News Archives - Page 3 of 3

Mountain Bike Leadership Award. A Leaders Long Journey to Becoming a Tutor.

24th March 2019/in News

Mountain Bike Leadership Award. What is it and what does it mean?

Having just delivered another weekend of fully booked Mountain Bike Leadership Training and Assessments at Glentress, I decided to take a little time out to reflect on exactly what that means for me, what it means for the 10 candidates we worked with (6 on training and 4 on assessment) and also for those who will further benefit from the outcomes of our 3 days of hard work both for us and the candidates..

Ridelines is a licensed provider of the British Mountain Bike Leadership Awards (BMBLA), the national governing body (NGB) award for MTB Leadership. We deliver training and assessments for levels 1, 2 and 3, plus the Night Leader award which is available to existing holders of the day time awards.

The awards are developed, insured and underwritten through British Cycling. More details on the different remits of each award can be found on their website here.

Ridelines Mountain Bike Leader Award Glentress

British Cycling Mountain Bike Leaders can lead groups in a variety of different environments.

What qualifies Ridelines to deliver the BMBLA?

The predecessor to the BMBLA was the MBLAs Trail Cycle Leader (TCL) and Mountain Bike Leader (MBL) qualifications. Back in 2011, I embarked on the MBLA tutor pathway having identified a clear need for the provision of mountain bike leadership in the Tweed Valley.

The plan was simple but I had little idea of the enormity of I was undertaking. Following an intensive tutor training course run by Scottish Cycling, I was ready to go through the tutor pathway. During my pathway period I was assigned a mentor to oversee my progress through the pathway.

After observing my first leadership training course through my mentor, Chris Ford. I was encouraged to observe other tutors too. This would help develop my own style of delivery based on the content within the training programme. In short, there was so much to learn in terms of content, delivery and ensuring that the learning needs of all the candidates were met. …better get good then!

When it all gets real!

A few course observations later, I was ready to run my first TCL course, all overseen by Chris. It was a nerve racking experience.

There were 8 people all filled with enthusiasm and expectation. I had to deliver their training and prepare them for assessment. It was undoubtedly, the most challenging thing I have ever encountered in my career. Feeling out of my depth, I dug deep. Applying what I learned, I made some (lots) of mistakes but delivered a course that was enjoyed by all and met their expectations.

It was a relief when it was all over. I was so mentally knackered, I went home and slept for about 12 hours. Having received some quality critical feedback from Chris, we repeated this process twice more and I became more comfortable with the whole process. Along the way, gaining huge amounts of confidence in my ability as a tutor.

This huge and massively rewarding learning curve led to my first tutor assessment with Chris a month later. I was much more relaxed this time round and passed with aplomb. However, the pathway required I go through a second assessment with a different mentor, this time, Al Seaton (now of Pedal MTB).

Al was great, assuring me that I wouldn’t be put forward for a second assessment unless I was at the required standard. So, with Al and Chris signing me off, I was finally a qualified TCL Tutor!

Seems like a lot of work yeah? Well, I had to go through that process again to be qualified as a TCL assessor, then AGAIN to qualify as an MBL tutor and assessor, then submit a business case to finally secure Ridelines as a provider of MTB leadership awards.

Assessment for the MBLA is tough, but ultimately, a very rewarding experience.

All change on the award front!

In 2015, the MBLA awards were merged with British Cycling (BC) to create what we now have today as the BMBLA. With level 2 replacing TCL and level 3 replacing MBL. As as an already qualified tutor, I had to go through a verification process again which involved further assessments of competency. This time with two BC Field Based Trainers for both level 2 and level 3 (training and assessments).

So that’s the background how I can now deliver Mountain Bike Leadership. So was it worth all this?

Yes indeed. Whilst it seemed like a huge undertaking (and it was), looking back, I can view it in quite simple terms. It afforded me an opportunity to learn my craft. I’d work on becoming competent, then when ready, demonstrate my competency in a very challenging environment.

The first time I ran leadership course on my own will never leave me. I was so relaxed and confident, simply because I’d proven to myself, as well as my assessors and mentor, that I was already operating at a high level. This is good as it’s exactly the process that leadership candidates go through too. They learn their craft on training, have a consolidation period to become competent, then demonstrate their competency at assessment.

This 2 part process tests the candidates resolve and results in high quality leaders who are ready to carry their competency into the real world.

And the learning doesn’t end there. Whether as leaders or tutors, we continually learn from others, the situations we find ourselves in, the technology changes in equipment and bikes, and so much more that comes along with practicing our craft.

Get out there, lead by example and take arty photos at every opportunity!

So what now?

As a tutor, I take my role very seriously. I’m acutely aware that for every new leader created, 8 other people can be led the very next day by that newly qualified leader.

Given that I have delivered leadership training to around 300 candidates. That’s around 2000 people on rides led by leaders based on my assertion that they are competent. That’s quite a responsibility, but one that comes with the assurance of having a high quality award to deliver and from having a great support mechanism through Scottish Cycling, British Cycling, and all the other tutors who deliver these awards.

I am very lucky and proud to be part of the British Cycling MTB Award process. Ridelines take it’s delivery very seriously and are committed to assessing potential leaders to a very high standard. We’re confident that because of the hard work and valuable input of everyone involved. Mountain biking participation will continue to be in very safe hands. The hands of the most capable leaders available. Leaders that have been held to the very highest standard.

Andy.

If you are interested in becoming a mountain bike leader of guide, visit our website here.

Mountain Biking in Glentress. Are We Spoilt?

17th February 2019/in News

A short blog on trying to decipher why there’s an element of Scottish mountain biking that loves to hate Glentress.

Our guys have cycled everywhere. In our Ridelines Instuctor pool we have career mountain bikers, World Cup racers, long distance lovers, XC stalwarts, wild-country wanderers, National Series champions, eminently qualified and experienced guides, tutors and coaches. So sometimes it just seems so amazing that we all ended up living at, working in and ultimately loving this quintessential Scottish trail centre.

Glentress is mostly in the forest. But when you get a peek it rarely disappoints.

I was out on a ride around the boundary trail the other day and the sun was splitting the trees. It was in the second week in February and I was in short sleeves. Even just buzzing around Teenage Kicks and Berm Baby Berm I was reminded that no-one had to build this place, but they did it anyway.

In its earliest incarnation, it was born from people with a passion for it, and whatever the past opinions of what has happened since those often talked about days, it’s still here. From just picking our way through the woods, to the much loved Hub in the Forest putting Glentress on the map. Then came the development of the Peel and MTBCoS. Now, over the next few years, we can look forward to further improvements at the bottom of the hill with the inevitable arrival of Forest Lodges.

The view from Glentress’ Spooky Wood Bench is always a treat.

Sure, there’s some blown out trails, but the chances are that the normal visitor to Glentress has no clue about how this happens or how it’s generally fixed, who pays for it and what constitutes the need to repair something. At this point feel free to jump out and get involved in the Glentress Trailfaries facebook page!

The Boundry Trail at Glentress is less trodden and a firm favourite of ours.

But just take a ride around, explore the black route, some un-waymarked trails and you’ll begin to fall (back?) in love with the place. We spend a LOT of time within Glentress and in the routine of parking vans and preparing for a days work, it can often become very normal for us too.

But now and again, like my ride on Friday you can just have a wee moment, an opportunity to remind yourself that someone came out here years ago and did it all for you. In the February sun I’d struggle to put my finger on another place I’d rather be that would be so easy for me to access.

Hush Hush. Glentress has many secrets off the beaten track!

If you’re sick of climbing up Cardie Hill, you can also get in and around Glentress from the Peebles and Innerleithen directions too. Trying these routes means that you can get in and out via some different trails. Ride up Janet’s Brae and head straight into the upper trails, get up to the mast then head back to Peebles via the off-piste trails like Trailfairy Plan and Fairy Liquid. One for the more technical rider for sure, but a cracking joined up descent.

Time for a rest on Glentress’ black route.

Redemption is the last climb on the black route at Glentress and it’s a doozy!

From Innerleithen you can ride straight to the mast via the old Leithen Road climb. It’s a gut-buster but it literally takes you straight there. Then you can descend the whole remaining Black route and take the cycle path back to Inners.

If you want a quick ride in Glentress there’s loads of ways to mix up the trails so you don’t lose too much altitude. Once you’re up there, it’s actually relatively easy to get a ton of descending done. Equally, you can have a huge day out if you know when to zig and zag onto the right trails.

Happily at the end of it all there’s the much improved Glentress Peel Cafe. It’s had its fair share of problems if we’re honest and the shadow of peoples great memories of The Hub Cafe looms over it like a spectre of expectation from years past. But the place has gone through a massive re-working from the very bottom. Good food, friendly staff and a great experience now awaits you at the end of your ride.

If you’re riding the full black route at Glentress. You should be tired around here.

Now think about the fact the folk piss and moan about a £5 parking charge for all of this and more. 100’s of Km of trails, a great Cafe, bike shop (Alpine Bikes), showers, free bike wash, toilets all on the doorstep of the town of Peebles. You’d pay more for 2-3 hours parking in a Glasgow shopping street.

Glentress is about to go through a major upheaval with Forest Holidays arriving. Loads of new trails and features will be introduced and some old favourites will be lost. But the name will remain the same.

So the header of this blog was with good intention, I wanted to put across a short argument for Glentress. I think I’ve probably done enough to convince a first timer. I know why some people hate Glentress, but I’ve realised whilst writing this that I mostly don’t care. There’s room enough for all opinions and room enough in this great country for everyone to ride what they like most.

In closing, with Forest Holidays arriving in 2020 I’d say why not go up and ride some of these “tired old trails” feel them under your wheels for the last time and try to remember the first time.

-Allan

Ridelines Working With Cube Bikes for 2019

14th February 2019/in News

It’s been hard work building Ridelines up from one person’s lifestyle business just 8 years ago. Now, in 2019 it’s something everyone involved, past and present can be proud of. We’ve helped 1000’s of people develop their mountain bike skills over this time. We’ve also helped educate & train MTB leaders and coaches, helped disadvantaged and minority groups into cycling, consulted for businesses & events and basically had great fun. All whilst trying to keep a core staff of local instructors and coaches.

Last Year signified the pinnacle of Andy’s original dream when we were voted Scottish Mountain Bike Service Provider of the Year at the 2018 Scottish Mountain Bike Conference.

Shortly after, we decided it was time that to do something a little different, so we decided to look for a partner to work with in 2019. Not just a bike partner, but a company we could work with on developing Ridelines for our clients benefit. To help take some of the strain associated with running a small business and to lean on for support should we need it.

We needed to find a brand that we could work in tandem with to develop things we want to get better at as a company; like education, inclusion & technology whilst continuing to be on the forefront of delivering the very best core products that Ridelines is best known for. We didn’t take the search lightly!

Late last year we started talking to Cube bikes and we are thrilled to now officially announce that Ridelines and Cube will be working in partnership for 2019. Cube have been absolutely amazing throughout the process of building our final relationship. They are completely in-step with the aspirations we have for Ridelines and it’s customers. We feel we’ve found the very best partner.

You’ll see us around our usual haunts (and some new ones) riding Cube’s brand new Stereo 150 C:68 TM 29. As well as putting a select line of Cube ACS clothing and accessories through their paces too. If you’re curious about anything we’re riding or wearing, please stop us and ask. We’ll be glad to chat.

That’s all we’re going to say for now and we’ll update with more as we come to terms with this exciting opportunity and what it means for Ridelines. But suffice to say we’re super excited to be working with Cube this year. So stay tuned for the latest as it happens.

Again, a huge thanks must go out to everyone past and present that has supported Ridelines over the past 8 years. You are all part of the reason we can continue to live the dream!

#jaffajerseys #cubebikes #becube

Ridelines: Cube Bikes and Ridelines working together in 2019.

We are super excited to be working with Cube Bikes in 2019.

In a happy coincidence, Cube has chosen orange as the accent colour for their 2019 flagship enduro bike, the Stereo 150 c68 TM 29. No photoshop required to get this bad boy on brand for the year ahead! Even just a set-up ride around Glentress had some heads turning!

The Hugely impressive 2019 Cube Stereo 150 c68 TM 29

We’re struggling to find anything we’d upgrade on this bike.

Ridelines: Cube Bikes OX25+ Alpine Rucksack

You’ll be seeing us out and about with Cube ACS accessories too.

We didn’t really know the Cube did a range of rucksacks. Turns out they are very capable and have some very cool features too. We’ll be using these super light and stealthy OX25+ backpacks for a lot our daily work.

Ridelines: Cube Bikes Performance MTB gloves

Discreet branding is a great feature of all Cube ACS gear.

Ridelines: Cube Bikes Blackline Waterproof Jacket and Shorts

Waterproof Cube Blackline jackets and shorts for the cruelest Scottish weather.

The Blackline waterproof products are very light and super packable. Small enough to stuff away and strong enough to take a beating from standing around in the cruelest of Scottish weather. Hopefully these won’t see much use :)

Ridelines: Cube Bikes GTY MAZE Flat Pedal Shoes

We’ll be testing out all the new Cube bikes gear from head to toe!

Andy performing the worlds fastest looking track-stand!

Michelin Wild AM 280 tyre review.

10th February 2019/in News, Reviews, Uncategorised

OK, quick wee blog for you!

First up, these are cheap. Plus size tyres are expensive and these were not. So having already splashed on a 30mm wheel-set to put them on. They were right on the money (so to speak) However, If I hadn’t got these I wouldn’t have been able to try something a bit different and would probably have been running a HRII / DHF combo for twice (three times?) the money.

So I have these to finish up what is most likely the ideal setup on my Pipedream Moxie. As you may have read in a previous blog, I’ve tried 29″ 27.5″ and now it’s time for the 27+ option, or as close as I can get! I’m mounting these on a 30mm (internal) rim to get a nice big profile and keep some even volume across the width. Ideally and with most plus bikes a 40mm internal rim is specced, but I think this would be crazy on a such a potentially lively bike. So with what was available, the money I had and the timescale I was working with. So off I went and stuck it all together.

What forks?

My fork is a 29 / 27+ fox Factory 36. The brace clearance on this fork is quite generous even with a big 29er, so with the smaller 27+ wheel and the “less tall and round” profile of this tyre, the whole package sits well below the fork brace. It doesn’t look too goofy and theres plenty of clearance for the Mud Hugger to be mounted.

What wheels?

The tyre and rim combo is pretty heavy and as I was in a bit of a hurry, I have tubes inside too. Even with an air-shot, the creased (due to retail folding) bead of the tyre plus the extra internal volume proved problematic to getting a seal in the time I had. They’ve been on on for a while now, so I’ll probably whip them off and try again now they have been seated for a while.

First thing I noticed is that I didn’t actually feel that much drag. The way these things look, you’d thing they would be terrible, but no, at least not for me. When the ground gets really packed, like forest roads etc, you can feel the tyre gripping and “moving” under torque, bit it didn’t feel like drag to me, Kinds weird but there you go?

On the Front.

Certain riders will look down and find security in a rounder profile, big knobbed tyre. I’m kind of one of them. Running these around the 25psi mark in intermediate weather on a mixture of natural off-piste trails and the more “knackered” trail centre lines brought out a decent bit of performance out of there. Although they did roll a tiny wee bit on very tight turns, it seemed like it was just the casing doing its job and not an under-inflation problem. It was a very predictable thing and I soon got used to it. Putting any more air in this tyre is a no-no though. It just immediately stands too tall and the knobs are way too aggressive to be relied on alone, without the flexibility of the casing.

I’ve also now had the chance to try them on some slimy steeps too. I did, though let out a few psi and they were fine. There was a bit of clogging at low speed, but as soon as the speed picked up, they cleared fairly fast. A few folk have scoffed at these tyres for natural riding, but I have found them just fine.

On the back.

The front follows the back… every time! Again, too much air and it just bounced off everything (surprise) Run the rear a bit lower and dig your heels in a bit to make the casing and the tread work best. Theres a 2.6 version available too, so I may give that a go on the rear just so it breaks loose a little more readily as the 2.8 really did grip when deliberately pressed into service.

The equivalent Maxxis and Schwalbe tyres in this size are extremely expensive and can be quite hard to reliably find in stock too. So as I said above, these were a cheap solution to get my bike rolling. Turns out that they are actually more than OK. The very soft compound is always a worry, but I guess we’ll see where grip and longevity meet in the long run?

At £22.99 a hoop though, I’m willing to take the chance.

Steel is… Pipedream Moxie first impressions.

9th January 2019/in News, Reviews, Uncategorised

Real? Steel is real, yeah thats how the hashtag goes isn’t it? So here we go, right from the top #steelisreal

But in a world where carbon can be laid up to mimic just about any type of material is it (steel) any good? Is it worth the hassle? As I reckon that you average mountain biker has forgotten how harsh a hardtail MTB can really be? I’ve ridden some alloy suspension bikes that can be quite unforgiving, especially with the suspension set up badly, so god knows what your average alloy hardtail must feel like these days? (feel free to let us know) So with all that, is this the answer?

The Pinkest of All The Pink Bikes. The Pipedream Moxie in 29″ trim.

Fist up, thanks to Alan Finlay at Pipedream Cycles for hooking us up with the latest incarnation of their Enduro hardtail, the very pink “Moxie” Its long, slack and low, bloody low! Even in 29″ trim with 165mm cranks it still feels very close to mother earth. Although curiously, in both wheel sizes, I haven’t had a pedal or crank strike yet. Again, I reckon we’re all a bit used to the effect of preload and movement of the BB on suspension bikes that we just come to expect to clip the pedal now and again anyway?

So +1 already, it’s very predictable this thing, so much so that I nearly had a few “unplanned manoeuvres” due to the fact that I thought it wouldn’t be! Truth be told that this is the first hardtail that I’ve had that has felt specifically “designed” to be any kind of useful mountain bike. This is mainly because since I bought my Rocky Mountain Element in 1997, my main bikes have all been full suspension ones.

In fact I think I’ve had 2 or 3 hardtails in those 20 years and they were all before anyone was really tuning their geometry. At least to the point of real specifics and certainly not for aggressive trail riding.

I’m gonna go straight to climbing here. A few past reviews have suggested that a slightly sharper seat angle would make the Moxie climb a bit better and I’d tend to agree, but 76.5° isn’t exactly mega slack and I shoved my saddle forward 10mm and dipped the nose a wee bit, which makes some difference on climbs but isn’t ideal across the board. It’s the 470mm reach and 65.5° head angle on our “long” bike that creates the issue (not an issue) I can deal with it.

It’s not an issue because this bike was obviously designed for descending and general hooliganism, where so far it has excelled. All this with a 29″ wheel too! I’ve really done most of my riding on this bike with a 29″ carbon wheel and a 150mm fork (Fox 36 Factory) and less in the 27.5, but both wheel sizes have their benefits which I’ll save for another day.

Springy Thingy…

The first ride on this was actually a 30km XC ride and to be honest, I loved every minute. Ok, you lose a wee bit of braking traction on the back end when it gets high-speed spicy, again I think we’re spoilt by suspension in this regard. But the long reach and slack head angle force traction on the front wheel and make you forget about the back end that will predictably follow. I’ve been able to lean on some serious front end braking on this bike too, helping with any speed scrubbing issues on the rear.

It’s super comfy too. 4130 chromoly, remember that? The tube-set with a super cult following from back in the day and particularly BMXers. A cold rolled steel-alloy that is super strong, takes a very positive weld and remains flexible to boot. Black magic if you ask me.

Anyway, I did notice that this bike has no gussets at the major tube junctions. Seems this is a bi-product of the guys choosing to go for a custom tube-set that can be drawn and welded to their specification. This means no strengthening needed, and no extra materials on these junctions also means a more lively, less “stiff” frame all round.

Where stiffness is needed though, around the BB. We see a change to some flat plates that wrap-around the BB very neatly indeed. The finish on the bike overall is fantastic and isn’t compromised ever where folk don’t usually look.

Another long XC ride. This time with Standard 27.5 Rims.

Let me just say that I’ve now tried this bike in 29″ with DT Swiss XMC1200 carbon 30mm rims (Minion DHF & High Roller 2) and some older DT Swiss E1900 25mm (same tyre combo) I have to say that I actually preferred the 29″ setup so far, but I’ve mostly been mincing around trail centres and doing long XC rides. To be honest, the Moxie excels at both.

The 29″ setup felt indestructible though. On steep terrain it was so surefooted that I actually forgot that I was on a hardtail. I would imagine its pretty hard to optimise a bike for 2 wheel sizes but so far it seems to be working? I also took the bike out with Std 27.5 wheels and felt it limited the bike. I didn’t like it. It felt skittish, rear grip felt like it was a problem all the time and I just felt like the back end wouldn’t follow the rear.

So, I’m hoping that the next experiment (30mm 27.5 rims with 2.8 tyres) will be the one. This should give closer to 29″ rolling size and but not push the limits of tyre clearance as the wheel will run through the frame slightly further back. I would honestly keep the 29″ setup, but the tyre width I’d like to run on the rear buzzes off the frame at the chain stay yoke more often than I’d like.

Final trim

OK, not an in depth review, but a first impression. I’m gonna give it a shot in 27+ and get back to you as I honestly think that it’s gonna be the sweet spot. If I could just get a bit more space for the 29″ tyre I wanted, I’d have left the big wheels in though. But I guess I’ll know the score on all points if I try it.

So I’ll be back with that!

Enter: The fun Police…

2nd January 2019/in News, Uncategorised

A story of caution & responsibility. Readable in less than 3 minutes?

This could be any day. It has actually many days. if fact, you’d be surprised how many days it turned out to be! Here is a tale of woe that ruined 5 peoples day and a young man’s month. (I assume)

It’s a recent Saturday and I’m standing in the buzzards Nest Car Park at Glentress. I have my mountain bike tuition hat on. Fully fed, rested and motivated, I put down my risk assessment and start chatting with my client. It was a windy morning, but I swear I heard a voice shout “help” Hmmm, I thought? “HELP” came the cry once more. Did you hear that? I said to my client. Hear what? he said. HELP… we need HELP! Shouted a flailing figure emerging from the freeride Area.

Long story short, there were 3 lads, early 20s on recreational, low end hard-tails, dressed for the spring and completely unprepared for the scene that was waiting for me. Their friend, a young man in his early 20’s was out cold, not moving, with his extremities pointed in every directing apart from the right ones. In and out of conciseness, freezing cold with the side of his face swollen and cut in a bad way. He’d apparently ridden the wooden drops and hit the jump at the bottom carrying way too much speed, hit the jump, then cartwheeled his way to unconsciousness. A pretty serious accident as it turned out.

I won’t go into the details of how these guys did not have any idea what to do with their friend, who to call or what to tell them this situation. But by the end of the whole scenario he was in a state of continuing shock and borderline hypothermic despite lying on a matt with my coat on, a silver blanket on, an orange blanket on and inside an emergency shelter. At the time, this one really did seem like a close call. The guys didn’t know his full details, his full name, his next of kin, any of his friends and family or pertinent information about him either. They were friends from Uni just out to ride at Glentress. Their pal was also the driver, so they were stuck at Glentress in the rain with a broken bike and the worry of it all.

So the upshot of this all was the following:

One seriously injured young man with a potentially serious head injury.
Two stranded, cold and shocked young guys.
A callout for both the Police and ambulance service.
A wasted 100m round trip for me. (had to cancel my client)
Possible loss of earnings for me.
A wasted journey for my client.
A possible refund for my client with possible bad press for Ridelines.
Cost of equipment left at the scene.
Ongoing medical consequences for the downed rider.

Now accidents will happen, but these guys were just out of their depth in challenging conditions, riding beyond their capabilities. The picture below is the result.

A while ago we posted on facebook about the amount of time and money we spent on first aid over just one month this summer. The post caused a lot of feedback, and although not one of these costs incurred were spent one our clients, being on the hill with a big backpack and a uniform essentially puts a target on your back for such things. I’m sure lots of our colleagues at other MTB companies can relate?

So in short this is not a lecture, more of a cautionary tail. Be prepared folks, know your limits and how to act should you be as unfortunate as our friends above. Heres a few tips.

For mechanicals try to carry at least the following:

A spare tube.
Tyre levers.
A quality pump.
A quality multitool with a chain-tool.
A spare “quick link” for your chain.

For your wellbeing:

At least a litre of water.
Some high carb food or energy bars.
A fully charged phone.
Some money.
A small first aid kit.

It goes without saying that you should know how to change a tube (video here) and join a chain (video here) you’d be surprised at how many people that carry stuff don’t know how to use it. Your first aid kits need mainly bandages and stuff to stop bleeding as apart from broken bones, bleeding is easily the most common symptom of an accident that we come across.

A rule of thumb (not hard and fast) an ambulance will usually only efficiently attend an actual postcode, so at least have that. Although these can be miles in length and useless if you have no door number. Usually though out on more remote trails and trail centres, you should be calling the police and asking for Mountain Rescue. For that, you’ll likely need a grid reference. There’s plenty of free phone apps that will do that for you too. But really it’s best to know where you are and be able to read a map to a basic level.

Also, you could get yourself on a first aid course? You’d be amazed at the minimum you could do just to make someone comfortable or even save their life?

Anyway, have a great 2019, be safe out there and look after your MTB brothers and sisters!

#jaffajerseys

Sealskinz Dragon Eye Waterproof MTB Glove Review.

15th December 2018/in News

Admittedly, I had to buy these because the velcro strap just ripped away from almost 2 year old all-weather Sealskinz gloves. I was about to go off on a guided MTB ride in the Tweed Valley during a rather inclement local weather cycle, so they were a bit of a distress purchase. And nope, they weren’t free, I bought them with our own money.

The other week I put up a fairly ordinary social media post that resulted in a few questions. So I thought I’d write a few words on these gloves. When you’re a Mountain Bike Guide or indeed any instructor that spends a lot of time standing watching others, your well-being can be a tightrope. When cold weather gear is to thick or heavily layered you’ll cook, then cool down in your own sweat when standing still. Too thin and you’ll cool down too quick and perhaps struggle to warm back up. Guiding can be different, as you can perhaps set a pace and make provisions for this sort of thing.

Lest start off by saying this is a good looking glove (that matches our kit :)

Anyway, these gloves were £45. Expensive by normal glove standards, But actually when you’re out there, good gear will pay for itself many times over. But they have to be good! I’ve been out in these in bad weather for 4 days in the rain so can’t speak to longevity, but I can speak to their function. Firstly I’ll say that they fit me well. They are a wee bit on the tight side getting past the cuff as I’ve found many Sealskinz gloves to be. Once on though, they are very comfy. With my hand open I just get that little trampoline in the centre of my palm and the glove wants to pull my hand closed.

I like my gloves like this as when you clench your fist, you don’t want a load of bunched material getting in the way of your hand against the grip. It’s also worth noting that there’s no padding on the palm, which seems to be the case with most gloves these days. Again, this doesn’t bother me as I’m more about the right grips than padding on gloves.

The Palm on the Dragon Eye is very taught and doesn’t bunch up.

The velcro strap has a strange idiosyncrasy that I can’t see past though. Theres a 2″ patch of velcro on the glove and a 2″ strap to cover it, but it doesn’t quite work as well as it should. When the cuff is pulled tight and the strap pulled over, it only grips on less than half of the velcro. This leaves the other half redundant. (see image below) The strap just feels like it’s ready to come loose on it’s own (it hasn’t) but I’ve caught it a few times and it’s came away very easily. (such as pulling my jacket sleeve back to look at my watch) It’s a shame as there’s some seriously heavy stitching on the heavy-duty strap itself over an area that if moved along a bit could have solved this issue. I’m unsure how this small patch of velcro will hold up over time? In short, I think this strap needs to be longer.

The strap on the Dragon Eye only closes half way with a very small strap area.

The above is a glitch really as every other feature on this glove cures every other problem I’ve had with waterproof gloves. The fingers are gusseted to a point at the ends, they feel very thin and have anti-slip silicone patches on the braking fingers. Because of this, they are quite malleable and as a result are great for tinkering and the like out on the trail. At £45 though I’d liked to have seen some touch screen compatibility, though I’m admittedly unsure how this would effect the waterproof nature of the product.

They are pretty light for a warm glove too. Just 100g a pair on my scales. You can feel the liner moving a little if you try, but when you wear the glove it feels very stable. Breathability though is quite low and you’ll sweat a bit, but after 3 days in the rain, I definitely did not have wet hands. Best of all, when you pull your hand out, the liner doesn’t come with it despite sweaty hands. Theres some nice rubberised detail going on on the gloves too and the colours we chose are quite neutral.

The Dragon Eye’s fingers are tapered, so you can get fiddly jobs done.

I thought these were expensive… But perhaps thats a bit harsh as they don’t look like you’d think a waterproof glove would look. They are thin, good looking and don’t have that “Ski glove” presentation that this type of product has suffered from for years. So yeah, bearing in mind that I actually like them very much despite my niggles. They are probably right on the money at £45.

If you see us out and about with these gloves on, feel free to ask us about them. You can also have a look at the Sealskinz Dragon Eye MTB Glove range on the Sealskinz website HERE

The highlights of our year

4th December 2018/in News, Uncategorised

Everyone has the odd day where they feel like they just plod along right? We can tell you that there have been more than a few times that we have looked out the window, sat in the van just thinking that we’d rather be somewhere else than out in the wilderness in the freezing cold, wet weather? But this probably falls into the less than 1% category of days we find ourselves giving skills lessons or guiding people out on Mountain bike rides. We genuinely love what we do.

Offering mountain bike skills lessons in Glentress counts us amongst the luckiest instructors out there. Fabulous facilities, great countryside, great people and the support of the community around us makes our job that little bit more special. When laying on Guided mountain bike rides for big groups, the surrounding hills and valleys have views for miles that change with every season. This is why the Tweed Valley is such a special place to be based. Mountain Bike Skills Tuition has been our tagline for years, but in 2018 the business has wandered all over the map with regards to how we have seen different groups of people react to mountain biking.

Our “bread and butter” has always been MTB skills instruction and theres no end in sight to seeing clients enjoy the new techniques we’ve given them. But this year has seen us reach out beyond the singletrack and try to reach more people than ever with the message that mountain biking and cycling in general can be fun for almost anyone. Heres a few highlights of the diversity of 2018.

Mountain bike Skills Courses.

We’ve continued to grow our scheduled courses at Glentress & Innerleithen. With courses like Enduro-Prep and and our Intermediate skills group courses, we’ve been amazed by the way riders can gain confidence in just 6 hours of riding. We’ve learned so much from these courses as they are totally inclusive and pressure free. Our 1:1 clients continue to grow too. It’s a totally different dynamic and tends to be a little more “colloquial” in its nature. Some of the funniest and most rewarding days on the hill come from our Skills lessons.

Ridelines Mountain Bike Enduro Skills Coaching at Innerleithen

Guided Mountain Bike Rides.

Fewer of these happen as people get more adventurous on their bikes and learn to be better equipped to travel further into the wilderness. But this year has been a bumper year for our guides too. Stag do’s, work colleagues and just groups of pals up for a holiday can form the basis of a great group ride. W’ve dealt with clients from all over the world too. On one day out this year Allan has a Scotsman, South African, Canadian, an Israeli and a German out on a ride. Truly amazing not that they picked Ridelines, but that they picked Scotland to ride their bikes.

We guide hundreds of mountain bikers around Scotland every year

Leadership Training.

As most will know, Ridelines is one of the leading centres in the country for training and assessing candidates for the British Cycling Mountain Bike Leader program (UKMBLA) The three levels of MBL awards are very demanding on both the tutor and clients, but the reward for both is very high indeed. We love knowing that we’re helping to create responsible riders that will pass on the the skills and techniques of effective leadership to other riders that may decide to go the whole way to qualifying as leaders themselves. This year, a record number of candidates came through the program and the quality was incredible. From MTB clubs, charities and local authorities to workplace colleagues and independently adventurous individuals, the UKMBLA is starting to appeal to a huge demographic within the MTB community.

Ridelines: British Cycling Mountain Bike Leader award.

Every year ridelines create dozens of new MTB Leaders.

Kids Camps.

Where do we start? Kids Camp started as a 2 week project in the Scottish summer holidays. A few years later and in 2018 we hosted 8 weeks of Kids Camp in Easter, Summer and the October holidays. That’s 192 kids just on the Scheduled courses alone! A big effort on the part of our instructors is needed to keep these little rippers interested and focussed on the task, which is of course FUN! 2019 Ridelines Kids Camps will see 10 weeks of courses offered scheduled throughout the school holidays. A whopping commitment from Ridelines in response to a very high demand in requests for camps to be held across both Scottish and English school breaks.

Ridelines Kids Camp has 10 weeks scheduled in 2019!

Easyriders & Women’s Courses.

Easyriders was a Borders Council initiative to get more women on their bikes in the Peebles and Innerleithen area. Needless to say in we stepped with an offer to run the whole kit and kaboodle! 6 weeks and 54 sessions later and we’d delivered a progressive course to 120 women covering everything from maintenance to road etiquette. The feedback from Easyriders has been hugely positive and the reward for our instructors has been immeasurable. They actually think that Easyriders may be one of the best things they have ever done. After Easyriders we offered some basic MTB courses for the same women exclusively in a female peer group. Again, the uptake was great and we ever converted a few roadies onto mountain bikers! All of our courses are open to all genders and we coach plenty of women as a matter of course. But next year will bring some real changes to our women’s offering. So stay tuned!

One of our awesome Tweed Valley Easyriders groups.

Educational & Charities.

This has been our biggest year for educational experiences. We have led, guided and taught everything from private schools and charities to special needs and disadvantaged groups. It never fails to amaze us how Mountain Biking can be a great leveller in all of these peer groups. Mountain Biking for us can be used as a tool for therapy, whether for mental or physical issues, we have found that a large number of clients with these issues have been overwhelmingly positive about their exposure to the outdoors and riding bikes. In 2019 we’ll be unveiling some exciting new educational and therapeutic products.

Ridelines charity and educational mountain biking.

Ridelines is regularly involved with charity groups and educational mountain biking.

The DMBinS Scottish Cycling Mountain Bike Conference 2018.

We attended this years bi-annual conference in Aveimore not really knowing what to expect. But what the few days we took off to travel up and soak up the event were very worthwhile indeed. Some of the excellent peer group workshops included e-bikes, trail building, MTB leadership, environmental issues and many other hot topics. There were excellent speakers and delegates from all over the world (and outside) our industry, but the highlight of the conference for us were the new guidelines for unauthorised trail building issued by the National Access Forum in partnership with DMBinS and the leading players and businesses from land management and Mountain Biking. We’re very much looking forward to playing our part in what is to come for Montain biking in 2019.

Aneela McKenna and Lee Craigie speak at the 2018 MTB conference

The Scottish Mountain Biking Awards 2018

After a great few days at the DMBinS Scottish Mountain Bike Conference in Aviemore. A nice little cherry on top of a fantastic trip away was being afforded the honour of being recognised as the 2018 Scottish Mountain Bike Provider of the Year. At the MTB awards ceremony. It’s been a long journey for Ridelines, seeing people come and go as members of our team, all whom have contributed to the business in their own unique ways. We’d like to thank everyone who ever pulled on the jersey and represented Ridelines out on the hill. The list is long, but very distinguished!

Thanks to everyone at the conference, the delegates, Scottish Cycling, DMBinS, Edinburgh Napier University and the mountain biking community at large for supporting us from the grass roots that started us. It was great to watching Andy try to smile whilst collecting this award. Thank you all so much. Here’s to an amazing 2018 and a better 2019 for all of our clients and indeed our colleagues in the industry.

It’s hard to pick highlights, but above is just a few points that stick out as things that we are especially pleased about. Mountain Biking is life at Ridelines. We never tire of it and we’re constantly looking for ways to evolve and improve what we do. Thanks to everyone who supports us on our selfish personal journey to try and keep riding bikes for a living!