been the single biggest improvement in 15 years of riding. Now feel so much more comfortable and flowy down regular trails, and much more relaxed down rattly stuff. + happily doing 2 foot drops and table tops which I'd given up ever being able to do 🙂
Based in the Lakes but I think they do Cannock too.

Big-G – I mentioned MB7 above.