Here at WyeMTB we have an action packed Autumn delivering all the levels of BC Mountain Bike Leadership – with some new dates!
****NEW COURSE FOR 2021***** Fundamentals in MTB Leadership – perfect for people starting out in the MTB Leadership world. This award is ideal for anyone who either works in the outdoor sector, volunteers at a club or has a personal interest in gaining additional mountain bike skills Training and assessment is over the one weekend. 25-26 November – spaces 15-16 December – spaces
Level 2 MTB – Training 9-10 October – Book the last space now! 18-19 October – NEW DATE 29-30 November – Limited spaces available 6-67 December – NEW DATE
Level 2 MTB Assessment 8 November – Spaces available 21 November – Book the last space now! 13 December – NEW DATE
L3 MTB Training FULLY BOOKED We are currently planning our 2022 calendar, if you wish to attend the L3 training that we will be delivering in January, then please contact us at hello@wyemtb.co.uk to secure a place.
L3 MTB Assessment 21-22 Sept – Book the last space now! 1-2 December – NEW DATE
If you are unsure you are ready for the assessment, then drop us an email with your number and David will give you a call to discuss this with you.
Mountain bike guided ride. High in the Black Mountains, South Wales
Add a different dimension to your leadership and train as a British Cycling Night MTB Leader. Useful CPD and lots of fun! Night Leader Training 8 October – Book the last space now! 12 November – Spaces 3 December – Spaces
Night Leader Assessment 19 November – Limited spaces available 17 December – Spaces
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Our main man, David Windebank (Windy), won the 2020 award for MTB Leadership Award Tutor. An award well deserved as he has trained and assessed hundreds of MTB leaders in his time as a tutor. He is one of only a handful tutors delivering the prestigious Level 3 mountain bike leadership course, and also offers technical advice to outdoor providers.
British Cycling Level 2 Training course
“I am genuinely over the moon at winning this Award. I love delivering these courses and inspiring future MTB leaders, and it’s so lovely to have recognition for this.” Stated Windy on the evening
The evening wasn’t over for him yet though. Alongside Gareth Sheppard, they won Tutor Double Act in recognition of their collaboration delivering the MTB Leadership courses as co-Directors of WyeMTB.
Gareth also was runner-up for British Cycling Coaching Tutor Award for delivering the Level 2 Mountain Biking Coaching Award. He delivers several of these courses a year in the Forest of Dean.
Loving the mountains
For more information on how to become a Mountain Bike Leader and our course dates for 2021, click here.
If official, we have now had the green light from Forestry England that we can offer Mountain bike coaching and guided rides in the Forest of Dean.
In our last Blog we explained we would use a 5 step process to unlock the business. Today we can announce we have jumped to Step 2.5, but what does that mean?
Forestry England have given us the go ahead for these sessions to return
Step 3:
Mountain bike educational courses and the British Cycling Leadership scheme will be introduced, these courses will run from Pedalabikeaway from the 6th July, Once Visit Wales have given more guidance on accomodation and lifting of their restrictions, we will review and start running courses in Wales again.
British Cycling have now given us the go ahead to run Leadership courses, but as the majority of Wales accomodation is still shut we will be running MTB leadership courses from Pedalabikeaway
Step 4:
Vehicle assisted Mountain bike Guided Rides, we still feel we are not able to offer these trips. This is based on the current government guidance. We plan to review this monthly, but for now they are postponed.
Mountain Bike Holidays: as with Step 4 we do not feel we can offer this yet due to Covid-19. We do have some very exciting news which is based around the Sun, Sea and amazing off grid riding BUT you will have to wait and see what that is.
Step 5:
Mountain Bike Holidays: as with Step 4 we do not feel we can offer this yet due to Covid-19. We do have some very exciting news which is based around the Sun, Sea and amazing off grid riding BUT you will have to wait and see what that is.
Remote Guiding before the Lock down…. Who wants some of this?
Coaching and Leadership
You guys have been amazing and the majority of you decided to postpone your sessions with us. We are now in the process on contacting each and everyone of you to rearrange your sessions.
As you can imagine this is a huge task and we will inevitably miss a couple of emails, to ensure we reach out to everyone, could we ask a favour?
‘Could you please email us the course we postponed including the date and we will try our upmost to get you onto a date which suits you.’
We are so grateful for all the support you have given us through this tough time and we are 100% focused to returning the good will and getting courses up and running as fast as we can. The office team are busy moving the rest of the 2020 calendar around to bring back your favourite coaching sessions, some new ones E-Flow, add in some new guided rides and hopefully very soon announce some new developments.
Loving the new Madison Kit
Fodders Academy
We will be running our Fodders Academy this summer!!! The 1st session will be the 14th July and a further 5 sessions are currently planned to run every Tuesday 10am – 15:00
Fodders Academy is the next step of your young rippers development to becoming a self reliant mountain biker and also the perfect step once they have completed Little Fodders pathway. Starting age for Fodders Academy is 10 years olds and the young person should have a good understanding of the core skills of mountain biking – THIS IS NOT A BEGINNERS GROUP, sorry
There is a maximum of five participants for the session.
This coaching session is 5 hours in duration, starting at 10 am, but please be ready to ride at 9.45 am.
David showing how to set your brakes during a trail side repair session
New to Mountain Biking?
Covid 19, self-isolating, social distancing, all new ideas, and things which we have had to adapt to and have become part of daily life and may well continue to be for some time.
One important aspect of the current “Lock Down” is the ability to get out and exercise which is great for physical and mental health. We are fortunate, as we live in the Wye Valley and just a 5 minute pedal to a purpose-built traffic free cycle route which links Monmouth to Symonds Yat East, deep in the Wye Valley. We use this cycle way to access the kilometres of forest fire tracks which make up the Wye Valley.
During our daily rides it appears that more and more people are choosing to dust off their old bikes and head back into the natural environment. When the official “Lock Down” finishes will these new cyclists continue with this new pastime, and if they do, will they choose to cycle further afield?
This blog aims to give you a step by step guide on how to progress from riding in your local area to riding further afield, like in the beautiful Wye Valley or surrounding areas such as the Forest of Dean. Off road cycling, is not something complicated, it’s simply riding a bike off the national highways, where you don’t need to worry about cars, vans and lorries overtaking you. This lack of motorised vehicles allows you to get away from the pollution, focus on the natural environment and provides the opportunity for everyone , including less confident riders to safely get out on their own or perhaps with their kids, safe in the knowledge they don’t need to have to deal with traffic.
Guided ride in the Brecon Beacons
Step 1: Decide where you would like to Ride.
Apart from the Wye Valley, the Forest of Dean would be the closest area to go for our next cycling adventure. The Forest of Dean is steeped in industrial history, has hundreds of kms of woodland, a number of visitor centres and a dedicated Cycle centre called Pedalabikeaway which has an off road family cycle trail leaving right from the café, sounds perfect? More on that in Step 5.
Step 2: Equipment.
Mountain bike leaders need lot of kit
You will need the obvious kit, a bike would be useful, cycling helmet, sports clothes, food and water. One of the biggest barriers to cycling away from your local area is being able to transport your bikes easily, but this is where cycle centres like Pedalabikeaway help. They have a full fleet of bikes which range from family touring bikes, tag along for the small ones right up to Electric Mountain Bikes, all can be hired for a half day or a full day, and are kept clean and well maintained by the dedicated staff The cycle centre also provides the hire of cycling helmets, somewhere to fill your water bottle, café, secure car park and toilets. The onsite bike shop offers the cycle network maps which help guide you around the off road cycling route, if map reading isn’t your strong point, don’t worry, you can also book in with one of the British Cycling Mountain Bike Guides from WyeMTB who can tailor your experience just for you needs.
Step 3: Let the Adventure begin.
It is always worth popping into the bike shop and asking the staff if there is anything you should know about the loop you plan to ride; the staff are locals and love to share hints and tips with you about the local riding conditions or your planned routes
Step 4: Have a plan of action.
Check the weather forecast and pack accordingly, if it’s going to rain pack an extra layer, if it’s going to be hot and sunny, extra water and sun cream should be packed. Make sure your mobile is fully charged, not just to capture great photos and videos of your adventure, but also for you can call for help should you need to. A great phone app which is FREE is OS Locate, if there is an incident the emergency services might ask for your location, OS Locate will give a pinpoint location with 2 letters and 6 numbers, don’t worry you don’t understand what they mean, the emergency services will know, just open the app and hit go!
Step 5: Route options.
The Forest of Dean offers a family trail, 11km of off-road cycling which will take between 60mins and 180mins depending on how many photo and picnic stops you make! The trail is “hard pack” which makes for great riding for all abilities. The loop has off shoots which access local towns and villages like Coleford, Lybrook and Cinderford, so you can top up your water bottle or even grab some lunch. The loop is clearly way marked all the way around making it a great route for your first adventure.
Mountain Bike Specific Loop – ‘The Verderers’ a name steeped in the history of the Forest of Dean– 11km of single track, this means the cycling traffic only travels in one direction. The trail is graded Blue and is a step up from the family trail, want to know what a blue looks and feels like? Then why not ride around the family trail where there are 5 extras add ons which split from the main trail and allow you to experience what a Blue grade of trail looks and feels like.
Mountain Bike Specific loop – ‘The Freeminers’ 12km in length is one more step up from The Verderers trail and is graded Red meaning Extreme. This trail is single track and you can follow the way marked trail straight from the cycle centre. The Freeminers will follow some of the Verderers trail so you will know what you are getting yourself into.
Advance and Down Hill trails – The forest of Dean and Pedalabikeaway also hosts a wide range of dedicated downhill mountain bike tracks which are not for the faint hearted, these should only be attempted if you have worked your way through the grading system, starting simple e.g. family trail, blue trail, red trail and then the easy downhill trails should be accessed first. These trails will require a dedicated Mountain bike with a minimum of front suspension, again which can be hired from Pedalabikeaway, you may also want to consider extra personal protection for example a full-face helmet body armour or other pads.
Step 6: Developing those skills.
Mountain bike coaching in the forest of dean
You have now ridden around the family trail, tried all the extra little blue sections and ridden around the official Blue trail but perhaps you feel you could have done better? Maybe it’s time for a Mountain Bike Coaching session? WyeMTB offers a staircase coaching style designed to take beginner riders of all ages right the way through to advanced Mountain bike riders. We offer regular group sessions as well as 1:1 session to focus solely on your aims and objectives to improve as a rider. Whether it’s specific skills and techniques or just boosting your confidence to hit the trails on your own or with your family WyeMTB can help.Our Mountain bike coaching sessions really allow you to gain or consolidate the key skills to enjoy your riding all delivered by our British Cycling qualified coaching staff, in the beautiful Wye Valley and surrounding areas
British Cycling MTB Leader Courses in South Wales.
Guide bags come in a variety of shapes and sizes, but one thing is clear, if you are leading clients you need to ensure you have the correct equipment. Here at WyeMTB we like to split this bag into two main sections
1 Emergency group kit e.g. if a rider is hurt and needs medical assistance, do you have the provision to keep the group and the casualty comfortable and protected from the elements?
2 Bike repair kit
Avoidance is better than cure, so if the Guide checks their clients are carrying the following items;
a spare layer
a rear mech hanger for their bike
inner tube
their own medication
Additionally, by having the clients complete a full M check of their bikes at home, they should identify any issues with the bike before they head out on the guided ride.
Guided rides happen in a vast array of locations; the local park, the local trail centre in the Forest of Dean and the deepest darkest parts of the Brecon Beacons National Park. The further you move away from civilisation the higher the consequences are if there is a accident or a mechanical. Having a fully equipped bag that is checked before every ride will help with these incidents.
The essential equipment for a British Cycling Mountain Bike Leader will carry in their guide bag.
Well stocked first aid kit – including trauma bandage, we keep this close to hand!
Extra layer for the casualty to wear if they have an off, ideally a synthetic layer works well as it hasgreat thermal qualities even when wet
Spare hat and gloves – This could be weather dependent however e.g. if its 30′ outside do you need these extras?
Nokia phone where the battery lasts for ever. Make sure you register it with 999 which allows you to text in an emergency if you don’t have mobile signal
Physical map of the area you are working in, a compass and the skills to use them both!
Procedures in place – late back, accident/injury, mechanical beyond repair
Energy gel – for those clients at risk of bonking!
Mountain bike leaders bag
WyeMTB run a number of short courses from Pedalabikeaway trail centre in the Forest of Dean, one of our most popular courses is Trail side repairs. If you want to bush up on those skills check the half day course out.
