Just got this

"Hi Steve

Thank you ever so much for a great day, I was a bit anxious about it, and you managed to put me at ease within minutes! I was impressed at the stuff you had me going down, it was the kind of thing I would normally have looked at, panicked and walked! You were really patient with my nerves and slowness, and even if I was utterly rubbish, you never made me feel embarrassed or inadequate - a true professional, plus a nice chap! I really enjoyed my day, and have been signing your praises your praises to biker friends. I'm nor sure what you can improve to be honest, I thought it was a really good experience, and I took a lot from it. I really liked the fact you get a report with pics at the end of it, nice touch and really useful. 

Mel"

 I reckon that people who attend a skills course get far more from the day with photos and feedback. The memories from the photos and the advice from the feedback means that as much as possible is remembered from what is a pretty intense day and can be referred back to as those skills are consolidated over the following months.

13th Nov Intermediate course back on.

From January Intermediate courses are restarting. Things are getting back to normal and having played on (or flown over) all the hardest bits of the intermediate routes in the greasy damp of today it looks like I'm ready for it. Just need warmer gloves.

2nd Nov, Beginner 1 to 1.

It's good to be back doing courses after what seems like ages of recouperation. Mel was a great student, very clear about the weak areas of her riding and what she wanted to improve on during the day - basically a bit of everything but mostly confidence building technique on downhills. This came quickly once we had worked on body position and where to look, we even got some air!

4th October, filming with the BBC

Had an afternoon filming with the BBC and being interviewed by Aled Jones. Mates Greg and Tim were given helmet/bar mounted GoPro cameras to play with as well. Not the sunniest of days but it stayed dry.

25th September

Ok that last post was a little off target. Rode the intermediate route today and did fine. Strictly both wheels on the ground but everything went, albeit at slower than "hooning" pace. Even the scary steps were OK. Now need to work on the wheelie drops and jumps!

Back in action. 22nd September

Been out on a few rides now (with a modified handlebar set up) and am happy to say that I'm now able to start offering beginners courses. It may be a while before Intermediate courses return as the whole braking/holding on issue only works up to certain speeds on rougher terrain. The Blue Pig in sub 2 minutes looks a little way off at the moment though if all goes well I will be riding the intermediate routes next month!

On the mend

Well nearly a month after I lost the battle with a lawnmower and already I feel on the road to recovery. Pins in my braking finger and thumb are due out in a couple of weeks, the braking finger has some movement again, and after a skin graft operation next week the scraggy remains of my middle finger should be looking better and ready for the physio workout it (and all the other fingers) is going to get. My wife considers the progress photos still a bit gory for the faint of heart, so no accompanying pics yet.

A bit of a gap in courses

Following an accident  (not bike related) I won't be running courses for a few months, but can assure you I will be back on a bike as soon as is feasible and posting up course dates again as soon as I am getting back up to speed.

17th July - Intermediate 1 to 1

OK it rained all day but luckily, with the exception of the bit we use for manuals the ridng is all out of the wind so at least we only had to contend with rain that came down rather than across!  Tim wasn't your average intermediate - we rode through the first two step up "testers" without noticing them so it was straight onto the more advanced stuff. Manualling to maintain speed over rough ground (and to avoid embarrassing face plants at unexpectedly deep puddles) and then high speed corners using a variety of techniques including a bit of drifting (watch that sloppy mud fly) and foot down line correction. Jumps and drops (high, medium and low speed) then we finished off concentrating more on racing line choice over some of the rockiest, nastiest rocky, steep and rooty sections. Tim was still looking at avoiding the worst obstacles by a weaving line that put in too many turns for the speed I wanted him hitting the trail at. After showing him the high speed straight is great approach he soon decided that weaving was for wusses! He was soon floating over the gnarliest rock gardens like his tyres were full of helium! He also made the best go at "The big steps" this year. Lets face it this chap is going to be very fast when it gets dry and dusty.
Sorry no photos - did I mention THE RAIN?

9th July - 10@Kirroughtree

A great weekend that just gave me a refresher of the winderful variety of activities that fit into the mountainbiking label (more or less). Friday was a bike into then hike up the remote side of Cairnsmore of Fleet.

Saturday was the 10 hour enduro at Kirroughtree, paul and I managed 8th vet pair which I was pleased with considering I'd only done 0 training.

Sunday - as a wind down to the weekend we started at McMoab, did the Heartbreak Hill climb on the Kirroughtree Black route to access the 58km Glen Trool Big Mountain Route. This was a great, non technical blast all the way round to then finish on the excellently rocky yet also swoopy Talnotry Hill section of the Kirroughtree Black Route back down to the car.  

16th July 2011 - The Hillmore Challenge

The Hillmore Challenge - 21 Morrisons employees/contractors, about 100mm of rain, 38km (24 miles), 750m of climbing (and descending), some sunshine, and over £200 raised for Save The Children. A grand day. Well done chaps.

Intermediate 1 to 1, 25th June

Michelle came from the edge of the prairies (Harrogate) with the aim of getting to grips with the rough stuff and keeping up with the men. By the end of the day she was railing corners and getting the slingshot effect as she was propelled out of them with minimal effort. A lot of time spent on line choice, body position and mental approach resulted in a clean ride of the big descent of the day (see mail below).

"Just wanted to say a big 'Thank you' for a great day yesterday - my head was aching from everything I had learnt and its given me a real springboard to get practising now!  My husband was very impressed I'd managed the ' descent, and to be honest I was quite shocked I managed it at all!"

18th June Intermediate course

There are days when it's good that the met office forecast is rubbish - none of the showers materialised so we had a fine dry day out. Kenton and Brian were both at the top end of the "intermediate" level so we got straight into doing things as fast and smoothly as possible and spending plenty of time with wheels off the ground and looking at racing line choice. what I love about the route we use is that there is planty to keep any intermediate happy no matter how good they are already!

Beginner course 11th June 2011

The Pennines was the sunshine in a sunshine sandwich today with rain to the west and east. Lucky for Linda and Neil, Hannah and Matt. We did the high beginners route so I drove them up the 300m vertical metres to the start and we spent the rest of the fine day turning, climbing, descending (mostly) stepping up, down, dropping off and doing significant amounts of swooping about. I always wonder how courses with more than three will work as everyone has their own take on how "beginnery" they are, and i always finish the day thinking "why did I worry? So maybe I won't next time!

Hi stephen.

"Thanks again for Saturday. Was really enjoyable and I think I learned loads. Definitely want to come on the intermediate  at some point. Off to Cannock after work tomorrow too."

21st may 2011, intermediate

Todays course highlighted to me the importance of making the right gear/bike choice - you can never be too experienced to make mistakes in choice or take price shortcuts you could regret later. Peter had a good bike but it was too big which meant he had to make twice the effort to get the front wheel off the ground for step ups, and jumping drops, while wheelie drops and manuals were virtually out of the question. There are ways around this such as a shorter stem which maybe enough to get the body further back and in the right balance zone - certainly worth trying. I bought a new seat post as my 8 year old Thomson had worn to an hourglass shape which made clamping tricky when putting the saddle up and down - too loose when up, too tight to fully clamp when down. I went for a cheaper Nukeproof one, but on opening the box found it was painted not anodised. two rides and lots of paint has come off effectively making it thicker in some places than others - so now I have the same problems after 2 days that it took the Thomson 8 years to get. Buy cheap buy twice!

Intermediate course, 8th may

Dave had openly admitted before the course that he was lacking skill the confidence to commit. Hopefully the letter below will say more than I can about how successful we were in sorting that out.

Hi Steve, thanks for the photos and a great day's training around the beautiful Hebden Bridge.
The course is a good mix of instruction, explanation, demonstration as well as ongoing tips and hints which were clear, logical and easy to follow. My head has been buzzing since Sunday and I have already moved my brake levers to a new, more inboard position. Plus I have put on some flat pedals and been out a couple of times trying wheelies, endos, and bunny hops etc. Next time I go out on a ride I will definitely repeat any technical sections I'm not happy with, it really is the only way to learn.
 This course has given me the tools in which to improve my mountain bike experience, which I can now practice, which will lead to more confidence and greater enjoyment.
 I would recommend to anybody who is struggling with any aspects of mountain biking to attend one of your courses. It's ironic that we spend hundreds if not thousands on a bike, (all the gear and no idea, ring any bells?) yet how much do we spend on upgrading our skill-set?
 As it turned out, the day ended up as 'one to one' due to the fact the other students unfortunately couldn't make it. But even though you only had me to instruct, it was still a 4:00pm finish (as per your course details). I think some lesser instructors would have taken that opportunity to shorten the time taken on the actual day, citing, 'less riders equals early finish'! But you didn't do that which is a big plus in my book.
 So once again many thanks Steve, and keep up the good work. 
Best regards,
 Dave

Beginner course, 7th May

I can only say that the weather was somewhat variable but all the worst rain came while we were in the shelter of woodland so a good time was had anyway. Amy was keen as mustard and took everything in pretty quickly. Soon she was dropping down some steep drops and had the jump sussed on the second go. She started the day with only two brake positions - off and skidding but the nature of the descents meant that she couldn't get away with that for long and by the end she was demonstrating some fine modulation.  The sun came out for the final gnarly descent which she tackled confidently and cleanly.

Beginner course, 10th April

I don't need to say anything on this one, I'll let a photo and Karl's letter say it.
"Hi Steve
First of all let me say thanks for a fantastic day, the weather was glorious and the photos look amazing, I can't believe that’s me on the bike doing those crazy downhill runs, it just shows what can be achieved with the proper instruction. Which leads me nicely onto the feedback section. Well what can I say, from start to finish everything was done so professionally, Steve is so knowledgeable about the techniques needed to ride the trails safely and more importantly with confidence, It was the first time I have ever done anything remotely like this and initially didn't think it was possible but having someone who understands your fears and worries helped me to overcome them and really enjoy the riding. Everything you need to know is broken down into sections and explained thoroughly so that you fully understand the technique before you dive head first into oblivion. Which makes it even more satisfying when you reach the end intact and look back to where you have just come from. Smiles all round. The debrief is very informative and along with the photos you can really see how good (or bad) you really are, which gives you something to build on. It was a real pleasure being there and I would definitely recommend anyone who wants to get the most from their riding to look on the website and give it a go, you won't be sorry. So once again a big Thank you Steve,
All the best
Karl   "

3rd April, Intermediate course

Richard's pre course info showed that he'd ridden in plenty of places including the Lakes so I knew we would be starting on a higher level than is usual. A couple of showers before we started meant that some of our challenges would have an extra slickness to beef up the challenge though and luckily there are several variations to the route that means every level of "intermediate" can be catered for. We were soon fine tuning corners and climbs and moving onto the technical stuff. "I didn't know stuff that steep was rideable" (or words to that effect) were soon being uttered. Unfortunately I was too busy watching to snap that one. We finished by pushing the speed and effeciency aspects of riding a hardtail down gnarly descents and were both suitably tired but happy by the end of the day. Shame I then had to ride back up the massive hill (we'd avoided by uplifting that morning) to get the car! The photo on the left was an attempt to convey the speed but it only sort of worked.

"Hi Steve,
Thanks for the course! Really cool montage photo too :) It was great to learn some new techniques and to push myself to do things I would of otherwise just skipped or walked. Also giving me the confidence to try some of those small jumps was great fun and I'm sure I'll trying it a lot more on the trails around and about Leeds this week :)

Thanks for the comments as well, I'll keep them in mind especially keeping a bit further back on the steeper bits as I think it will improve my speed and confidence on the descents. 

Thanks again for a great course.

Richard"

2nd April, Beginner course

In contrast to last weeks Phil this weeks Phil had only ridden his mountain bike about 6 times prior to the course, although was pretty fit from road riding. It was soon apparent that his eagerness to learn meant he grasped every skill and wrestled it into submission. after a small downpour (avoided courtesy of a handy bridge) the weather cleared to give us a great day out. Little had he expected at the start that within three hours he would be getting a bit of air and by the end working on a descent that verges on the intermediate!
"I really did feel that I have gained a far better insight into what I should be doing [I will be waking in the small hours shouting the mantra ' Look ahead !!'] and it has given me a lot more confidence in my approach. All credit to you for your patience and very subtle prods in pushing the envelope...A really big thank you again for the day."

27th March Beginners course

Spring appears to have arrived, and when Phil arrived I immediately got the impression he was definitely at the higher end of "beginner" so we rode the "advanced beginner route" with Phil soaking up all the skills like a sponge. As well as all the normal beginner skills we also worked at getting better flow out of single track sections and basic pumping skills to carry that speed. We finished on the tricky descent which Phil coped with pretty well. We also worked on some elements of bike set up to improve braking feel and control. All done in shorts weather with a hazy August like sun. Couldn't be better!

20th March 2011 beginners course

Christine is local but has only been riding a short while. Her keen approach, persistance and hunger to get it just right meant that by the end of the day we had gone beyond the standard beginners syllabus and done some basic jumping and pumping too. We also added safe 'falling off Northshore' techniques. She finished with the first clean descent of the year of the hard finish. So well done Christine. Shame my photos are rubbish - but it was a dull, slow shutter day, and she was going pretty quick!
Just got a mail back too

"Hi Steve,
 Thank you for today and for sending through those photos - Is that
really me?! My kids will think there has been some clever photo
editing! I really enjoyed the day and feel I got loads out of it. I can't wait
to get practising some more descents and little jumps, and just hope I
can remember all the tips and advice you gave.
 Hopefully in the not-too- distant future I'll be able to book an
'intermediate' day with you!
 Many thanks again,
Christine"

18th March 2011

So what do we do when not running courses?  Answer head somewhere else (to keep it fresh) and find the hardest stuff we can. In the new "The Good Mountain Biking Guide" (see http://www.blackshawoutdoor.co.uk/goodmtbguide.html for more details - I have copies for sale on courses!) there is a label on a map of Ingleborough in the Dales that says "Unrideable section". well it isn't, though it does take a considerable amount of sessioning to get it. The picture below is of the lower part of it which is more photogenic. You can't beat riding in different areas to broaden your experience and skills.

March 6th Beginner Course

So spring is finally upon us (well it was for a couple of days at least). Gail took on the beginners course.  I'll leave it to her thank you card and the photos to sum up the day.
Hi Stephen,
Just to say thanks for a brilliant day out. Before the course I wasn't really sure what to expect, but it exceeded any expectations that I had. I feel that I learned so much, at a level that suited me, and at a pace which suited too. Above all it was a really fun day out and has definitely given me the confidence to get off road much more often now. Thanks for all your positive comments and it is great to have the pics as a reminder of the day. Will definitely recommend you to others!
Take care
Gail

As Gail soaked up new stuff so well we did a few sections that wouldn't be out of place at the start of an intermediate course including the intermediate option finish (above right). Cruisin!

Email from Craig after the early Feb Intermediate Course

Good afternoon Steve, 

I finally managed to get out on the bike again last Saturday.  I did a route in the Peak District that took in some pretty tricky descents with lots of big (ish) rocks and a few drops etc.  One section was almost a mile long of this sort of terrain.  I lowered my seat and set off.  I cleared it all in one go.  I know I would not have managed this prior to the course.  My confidence was a lot higher tackling this sort of stuff, which to be fair is about the limit of what I want to do anyway.

One of the lads I was with picked his way down and was regularly pitched forward – he didn’t want any of my advice.  Another lad said I looked 10 times more confident than the last time he had seen me.

So, overall I’d have to say the course was a huge success.

Cheers

Craig

Intermediate course, 13th Feb 2100

Simon, Jez and Rob came for some intermediate training after admitting their normal approach to tricky bits was to either get off and walk or hit it hard and hope! After initial work on body position for ups and downs on some steps we headed to the hills and worked on cornering at speed and getting the 'slingshot' effect out of corners for more efficient riding.  Efficient climbing position and tactics for overcoming uphill obstacles came next before lunch was snatched in a short dry spell. Serious descending followed with ridges, twists, rocks, roots and drops - all at the same time near the bottom. Once again the emphasis was on efficient riding and, after the section had been ridden once, we recovered the same ground a lot faster, carrying speed through/over the obstacles. We finished off with some short but very tough climbing and some rolling drops with vertical bits. It was well and truly raining when we returned to Hebden - drenched and tired but all buzzing with the things they had never expected to be able to do 7 hours before.

Not great photos but did I mention there was a bit of rain about?

Intermediate course 6th Feb 2011

Craig, steven and Dave had all been riding for a number of years but all felt that there were gaps in their skills that limited what they could ride, the speed they could carry through obstacles and even how to bail safely should it ever come to that. Despite the horrible forecast the rain held off for most of the course and we left the strong winds to blow accross the tops while we got to work on the technical tracks in the shelter of the wooded valley sides.  The big themes of the day were body position for coping with all manner of trail obstacles, looking ahead - to plan lines, preparing for the obstacles and being able to carry as much speed as is possible through them. "I wouldn't have even considered riding something like that before today" was a comment that cropped up several times during the day and some of the obstacles we finished on were really top end so all three can be pretty pleased with themselves and the progress they made.

Dave does steep, greasy and fast with the help of his "determined" expression.

Steven cruises down the steep steps at the end of the day.

2nd Feb 2011. A timely question

Just recieved this letter from Karl who took the beginners course on the 23rd January.

Hi Stephen

Thank you very much for getting in touch and forwarding photos. I really enjoyed the day,  learned loads and would like to do more. You are an excellent teacher, now I need to practice what you have taught me. I am a long way off coming on intermediate course but would like to do some more stuff maybe around Lee quarry In Bacup.  Please let me know if you are running a beginner type course there. I would like to buy the guide book but forgot the name!

Courses should soon be bookable for Lee Quarry. You can book for one to one or group sessions now by going to the group and individual tuition box on the main website.
Following a number of requests I now hold copies of the South Pennines Guidebook for purchase on course days.

Beginners course 28.1.11

Unlike Karl last Sunday, Sekar had travelled a long way for his course (from near London) and had only been offroad once before so we really were starting right at the beginning. It wasn't long before he was at the top of a climb bigger than any in Essex - having ridden all the way up. Next was to practice the downhill techniques. Getting used to the body position and being out of the saddle took a little getting used to but by the afternoon we had got that and moved on and up to bigger stuff with confidence building rapidly. Having completed the final descent cleanly and in style I reckon there is little within 50 miles of his home that will cause Sekar any trouble now.

Beginner course 23.1.11

Karl came from just the other side of Burnley so was familiar with some of the local trails. He came because he claimed he was the one in the group that always fell off and got left behind. Well after the progress he made today that should be a thing of the past. His determination to improve and put the skills he'd learnt into practice meant that by the end of the day we did the intermediate descent back to the car park.

2011

Happy New Year. OK so the end of 2010 was a bit too white, but I look forward to meeting up with the riders whos courses had to be postponed in December on rescheduled dates in the coming months. Riding has certainly still been possible but the "extreme" weather opened up a few other obvious activities locally as well. What could make for a better day than a mountain bike ride to the local waterfall for a play on the ice?