Passed Out!

So I haven't posted for a few days because the "holiday" part of my trip to France turned into the "work" bit of my trip. I have been doing my Technical Mountain Bike Leaders course for the past week or so.


Our first session consisted of a nice Power-pointy jobby with beer and sandwiches, but the following day saw us straight into the practical side of things. We went out on a "guided" ride and shown various techniques such as warm up games and skill sessions. One of these involved riding around a midget really, really fast......without our bikes...



Following this we went out riding for 5 hours and were shown how, and how not to lead a group of mountain bikers across different types of terrain. All among the wonderful setting of the Haute Alps.



Our group was a mixed bag of people including Phil, who has been running MBMB an MTB tour business in Chamonix for 15 years. It was awesome to hear that with all his experience, even he learned loads on the course. We also had Paul, who is about to do a guiding season in Les Get. I'd never seen a guy on a jump bike doing 500mt climbs before....


On the second practical day we were all given a chance to guide a section ourselves and I got to try out my new improved "make climbs less boring and painful" technique, which worked incredibly well and amazingly didn't involve any form of lift access or combustion engine....

On the third day I was out for 5 hours doing a recce of my assessment route and deciding how to lead it. Do I lead this sections from the front or back? Where are the obvious stopping points? What are the dangerous or exposed areas, what would I do if I had an accident here? And of course the really important question...where the hell am I?


The assessment day was a nerve wracking affair and the weather was pretty bad. I led us out and the climb went well, no-one got lost and I managed to keep the group together.

Then Alpsun Pete broke his leg...

It was OK though as on previous rides he had broken his collar-bone, finger and had even got struck by a meteor and died...all in the same day...poor bloke, serves him right for being a roadie....

After I had dealt with my "accident" we had some nice single track with switchbacks followed by steep and slippery rock gardens that were made worse by the rain.

I thought this section was pretty dangerous even for experienced riders and took it easy, maybe a bit too easy according to OTC Pete (he was behind me screaming faster! faster!) After this we were at the bottom and my assessment was over....

Four hours later I found out that I had passed! I am now a trained Mountain Bike Leader for Technical terrain.....Woo Hoo!



To become fully qualified and get liability insurance I still need to log up a few more rides and improve my map reading. This will have to wait until I am in Taiwan.

For me personally though this is a bit of an achievement. Its something I would never have done if I was still gainfully employed, and many of the people I met on the course also used to have "proper" jobs but were now pursuing their dreams....they were an inspiration...


I guess should thank DHL for the opportunity....

Well maybe I won't go that far...but I am looking forward to testing out my new skills when I'm back in the Flip Flops...

So who wants a one handed wheelie race to the top of Santa Rosa?....

erm...I mean, who wants to experience a safe and enjoyable ride with an element of skills progression with newly trained MTB leader?