Has anyone hear attended a jump course?  My rather wonderful other half has offered to pay for one for a birthday pressie for me   I have looked at the Dirt Divas course and understand there are good ones at Llandegla?? 

Any input much appreciated

I've just booked myself on one today! With Cycleactive at Afan. I've been on one of their weekends before and really enjoyed it - good standard of teaching and really relaxed. I'm down to do the Singletrack Skills session and the Jumps and Drops over a weekend.

Will let you know what it's like....but it's not until May. Not too expensive at £85 a day. Worth giving them a call, the guy I spoke to was really helpful, realised I'd been on the phone for him for 40mins as everyone in my open plan office started to glare at me!! Details here

I also looked at the One Planet Adventure ones in Llandegla, they also look really good. But I wasn't sure level wise what to do- I want to focus on jumps / drops but they recommend that you should be able to do a 4ft tabletop and 4ft drop to do the course (or go on their core skills course). I'm not sure I'm up to that yet! But I might go on one of their courses later - it sounds like the setup there is really good.

Thanks for the info Beth   I'll give them a call later and see what they say.  I have been trying to get in touch with Dirt Diva's however, they dont seem to answer the phone or reply to emails.  Afan is relatively easy to get to from here too, so is definately an option i'll look into.

Agreed about One Planet Adventures - Being able to do 4ft drops before even attending the course seems a little too much!  

Let me know what you decide to do - I'm on the singletrack skills on May 2 and jumps and drops on May 3, be good to be on the course with a fellow SheCycler

Not answering the phone doesn't sound particularly helpful! Hope you have better luck with Cycleactive.

What made you decide to go on a course? Mine is the small matter of a bet on the little-r ladder drop at Chicksands. I think I could manage it at the moment but can't seem to get up the courage to attempt it. Also, am a big wimp when it comes to doubles so am hoping to work on that...

Hello Beth,

I went on the One Planet Adventure Course at llandegla and it was really good. They video you and give you feedback and send you the clips in the post!!

I went with a group of people that i usually ride with so they were able to tailor the day to what we all wanted to do, but i think it was pretty much the core skills format. it was £75 and you get lunch. It was a really good day and i would definately recommend it. The two guys who took the course were really nice.

Dont plan a ride for the following day though. I went up to the lakes the next day to do a 50k ride but had to bail out at 25k cos my arms and legs hurt so much from all the jumping (well trying to)!!  

Hello Beth/lgb,

I went on the One Planet Adventure Course at llandegla and it was really good. They video you and give you feedback and send you the clips in the post!!

I went with a group of people that i usually ride with so they were able to tailor the day to what we all wanted to do, but i think it was pretty much the core skills format. it was £75 and you get lunch. It was a really good day and i would definately recommend it. The two guys who took the course were really nice.

Dont plan a ride for the following day though. I went up to the lakes the next day to do a 50k ride but had to bail out at 25k cos my arms and legs hurt so much from all the jumping (well trying to)!!  

Hi there

I was also looking at doing the Cycle Active days at Afan.  Don't know what dates I can make til a bit nearer the time though.  Would be good to be on a course with some other she cycle riders.

Are you staying over locally Beth or travelling in each day?

Maybe we could get a few of us on the same course - that would be fun!

Thanks for the feedback

Molly - I know someone else who attended a course at Llandegla and commented on how useful the videos had been....glad you found it useful.  Point about not riding the next day well noted  

Suzibear and Beth - Would be really good indeed to meet up with some fellow shecyclers.  Its always nice to put faces to forum names  

Oh, and btw - I decided to go on a jump course because it is my one aim for 2008 - to get some proper air!  I can occasionally get a bit of air, but I would like to sucessfully do it most of the time and certainly would love to be able to nail a tabletop (that may be a way off yet).  I don't really have any problems with drops on the man-made trails etc, but thats because they are all rollable.  Having a pootle round the downhill section at cannock was something else anything over half a meter and my technic is just too crap to get away with it really - I really want to be able to take these things at speed.  Well to be honest - I just like going really fast and can imagine being in the air as well would make it even more fun

Thanks for the info Molly, I quite like the sound of the OPA videoing you so you can see what you are doing, when I go out riding I am always the one doing the filming or taking the photos so I never get any evidence of what I have been up to...although that said, suspect that what 'feels' like about a 4ft drop might actually be more like a large kerb. And the camera never lies!

I'm going to see how I get on with CycleActive and then might go on one of the OPA courses at a later date, I am a bit of a course junkie.

Suzi- how is the dhing and the new bike? I am going to be staying over in Afan, it's a bit of a trek for me (from rubbish and flat London) so just going to stay in a B&B on the Friday night. My boy (ahem chauffeur) is coming too, I think he's going to do a race practice day at Gethin.

lgb - do you ride Cannock often? Am planning a trip up there soon for a play on the dh runs, what are the dh courses there like?

Beth wrote (see)

lgb - do you ride Cannock often? Am planning a trip up there soon for a play on the dh runs, what are the dh courses there like?

Yeah - we have been up a fair bit since moving to Malvern at the end of last year - mostly 'follow the dog', but also some hidden stuff over the other side which I can never find without a guide.

TBH I have only ridden the downhill section once and I am not a downhill rider (yet.....ok, I wish lol) so I can't comment on how good the course is in comparison to others.  It was great fun though - there are several routes to pick from with varying height drop offs/jumps.  I think the drops all have side runs too - so everyone can have a go down - even if there are newbies who want to roll all the way. 

DH course at Cannock is good fun.  Only been there once and though it's not a long course there are lots of places you can play about on and practice technique. 

Beth - not done a lot yet with the new bike but am off to Bringewood tomorrow.  Last time I went there I fell off soooo many times.  Hope it's not too slippery.

If anyone fancies meeting up to do the DH at Cannock I would be up for that.

Have a good weekend all.

Hi there,

Bob at Oneplanet Adventure at Llandegla here, you definatly dont have to be able to do a 4ft drop or jump to come on our courses here! You start from as little as 4 inches and you would not be expected to do anything outside your skill level. All courses are adjusted to suit the confidence of the rider. It's all in the comfort zone..however if we think you have the skills we will definatly give you a bit of encouragment to push yourself further. We alway try to have female coach on our Ladies only courses too.

If you guys are intrested and can get groups of 8 people together we could put a Shecycles 'private' course together give you a bit of a discount and do a Jumps N Drops style course with you all.

There is quite a bit of confusion with course names at the moment with everyone calling things Core Skills or Jumps N Drops ECT but were working with a group of course providers who are all involved with the CTC to work towards a common course programs hopefully which will make things esier in the future.

If you guys are interested in a 'She Cycles' course drop us a mail in info@oneplanetadventure.co.uk of call 01978751656 and we can take things from there.

Happy riding!

Bob @OPA