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News ArchiveMountainbikeTrax runs Army MTB Course MountainbikeTrax recently provided instructors, tutor and other support to the Army Cycling Unions (ACU) inaugural Scottish Mountain Bike Leader Association's (SMBLA) Trailside Coaching Leader (TCL) course. The course was extremely popular and required the organisation to allocate considerable assets to the planning, running and logistical support to the 9-day event.
The students, instructors and tutors spent time on areas described as "world class", where they had to contend with terrain from the routine to extremely technical up to MBL standard and beyond. The event is generating much interest in the military and was visited by the Army’s own monthly journal "Soldier Magazine". The students started on the football pitch learning new on-the-bike skills and coaching techniques; they spent time in the classroom covering the theory behind leadership, navigation, nutrition, bike-clothing and then they spent time really getting stuck into the bikes; learning about trailside recovery and bike maintenance. They then progressed into the local terrain to put these skills into practice. The course consisted of 2 days instruction, 2 further days training by two SMBLA tutors, a TCL assessment for those that were ready plus an additional 1-day’s consolidation training for the rest followed by a TCL assessment. Following this, they spent 2 further days leading groups round the terrain they were now qualified to lead on.
The week long course also gave the recently qualified instructors and leaders the chance to hone there own skills as teachers and enhanced their prospects of one day achieving higher-level qualifications. The course feedback indicates that many of the students are either "definitely" or "highly likely" to return to progress, in time, to MBL level courses. Related links:
Director of Mountainbike Trax, an Aberdeen-based MTB company specialising in training, holidays and adventure, Andrew can be found pounding these trails on his Giant XTC hardtail at least four days a week, maintaining his fitness for taking the odd client out or just for the hell of getting out into the countryside he loves. "The great thing about this route is there's grassy singletrack, forest techy trails, hilltop moorland and fast man-made stuff" says Andrew. The first section we tackle after leaving the aptly named start point at Kingswell Park and Ride car park (GR867063), Kingshill Wood, is where Mountainbike Trax often brings riders for a quick skills refresher. As a SMBLA qualified coach Andrew rates the area highly as a confidence builder. "We can check out how clients fare here, and decide where to take them on the rest of the ride, it's a great test."
"There's grassy singletrack and fast man made stuff" Dropping off the back of Brimmond, the trail heads round the third hilltop, Elrick Hill. The killer stair climb at the start belies the feast of top singletrack that is to come, threading its way through boulders and cutting a narrow line through the heather. Here the route can be extended by heading up into Kirkhill Forest (starts at GR 854114) to spin round the waymarked trails, or you can hit the tarmac back to your start/finish point. This article originally appeared in Edition 59 of What Mountain Bike Magazine, published 28 June 2006. The Ultimate Adrenaline Rush By John Gow, Scotland on Sunday ...What Perthshire is to water sports enthusiasts, though, Royal Deeside and Aberdeenshire is to mountain bikers. Kirkhill Forest, just outside Aberdeen, is home to a mountain biking 'fun park' with a trail including plenty of jumps and switchbacks. For those looking for more of a challenge, Deeside-based Mountain Bike Trax offers mountain biking experiences throughout the area and beyond. "Biking is our passion," says Andrew Thompson of his team of five SMBLA instructors, "We don't offer it as a sideline to other activities - with us, it's mountain biking and nothing else." Many mountain bikes never take on anything more challenging than a stiff gradient on a road on the way to work. Not if they're taken on a Mountain Bike Trax course. "We take bikes high on the hills, as well as through forest tracks and bespoke routes," says Thompson. "True mountain biking isn't for the faint-hearted."
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We assisted the ACU to qualify a group of SMBLA TCLs and gave other students the opportunity to gain valuable log-book experience for future TCL and Mountain Bike Leader (MBL) courses. Already qualified MBLs also had the opportunity to assist the tutors on a TCL training course and help on a TCL assessment - this will be extremely valuable experience should they become tutors in the future.
The course took them to numerous routes around Aberdeen, the hills around Aboyne and Stonehaven and the man-made tracks at Fochabers. The groups leaned to tackle drop-offs, bunny-hops, manuals, wheelies, rear-wheel-lifts and track-stands. They then practiced this on north-shore-obstacles, huge downhill and uphill obstacles. Students spent a large amount of time on the very popular blue, green, red and black routes.
Reader route
Hop over a fence from Aberdeen Airport and you're literally straight onto Andrew Thompson's favourite local ride. The rolling hills inland of the Granite City are a goldmine of undiscovered trails and singletrack, peaks and rivers, lochs and glens. And it is here Andrew makes his living too.
The narrow, sometimes fast, sometimes muddy paths wind in and out of the trees up and down the hill hopping up and over logs, brushing against trunks in narrow turns. It's a figure of eight loop essentially, so the trail skirts the central trig point twice before spitting out back on the A944 for a rapid crossing. The ride continues onto one of the open moorland sectons, climbing over the challenging Brimmond Hill. There are some damn tricky sections, but it's something to strive for if you try the ride.