We’re thrilled to confirm that the BCC is training up 11 of its members as Ride Leaders.

After 40 hrs of training, held over 4 1/2 days, the candidates will be CTC qualified MTB Trail Leaders carrying the ITC Outdoor Activity First Aid certificate also.

Being able to provide professional quality guided rides will help stimulate the local MTB community, and will also enable new riders to come along and try the sport out in a safe and enjoyable way.

The training will be completed by the 28th Feb, and the newly qualified Ride Leaders will start immediately in march.

It’s taken some time to get to this point, but we’re really excited, and of course very grateful to Marion Liquorice (Elizabethan Evening) and Marjory Hatvany (awesome fancy dress evening!) for their charitable donations and fund raising efforts that have made this possible.

At tonight’s club meeting we’ll agree how the club will pay for Rider Leader Training (amongst other things) and then aim to book the training dates by midweek next week.

We’re all hoping that the syllabus will include a section called “how to manual like you can in your dreams”.

We’re not holding our breath though.

Last night we had a short meeting in the horse and groom

The Night Riders were there on mass, steaming, dripping, chatting and drinking

We talked about Ride Leader Training; all the ins and outs

Neil ate some cheese cake

Mark told of his love of blood

Marjory pitched her new hybrid sport of pump-track-curling

and I tried to make Insurance sound…well…less uninteresting.

We’ve got some preliminary dates and are hoping that by the end of Feb next year we’ll have at least 6 fully qualified Ride Leaders and outdoor activity qualified first aiders!

That said we may be able to train some more, so if you’d like to be trained (either First Aid or Leader), but aren’t part of the BCC please get in contact anyway; if we get 12 people together, for both, the costs are significantly less for all.

andrew.denham@blackcanoncollective.co.uk

Cheers!

I’m pleased to say that we now have a number of people interested to learn some more about becoming a Ride Leader. This is obviously great news!

It’s interesting to hear that many people just don’t know what the role entails, or in fact why it’s so important. To be honest I can completely understand, after all; BCC rides are very informal and basically identical to any other ride with mates, and lets face it we don’t need qualifications for that!

The truth of the matter is that because we are an organised club to which people pay a membership fee and we organise club rides… well because of that ‘formal’ structure we are obliged to be able to do so with a reasonable level of safety. To ensure that this is the case the CTC and BC insist that club rides are led by qualified Ride Leaders. This ensures that each ride is conducted safely, and allows the participant to take part confident in the knowledge that they aren’t going to be led down an unreasonably dangerous trail.

The CTC sums up the purpose of the  role with the four E‘s

• Ensure safety – You, your group, other users.
• Enjoyment – Your group members enjoy what you provide because you have games, ideas and loads of enthusiasm.
• Engagement – You have the skills to match rides and skills development sessions to your group members age and stage of ability.
• Education – Your group members come away from your rides knowing more, whether it be about mountain biking or other aspect of the area used.

As you can see the qualification means that the Ride Leader is able to do a lot more; really adding to the rides that they lead, not just acting as a chaperone.

But it’s really important to realise that the technical entry requirements aren’t very high, with greater focus being upon having the right mentality and nature.

The CTC’s requirements are as follows:

• Have at least one years experience of regular riding experience in trail terrain. This should be a minimum of 30 rides.
• Have an interest in cycle instruction and/or mountain bike leading.
• Hold a valid and appropriate first aid certificate (or obtain one shortly after your course).
• Be able to understand the basic principles of maps (what they represent and how).
• Have attempted to fix punctures.
• Be at least 17 years of age. In this case, you cannot be provided with a full Trail Leader certificate until you reach 18, but you may be provided with an Assistant Leader Award for the interim period.

So if you think you might fit the bill, or would just like to learn some more please get in contact.

I plan to have a pub outing (for those who are interested) at which we can a have a drink and ask some questions –  So if you’ve shown some interest check out the forum (http://www.southerndownhill.com/forum/index.php/topic,198948.0.html) where I’ll make the arrangements….

(If you haven’t already seen, all the course information is here: http://www.promtb.net/courses/leaderawards/trail.htm )

Cheers!

Many of you will be aware we raised some money earlier on this year  so that we could afford to train some members as ride leaders.

With an ever growing club it’s become increasingly important that we have trained leaders (and first aiders), both for insurance reasons, and to ensure that we can lead safe, exciting rides for all of our members.

• Are you interested in becoming a ride leader?
• Do you feel that you have some of the skills to lead small groups on rides?
• Do you have the time to commit to leading a number of rides every year (don’t worry, we don’t expect you to be available all year round)?

We will be using the CTC to provide all Ride Leader Training, and affiliated organisations to provide the associated First Aid training.

Full details of the courses are here: http://www.promtb.net/courses/leaderawards/trail.htm

This really is a great opportunity to learn some new skills and help out the club,  not to mention the fact that over time you could become a fully qualified ride coach (and that’s a pretty nice feather to put in your cap).

We’re looking to train 6 people, including at least 1 woman, as soon as possible.

The club will pay for all the training, with an initial payment and then incremental payments over an agreed period. Having said that we are completely open to discussion on this subject, so if you’d like to do it but feel that this payment format just isn’t quite right; let us know!

If you’re at all interested please contact me.

andrew.denham@blackcanoncollective.co.uk

o7870 60 98 71

Thanks!