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...if there is such a thing?
Laddo who was 14 back in Feb has come on leaps and bounds literally in the last year. I probably can't teach him much more in the way of riding and wonder if say someone like Jedi could improve his riding further. Or just save the money and keep on as he is?
April first was yesterday
BMX will teach him loads.
Tell him to go and ride with his mates in the woods.
Mine did a group tutor thing at the local DH park a year or so ago. They do them in the half terms/school hols in a lot of bike parks... which is quite handy timing.
Facebook is a good place to look.
I saw some progression from the little swine
13 hours on the jumps this weekend. Then another 4 after school last night. We're talking serious commitment here and ever increasing skill level so sarcy comments like
howsyourdad1
Subscriber
April first was yesterday
aren't all that helpful.
I find it best to ignore the unhelpful and thank the helpful 😉
BC club finder is a good place to start. Speak to a few close to you and find out what they do, some will focus more heavily on MTB than others, usually depends on the makeup of the coaching team. Most clubs are delighted to have keen teenagers come and get involved, as numbers inevitably shrink between the 7-8 age group and the teenage years.
Thanks Dez, I know they do a few courses at bpw but it's a fair trek for us. I might see if there's owt at stile cop at cannock.
2tyred thanks again, never thought of that. Will do a bit of checking, one thing for certain xc dedinitely isn't his thing, I thought he was going to kill me with the death stare after his first race last month 🤣🤣
Take / enter him into a Racer Guild at Stile Cop, he can learn alot watching the better riders.
As said above, check out your local clubs Facebook pages.
I know Dirtschool at glentress run school holiday camps.
Also https://www.abernethy.org.uk/activities/mountain-biking/
Run a gravity camp. Met them out once and it was Ben Cathro that was leading the group.
Tell me about it.
Eldest_oab cracked no footers and no handers on the jump. Youngest_oab riding (slowly) off-piste black.
The other answer as well as coaching is to find a group of pals and send them down the woods...
Our coaching was at one of the B1KE parks. None of those local?
Racing I'd say - pretty cheap to try out and dip in and out of .. does depend what you class as 'improving' though I guess, if he's having fun and getting out anyway leave him to it! Thought about a Jedi day with my lad, but mainly to keep me company... he's been hitting a local BMX track on his mtb recently and that's brought him on a bit, but most likely will just have him nagging me for a BMX
Move to the Tweed Valley
BC youth clubs/coaching isn't just about XC or racing - plenty of BMX and DH-focused clubs around, plenty of scope in the youth coaching pathway that doesn't involve XC racing.
Move to the Tweed Valley
Scotland in general seems to have some really rather good yoof bike clubs and rather handy riders. So yeah, move to Innerleithan.
The UK in general has some rather talented young riders.
it's *those* parents that sets the Tweed Valley apart 😉
😆😆😆
sorry I genuinely thought it was sarcastic post. A skills day is a running joke on the forum isn't it?
Best of luck!
It was around 14 that my lad got better than me on a bike (and snowboard). Mainly through time on the bike and riding with some newly found bike mates.
Just encourage him to hook up with other young riders when he’s out with you. Social networking has made it a lot easier for them to find riding buddies.
Ask him what he wants to do and go with it, if its DH then look at whats local, if its Enduro then there are loads of races he can enter even if its for fun. The PMBA have age groups, you may have to go round with him or could request a chaperone, usually one of their ambassadors.
Its not going to be easy at his age to get about so it will mean commitment to get him about to events.
If it was me, always impulsive, I would be onto the PMBA to see if you can wangle a place at Gisburn this weekend and in at the deep end. Its a great way to ride with his own age group.
Steel City DH goes live on Thursday so could be an option.
We had the same dilemma at his age with Abigale who still just wants to ride her bike.
He's in for round 2 and 3 of the Welsh enduro series and we're hoping to bag a spot at steel city when it goes live. I do know parents tend to have a rose tinted view of their kids and I'm not one for bigging them up and putting them under unwanted pressure but I actually think if he sticks at it and keeps progressing at tjis he could be very good.
Send him down to the local estate, they all seem to be able to do every trick in the book! They can ride for longer on 1 wheel than I can on 2...
Alternatively, I can't see a reason why a coaching session wouldn't help
if he's doing 13 hours at the jumps over the weekends he'll be getting better all the time and will give himself the skills that he'll enjoy for as long as he keeps riding. I think my boy is doing ok for a nine year old, and then I see things like this vid of Harry Schofield...
I can't seem to embed video, but that link is worth watching!
Guessing you're location isn't suitable for B1ke parks, but this is their FB search anyway "B1ke ShredSchool"
FoD & 417 do coaching so they might be easier to get to than BPW, depending on where you are.