Back in 2017 I trained on the Dirt School Training Plan and almost did the legendary Trans-Provence race when my nemesis got the better of me and a dislocated shoulder ended the adventure before it started. The shoulder and rehab hurt along with the disappointment of not taking part in something I’d worked so hard for (see previous blog post).

The organisers took a year out in 2018 to come back in 2019 for a final show down and somehow I found myself in the mix of GCs and awesome trails with a chance of redemption and learning a bit on the way.

Trans Provence (TP) is a mythical race for some of us. Surprisingly it is pretty unknown to others. The ‘race’ started in 2009 when Ash Smith and Melissa Munro ran the first multi-day alpine rally. The format is sweet and simple: 6 days of riding point to point with 4 special stages a day connected with magical liaison stages through beautiful landscape, with uplifts thrown in to double the descending. Just as much as it is a ‘race’ it is a celebration of trails and the skill of riding blind. There are no practise runs, instead it’s just a rush of bombing down hill while navigating unknown single-track and using Jedi powers to predict what happens next. It is a real test of stamina, skill and perseverance both physically and mentally.

Over the years the event has been fine tuned to perfection for the 90 riders that are fortunate to join the party. Basically you ride your bike all day, literally, with a good crowd while a top team look after you. Logistically it is a big challenge moving a tent camp for 90 riders and their kit plus all the support staff. The support is what makes this possible to do; the cooking and camp staff somehow cheers you on.

2019 was the last TP and Ash and co wanted to bow out in style with 24 new stages of which most had never been raced before. The stats were 308km of riding between Barcellonette and Menton with 9284m of climbing and enough uplifts to get 22723m descending with combined stage times of around 3 hours, faster for some, slower for rest of us.

THE RACE

It is still a bit of a blur even long after the celebratory jump in the Mediterranean and others have documented the 2019 edition and race results better than I can. A few notable ones are:

· Satchel Cronk’s Bike Mag Photo epic from the back of the race is awesome

· Gary Perkin’s daily race updates on Santa Cruz’s news feed sum it up from a veteran

· The daily race feed videos are awesome and worth a watch to get an idea of the journey and variability of the landscape

· Lastly the summaries by Dirty Nomad are a fun view from the race pack

From my perspective the days pretty quickly found a rhythm. Get up at 6am, gear on, pack up kit bag before a big breakfast, find your bike, go! I’d either set of or get first shuttle around 7.30am. and was typically back in camp before 6pm. This left 2 hours for snack (calories rule), shower, stretch, bike fix and a few beers from Saupadia Brewing (tasty calories that fit in anywhere) before dinner (more calories) — repeat. That is 10–12 hours on the move 6 days in a row in the mountains riding trails curated by Ash et al. Best holiday I’ve ever had, not sure how to top it.

DAY ZERO

Dragged my self and kit to Nice airport and assembled the bike outside the bus station in the sun before being picked up together with a bunch of other bike-nuts and shuttled to first camp site. Met two guys that fancied a quick pre-race loop before dinner. I wanted to get a feel for the trails nice and slow, turned out both were fitter and better riders — wake up call #1.

DAY ONE

Racing in this terrain is different: I have tried blind racing and ridden this type of terrain before but I wasn’t getting it and pushed too hard, way too hard. I needed to get up to speed and find the flow ASAP. Often I was riding like a numpty making typical mistakes like braking too late or at the wrong points and letting the bike control the game — too much ‘fast in and uncontrolled out’ as opposed to the Dirt School way of looking for good exit speed by controlled braking and being smooth through the turns.

DAY TWO

Had 1000m descending and 17km just to get to the start of the first stage, felt like an epic on its own. Still not getting it. More crashing of the kind that can cut a ride short real fast. Started to get images of Andy Barlow and Rab Wardell telling me off.

DAY THREE

It finally started to click! I realised I couldn’t keep crashing all the way to the Med. All went fine until last stage of the day. Not sure if was all the talk about ‘the hardest stage’ or that Steve Peat was dibbing us in, either way it was not good. I rode stiff and ended up with an OTB into a burnt bush and came out blackened with 13 minutes to go and couldn’t feel my hands and forearms for the rest of the stage...that evening I discovered the power of massage as a recovery tool.

DAY FOUR

Got the rhythm, had fun and stayed rubber side down on a long 60km day with 1900m climbing and 4400m descending. Seemed to be better at left hand turns and developed a poor man’s endo turn for the sharp rights — basically a mix between a one foot skateboard move and a rear wheel heel kick, wasn’t pretty but energy conserving and faster than other techniques I currently master. Had the best ever hand massage to remove the ‘claw’ shape of my hands.

DAY FIVE

Solidified day four and had a pretty clean run. The day started early with a long shuttle to Italy to travel back to camp in Breil-sur-Roya as epic as epic goes. More hand and forearm massage required.

DAY SIX

To the Med! Hot and hard day ending in a long hike-a-bike to the last saddle and THAT view of the Med for the last ever stage of TP (emotional) followed by a cruise through town for beach, beer and jumping into the sea. Complex compound feeling of having succeeded, wanting beer, gelato & pizza, not wanting it to stop, exhausted and pumped in same moment, gratitude for the traverse and all the people that made this come true.

The untimed Stage 25 from the beach to the campsite through Menton was a mad cruise of 100 bikers getting lost now that the black ‘TP’ arrows was no longer there to follow. The mad scene of a lot of bike bags being packed at midnight in a state of drunk on life, high fives, plain drunkenness and looking for your black bag in a sea of similar black Evoc bags was perfect ending to this adventure. The cooked breakfast at dawn served as the full stop before the lift to Nice airport and the journey back to normality with a new view on things. Thanks TP.

HOW HARD IS IT?

This is hard and getting through is an achievement. Long time pro Geoff Kabush wrote: “Trans-Provence is one of the most amazing events I’ve ever done but also one of the hardest. It is so challenging physically, mentally, and technically that I can’t say I would recommend it to very many people” — Trans Provence Race Diary

It is a strain to keep riding, eating and staying focused while grinding another 600 vertical metres of a fire road in the sun or hauling your bike up to some col in the middle of nowhere thinking “how the f… does he find these trails?” On top of that racing blind is mentally exhausting. Just to keep you on your toes the liaison between the stages is challenging as well with exposed trails or long sustained climbs, no rest for the wicked.

I did have my Garmin on to log how hard the effort really was and to compare other events. Basically, I haven’t anything like it in terms of continuous load, numbers are irrelevant and algorithms don’t compute that kinda stupidity but the TrainingPeaks graphs give an idea.

TrainingPeaks graph showing 2018 baseline vs. 2019 and the TP spike.

I was shattered once the clock stopped and I made it through the front door with that foolish grin you have when achieving something a little out there…

HOW DO YOU PREPARE?

From 2016 to 2018 I have been training on the Dirt School Training Plan. For 2019 I gave myself the challenge to see if I have learnt enough to self-program my training and get ready. In my case the controlling factor is training time available as constraints such as family and work (ugly innit?) control the training time. Living ‘north of the wall’ in northeastern Scotland also limit things a bit from a weather perspective in winter months.

I started training in December 2018 and had a good base from three Scottish enduro seasons and the time with Dirt School. Over the winter I kept at it with rides when possible, gym twice a week and two turbo sessions a week.

· By March, I was a little behind following some bent ribs after minor snowboard slam (don’t jib if you are 20+). To give it a boost I added some extra long days (4hr rides).

· From end April started to do multiple day training blocks to build the load with a weekend being a 1500m vertical meters day and a 100km road ride or a turbo if low on time.

· Through May it was a matter of keeping the load going and ride a lot from laps at the local to big hill epics or long road rides.

· In the whole period I was doing 2–3 days a week in the gym with various weight and functional training and a turbo session once a week for HIIT intervals (it sucks but it works).

WHAT DID I LEARN (and what did I miss)

· Racing blind like this is amazing and test you to a whole new level. The way new trails opens up in front of you in something that fells like warp speed, but isn’t, is an experience second to none in mountain biking. Its racing, testing, exploration and the boogeyman in one extraordinary eclectic mix.

· You can never be too fit, I was pretty happy where I got to and I felt strong to the last stage. My best results were the last 3 days where I stopped crashing and could keep pushing. Being even fitter just gives capacity on the trail and drives mental strength so the focus can remain.

· The top riders are strong and able to push at a ridiculous pace and hang on too. I’d come down with forearms screaming, fully lit with a clean run and the fast guys would still be 3+ min ahead — just a different pace and fantastic to experience.

· A good weight training and functional movement programme is key to build a body that will hold on and survive a full week. This is the one thing I so far has found as being key to all my training the last 5 years. It keeps a 40+ office worker from degrading.

· Turbo HIIT sessions are not the most fun way of training but they are incredible efficient. 2 a week in winter and your mates are gonna suffer behind you in spring.

· You can never be ‘good enough’ on your bike and I neglected to train some key technical skills, endo turning being on of them — it just smoothens out the ride.

· The Dirt School way works, the fundamentals of the training plan delivered the fitness. I would have ridden better and more controlled the first 2 days I had managed to ride with flow to the Dirt School philosophy. This would have meant better results, more importantly it would have meant less crashes that could have ended the riding.

· I don’t think you can eat too much… by Day three the breakfast tables had gone a little quiet and people were forcing the king size porridge down

· Massage is king to relieve and restore the muscles and get loose again. Didn’t believe much in it before — I do now.

· Having a good physiotherapist on speed dial that understand sport with a modern mind-set during your training periods is key to manage the little niggles and minor injuries that pop up. I have relied on the team at the Physioteraphy Clinic at Robert Gordon University Wellness since 2017.

· A wide brim sun hat is a great way to survive the long climbs in the sun; you may look like you got lost from a garden party but it works. I didn’t bring one and survived with a cap. On hot days there was a bit of sun hat envy going on.

GO EXPLORING…

Sadly this was the last TP so new adventures are required. Now it doesn’t have to be TP or any other big trip abroad to get the feeling of adventure, there is plenty of adventure right on your doorstep. I recently was talked into doing the Big Beastie in the Scottish borders: 86km and 3200m of ascent, riding some of the best of the Tweed Valley. It is just about selecting something out of your comfort zone and pushing yourself.

Thanks to Jeppe for writing about his Trans Provence journey. If you have any big goals for next year and think we can help you get there too, then check out the Dirt School Training Plan or email our fitness coach directly at jimmy@dirtschool.co.uk .

If you’re into long days out on your skinny wheels, then the coast-to-coast journey from Arisaig to Stonehaven is worth doing as a monstrous 300km ride. Andy rode it last summer, putting it on Janey’s radar so she went to follow suit with her good friend Emma…

The ride is stunning and a proper tour of Scotland’s ever-changing landscapes. Starting off on the rugged west coast eventually reaching the rolling hillside stretching from Laggan to Aviemore then it’s into the big hills and open moorland as you climb up past the Lecht ski centre, finally finishing with a stunning ride through Deeside along the riverbank. As you reach the 300km mark, you catch a glimpse of the sea on the East coast and descend into Stonehaven. It’s an amazing journey, albeit a long one.

We set off from Arisaig as the sun rose at 4.30am to make the most of the long daylight hours. The forecast was looking good with a tail wind most of the way and dry with sunny spells — ideal as battling a headwind would have made the ride significantly harder. It wouldn’t be a proper Scottish ride without some liquid sunshine, however, and it certainly delivered for our first leg of the day and not long after we left the coast it started to chuck down…

Thankfully, it only stuck around for a couple of hours then we were into perfect weather for the rest of our journey after a quick change of clothes!

In all honesty, the entire ride was non-eventful. We had no mechanicals, neither of us hit the wall and no one had any mental battles along the way. It was just an enjoyable ride from start to finish, so I’ll let the photos tell the story and explain how we set ourselves up for success.

Planning

It might sound obvious, but it’s worth taking the time to plan your approach to the ride — be disciplined and make sure you stick to it. Emma and I had been very conserved with our predicted average speed and wanted to allow ourselves 16 hours to complete it with a bit of leeway, hence the 4.30am start. Since we knew we had plenty of time to play with, we were never worrying about having to ride in the dark, but we also had lights packed with us in case it came to that.

We had planned to ride in zone 2 (aerobic capacity/moderate effort), or below for the entire duration. We backed off as much as we could on every climb to stay within this heart rate zone for most of the ride, but there was the odd occasion where we were out the saddle in our easiest gear! There are a few steep climbs on the route, particularly over the Lecht. These are unavoidable so just embrace it and don’t get sucked into pushing too hard for a Strava time!

Planning your stops is worthwhile too. We broke our ride down into six roughly even chunks:

Leg 1: Arisaig to Fort William

Leg 2: Fort William to Laggan

Leg 3: Laggan to Aviemore

Leg 4: Aviemore to Tomintoul

Leg 5: Tomintoul to Ballater via the Lecht

Leg 6: Ballater to Stonehaven

We were then able to only carry the food and water we needed for each leg and were able to refuel at each check point…

Fuelling

As soon as you’re hungry, it’s too late. Make sure you eat consistently throughout the ride. I was eating half an energy bar (or equivalent) every 30 minutes, as well as filling my bottles with carbohydrates. I mainly ate carbs — wraps, potatoes, sticky rice balls and bars and avoided sugar. Everything you eat and drink should be tried and tested beforehand so you don’t end up with an upset stomach halfway through the ride.

Sticking to this made a big difference, I didn’t even feel hungry when we made it to Stonehaven and felt like I had gained weight over the course of the ride with the number of calories I was putting in!

Jimmy, our fitness coach’s advice for this one was ‘eat like ***’ — we certainly did that — and it worked.

Training

I’m fortunate enough to spend a lot of time in the saddle as a full-time mountain bike coach, so my base fitness is already quite good and I’m used to being on my bike all day. However, in the few weeks beforehand, Jimmy (our fitness coach at Dirt School) scheduled in some sessions to help me prepare for it. I know I can spin in zone 2 for a long time, so the focus here was on improving on power up the steeper climbs to reduce the fatigue they would have on me during the ride.

I spent a fair bit of time on my road bike in the run up to make sure I was comfortable on the bike. As a mountain biker, I’m regularly off the road bike for periods of time and it was worth me getting used to the different position before spending over 12 hours in the saddle.

Training for something like this will be different for everyone depending on where you’re currently at. Whatever challenge or event you’re planning, it’s worth putting some time into training for it so you can perform at your best and have a much more enjoyable experience.

Mindset

This is probably the most important one of all and breaking our ride down into six individual legs certainly helped with this. We approached it as six shorter rides, rather than one long one. This is the same way I approach an interval session during training — you only focus on the interval you’re doing and not about how many more you have to go! I remember us discussing with 70 km to go that we were just doing an evening ride. It works.

Ride with a ‘can do’ attitude. As soon as you go into a negative head space it’s a battle to come out of it. I’ve been there many times. For this ride, we both remained positive from start to finish. We kept laughing about how easy the ride was — by saying it so often, we believed it was easy and achievable — which it turned out to be.

Of course, there were a few niggles here and there as you would expect from being on your bike for hours on end, but we just made light of the situation and regularly stopped to stretch when needed. As soon as you fixate on something that’s hurting, it will continue to hurt, so we didn’t really talk about any of it with each other and just managed it in our own way. Emma and I have an unwritten rule of not mentioning any doubt we have in our own heads to the other — it helps to keep us both in a positive frame of mind and achieve what we set out to do.

The Stats

Total duration: 14 hrs 51 mins

Ride time: 12 hrs 39 mins

Total distance: 301.3 km

Total ascent: 3065 m

Average speed: 23.8 km/h

Maximum speed: 81 km/h (not advised in a cross wind — eek!).

This route is a truly memorable journey and one both Janey and Andy would highly recommend considering if you’re looking for a big day out on the road taking in some stunning scenery.

If you think we can help you with any of your fitness goals, check out the Dirt School Training Plan, or contact elisa@dirtschool.co.uk for more information.

Enduro racing is one of the friendliest disciplines of mountain bike racing you can get into. There’s always a super welcoming vibe in the event village and since all the transitions aren’t counted as part of your race result, you’ll find yourself chatting away and making new friends on the climbs too. If you enjoy trail riding with some technical riding thrown in and are looking for a good excuse to ride your bike in a new location for an entire day or weekend, then the format of Enduro is certainly one to get involved in.

Since Andy and Janey are chaperoning two of our young advanced academy riders at Tweedlove’s entry level Enduro (Enjoyro) race as part of the Transcend festival this weekend, we thought we would list a few tips here for you to keep in mind to make sure your first experience of Enduro racing is a good one…

Process Based Goals

A lot of things will be completely out of your control at an event. The tracks that you’re racing, the weather, the trail conditions and the other competitors… you have no control over any of it so there’s no point worrying about it. Remember, if it turns into a wet race and conditions on track are hard, it’s hard for everyone, not just you! Accept the course for what it is and do your best.

The things you do have control over are all right under your nose. How you set up your bike, the amount of practice you do, the pace that you ride at during transitions and the riding technique that you use on the day. Your goals should be to focus on doing them to the best of your ability and you’ll soon forget all the things that you can’t make any difference to over the weekend.

Mindset

It’s very easy to get pulled into the stress and pressure of timed runs, but the secret is to recognise that riding on the clock is no different to riding in your own time. Rushing out of corners, leaving your braking later, or riding above a level that you can sustain are all things that will result in you making big mistakes. Don’t rush things. Instead focus on riding clean, staying in control, and focus your efforts on the things that will make a difference. You want to ride fast but not in a hurry.

Remember don’t have to ride every single feature on the course. Ride what you are comfortable riding and if there’s a section you’re finding too hard there’s no shame in getting off the bike and walking/running through it. Yes, you may end up losing a bit of time, but you will lose more time by riding something you feel unable to resulting in a crash. It also removes all of the stress if you go into a stage you’re nervous of with a plan to walk a section you aren’t happy riding. The great thing about riding bikes is there’s always room for improvement no matter what level you’re at, so you can build up to these technical sessions over time. Remember, it’s an entry level Enduro and everyone has to start somewhere.

Pacing Zones

One of the best things we get our more experienced riders to do is to break the tracks down into three main pacing zones — green, amber and red.

A green zone is somewhere you can go as fast as you like, such as pedaling through the car park towards the finish line or on an open fire road sprint in the middle of a stage. Most of the trail riding, however, will be in the amber zone — here is where you back off and try to carry your speed allowing you to conserve energy — don’t put too much effort into pedal strokes, instead try and be clever with how you can carry momentum. A red zone is somewhere steep or at your technical limit — this is where you back off. You want to ride these sections neat and tidy without making mistakes, so don’t rush things and try to get through them clean. You can put all your effort in to going fast on the next green zone when it opens up again.

Instead of trying to go flat out during practice, try to consciously break the stages down into these sections so you have a clear plan in your mind when it comes to race day. If it’s a blind race where you can’t practise, you can still apply the same pacing zones by looking ahead on the trail and slowing up when you see something tight and technical ahead.

What to Carry

Food and Water
You’ll be using a bit more energy than usual so you need to make sure you’re carrying enough fuel for the day. Take plenty of water and food that you’ve tried and tested beforehand. Avoid trying new energy gels or bars on race day in case they don’t work for you and leave you feeling unwell. Don’t rely on feed stations either! You should view feed stations as an added bonus, but there’s every chance you could get there and they may have run out.

Tools
If you have a mechanical or puncture you want to be able to fix it and complete your race. Yes, you may lose time on a stage if this happens, but you can still use the rest of the day to focus on doing the rest of the stages to the best of your ability and see where you’re at. An inner tube, pump, tyre levers, multi-tool and chain link are a good idea.

Spare Clothing
You’ll generally keep moving most of the time during the event so you don’t need to carry loads, but a lightweight easy to carry jacket is a good idea in case you end up queuing at the top of a stage. There’s nothing worse than dropping into your race run unable to feel your fingers as you’ve been getting cold in the queue! Check the weather forecast and pack accordingly. If it’s a nice day, a lightweight windproof jacket that packs down small will do, or if rain is forecast it’s worth sticking a waterproof in your pack.

Less is more here — you don’t want to be carrying too much weight around with you. If you can lighten your pack to the bare essentials, you’ll have a psychological advantage as you’ll feel lighter than normal too. Make sure you have everything you need, but not any unnecessary extras.

Enjoy yourself, it’s an ‘Enjoyro’ after all!

This is really the most important one of the lot — remember to enjoy yourself. At the end of the day a race is not just about the result, it’s about having the opportunity to challenge yourself and push your limits. If you enjoy yourself and have fun riding your bike over the weekend, then you’ve achieved your biggest goal. If you do end up finishing with a good result, it’s just a bonus. Your biggest goal for the weekend should be to smile and have fun!

See you on Sunday!

Pace Yourself
Fancy devices that measure power or heart rate are a great way of keeping your efforts in check, but all you really need is to be aware that you’re probably going too hard at the start, and that you’ll pay for it later. Essentially your heart rate will be lower at the beginning of the event because you’re well rested. As the day goes on however, and you become fatigued, your heart rate will rise because you’re tired. This will mean that you’ll feel like you can push harder at the beginning of the event because you don’t feel like it’s causing you any stress. By the end of the event though, once your body has worked hard for a few hours, that same effort will be almost impossible to sustain. You’ll effectively have to work harder for the same output.

The way to avoid this is to catch yourself early on and don’t get sucked into pointless efforts. Steep climbs or chasing other competitors might feel easy at the time but you’ll pay for it later. The classic analogy here is that you have a box of matches. You can pull them out and light them one or two at a time, but once they’re all gone that’s it. Play the long game and save your legs.

Consistency
The aim here is to keep your lap times roughly the same throughout the entire event. Setting an easy target early on will be a lot better for you mentally because you’ll be able to stay at the same speed or pace on the steeper climbs, hit all the same time checks on certain corners or sections of the lap at the same time, and as you get tired towards the end you’ll be able to dig in and not actually loose too much time.

Choose a couple of features on the lap and keep checking your time. The post here is to be aware NOT to go chasing certain times, but instead break the lap into chunks. As the day goes on you’ll likely get slower, so try and settle in and perhaps only push it on one or two really hard bits. Take it easy where you can, rest, and settle in for the long haul.

Technique
On a long event like this you’ll get very tired towards the end. This is where all the mistakes will happen. You’ll become more familiar with the lines and conditions as you do more laps, but you may also become complacent. Stand up where you can, lock your legs out, and drop your heels. If you’re stood up with your legs bent you’ll be burning out your quads all day. Remember and support your weight on your skeleton wherever possible. Bend your elbows and be ready to absorb features. You don’t need to ride aggressively here, so no pushing back into features like we normally suggest, but be ready to absorb the choppier stuff by zoning in on your neutral riding position.

Keep your neutral riding position solid and deliberate even when you get tired. That way you can be ready for all those small features that will likely come out of the trail with erosion, or roots and rocks that catch you out as your mind drifts.

Nutrition
Eat and drink all day. If you become hungry or thirsty it’s probably already too late. Try and take on board an energy bar and a 500ml bottle of water every lap. If you’re going full strength energy drink, remember that as you smash gels and bars, you’ll need water to dilute all that stodge. Perhaps a bottle of water on a lap where you’re planning a gel as well as a bar is a good idea. Try and take on a bar every hour or lap, whichever comes first.

Smile for the Fans
We’ve left the most important one till the end. No matter what happens remember and see the funny side. Keeping a positive mental attitude will do your own performance wonders, but it will also bring on the people around you. Everyone else will be in the same boat, so make a joke about it and spur each other on. Making faces at the camera is a great way of breaking the monotony and having a good laugh with a marshals or fellow competitors. Smile for the cameras and you’ll keep that positivity going.

Hope you all have an awesome time and best of luck at the event!

This week it’s fitness guru Jimmy’s turn for a Q&A…

What do you do for Dirt School?

I take care of the Fitness aspect of Dirt School. My main work revolves working alongside riders to get them both fitter and stronger.

Tell us a bit about your background:

I was a professional cyclist for around eight years before I retired from elite racing in 2014. My main highlight would be competing in four Commonwealth Games, where I won a bronze medal in 2006. I was two x British champion and was Scottish champion multiple times across all disciplines on road and track.

Once I stopped racing full gas I decided to turn my attention to helping other athletes. That lead to working in high performance environments with professional cycling teams both as a manager and as a coach.

In 2016, I set a new record for the North Coast 500 (non-stop) and try to drop that into every conversation I can…haha.

- British Cycling Qualified Club coach
- Level 4 Strength & Conditioning coach

What do you like about coaching?

It’s cheesy, but for me it’s all about the journey. I aim to teach people about training and don’t just dictate. For me there’s nothing better than enabling people to have a good understanding of what they are trying to achieve. I then keep reminding them of that…haha.

What do you do with your free time?

Hang with my wife and little girl… when I say hang that usually translates into being told to do loads of things that I have forgotten I agreed to do.

What kind of riding do you like? Any particular trails to mention?

I have only come back to MTB riding in the last 3 years. Man I missed it. You can usually find me on the hill doing a very bad job of hanging on to Ruaridh Cunningham and Mark Scott

What would the other coaches say about you?

He’s handsome but not photogenic.. lol!

Do you have any goals for the year?

Yes, I‘m competing in several long distance MTB events — 10 Under the Ben and the Glentress 7, as well as maybe a couple of SXC (Scottish Cross Country) events when I can. Goal wise — I am pretty set on podium results in all of these, but it’s all about the taking part…right?

What are you currently working on in your own riding?

My descending is my big thing right now. When it comes to riding the engine is good, but I firmly believe we can all be improving our downhill skills.

If you missed our last Q&A with Joe you can find it here.

This week we asked Joe some questions…

What do you do for Dirt School?

I get to ride my bike and get paid for it! How amazing is that! I’m a part time coach and a Mountain Bike Coaching UK (MBCUK) tutor, so I run the leadership courses for Dirt School too. I have been coming up from my home in the Lake District since last spring and also help out with the Borders College BASE sessions, facilitating the good times!

Tell us a bit about your background:

I was born in Kendal and grew up across the border in the Yorkshire Dales. Me and my brother spent all our time building jumps and messing around on bikes as youngsters and this developed into racing downhill and then later enduro. I went to university to do a fun degree in Outdoor Education and when I graduated I got into work in the outdoors but mainly MTB skills coaching for a company based in the North East called Pro Ride. Having coached for them for a number of years that business was sold and moved down south and through a leadership award I met the Dirt School guys and was offered opportunities up in Scotland. I’m really grateful for this they are an amazing bunch to work for and are always super psyched to develop for the better. I look forward to the future.

What do you like about coaching?

It’s brilliant to earn a bit of coin doing something you love to do. I also love it when people get light bulb moments of realisation if you’ve helped them develop a skill or iron out a bad habit they may have had for years. It usually puts a smile on their faces and gets everyone fired up!

What do you do with your free time?

All sorts — I love to try new things. My favourite things have to be riding my bike of course and rock climbing. I find they compliment each other really well. I will do a load of biking for a while then get blown out and climb for a while then vice versa. My truly ideal day though has to be a multi activity day when you get a ride climb and maybe a swim in a lake in at the end.

What kind of riding do you like? Any particular trails to mention?

Living in the Lake District I’ve grown to love riding rocky loose passes up in the mountains. I love a big loop where you have to carry your bike up steep mountains then blast down the other side. One of my favourites has to be the 4 passes loop in the Lakes or Sticks pass on Helvellyn. However I have loved coming up to the tweed valley more and riding between trees.

What would the other coaches say about you?

I’m not sure, I think they’re still trying to figure me out 😂, I think I’m still trying to figure myself out too!

Do you have any goals for the year?

To settle my life out a bit, I’d ideally like to get a house of my own, have a go at doing the grown up thing!

What are you currently working on in your own riding?

Getting back in the groove of riding between trees. I don’t do enough of it in the Lakes so it’s great coming up to the Tweed Valley and blasting through the trees trying to keep up with the BASE students.

If you’ve missed our last Q&A with Janey, you can find it here.

We’re just over a third of the way through the six month Laughland Enduro Scholarship now. Polly Henderson and Fraser Kelly are the two athletes we’ve been lucky to work with as part of this initiative, which gives up and coming junior riders a similar level of training support to what professional riders would receive. If you missed our first article and would like to find out more about how this scholarship came about, you can do so here.

After the initial meeting with James McCallum (our fitness coach), and Andy Barlow (one of our technical riding coaches), Polly and Fraser have been getting stuck into their new training plan. The programme isn’t just about physical training however, it also includes personalised technical riding sessions which aim to not only develop the riders technical skills, but also educate them on race strategy.

We’ve now run a few of these sessions with the two athletes and they’ve both responded well to the feedback. In both cases, we’ve focused on a larger range of motion allowing for smoother delivery of weight on the trail. This allows for more reaction time and improved control. The secret to speed is confidence, and the secret to confidence is control.

Re-calibrating a riders perceived exertion is a tricky one to get them to trust, because as you give them more control it feels to them like they’re going slower. They have to trust the process and know when to press on, and more importantly, where to back off.

Completing the feedback loop is essential for a rider to have a better idea of what they’re doing, and both Fraser and Polly have responded well to the video feedback and made significant improvements after seeing themselves ride.

We caught up with them both to find out how they’ve been getting on since their last coaching sessions:

“I’ve had two technical riding sessions so far, and the main thing I’m working on now is riding lower on the bike for more control. I’ve always been quite an upright rider so am spending a fair bit of time thinking about this when I ride so it becomes automatic. I’d only ever seen myself riding in photos from races before, so the video feedback has been really helpful — I can actually see what I look like when I ride, and clearly see the changes that I need to make.

My training is going really well and is challenging at times — I’m still playing netball and basketball on top of it and have my prelim exams this week so it’s quite full on just now! I’m looking forward to re-testing with James at the end of the month so I can see how much improvement I’ve made so far.” Polly

“Since my technical coaching session with Andy, I’ve been focusing on slowing down my movements to give myself a more scale-able riding technique. I’ve also been practising my manuals on my new bike. With the training, it has been quite challenging getting out in the snow and ice up here in Munlochy (the Black Isle), but is definitely worth it as I can feel myself getting stronger.” Fraser

The next step for our athletes is a visit to the META cave on 23rd February to do their second set of tests with James so we can track their improvements.

If you have any goals for the year and think training is something we could help you out with, check out the Dirt School Training Plan or contact elisa@dirtschool.co.uk.

Why the MBCUK award scheme?

MBCUK exists to improve mountain bikers awareness of the knowledge and skills required to coach and lead on bikes with optimum safety, education and comfort. It’s the UK’s longest established national award scheme for mountain bikers and will allow you to provide coaching to your groups on the trail giving you the freedom to run the sessions you want.

The aim of the Trail Leader (TL) and Technical Trail Leader (TTL) course is to train and assess candidates to lead cycling activities, on and off-road using evidence of their previous experience, personal riding skills and Coaching and Leading ability in a variety of terrains and riding scenarios. The courses also cover navigation, safety and group management, trailside maintenance, planning and risk assessments, coaching and instruction and emergency procedures.

Benefits:

● Combined coaching and leading qualification keeping things simple with one award covering you for both.
● Lower cost and time commitment.
● Forward thinking, user friendly award that recognises rider’s previous experience
● Inspected and endorsed by the Association of British Cycling Coaches (ABCC) for membership and insurance.
● Inspected by Adventuremark — the national licensing and advisory body for non-statutory adventure training activities.
● Recognised by the Association of British Mountain Bike Guides (ABMG) — an internationally recognised mountain bike guiding standard.
● Recognised by the Adventurous Activities Licensing Scheme (AALS).

If you’re interested in getting a leading and coaching qualification, then download our information pack to find out more.

Our first courses are running this weekend and more dates will be announced on our website soon.

We’ve had a few changes to our team over the last six months, so we asked all our coaches a few questions so you can find out a bit more about them. This week it’s Janey’s turn:

What do you do for Dirt School?

I’m a full time member of the team — my time is mainly split between coaching, accounts and marketing, so I’m currently answering my own questions! I also look after our Kids Academy and have recently developed our first Women’s Courses which I’ll start running in the spring.

Tell us a bit about your background:

I grew up in the middle east where there wasn’t much in the way of mountain biking, so climbing was my sport as a child. I started at the age of seven and that was my main focus for the next 12 years — I trained four to five times a week and did a bit of competing, later spending a lot of time climbing outdoors and exploring in the mountains. A rainy summer led to me finding something else to do when I couldn’t climb, and that turned out to be bikes, which soon took over.

I went to uni and studied Maths and spent the summers getting outdoor qualifications as I never really wanted to work in an office full-time. After graduating, I worked as a mountain leader and mountain bike guide, amongst other things before I began coaching for Dirt School.

What do you like about coaching?

Seeing people improve and boosting their confidence by giving them more control on the bike. It’s really rewarding. I also like being outside and meeting groups of like minded people — it’s a great way to spend your working day, particularly when the weather’s nice!

What do you do with your free time?

Ha, I ride bikes! I’m not the type of person that spends much time sitting still, so most of my free time involves exercising until I’m so tired that I can’t anymore! I love doing big days on the mountain bike with a group of friends, putting the miles in on the road bike and even doing intervals on the turbo. I also love climbing and spending time in the mountains with my other half, Neil. Climbing takes you to so many amazing places, you can’t really beat being high up on the crag on a bluebird day with no one else around.

I also have an 11 year old west highland terrier, so spend a fair bit of time walking around the woods at a very slow pace while she sniffs every inch of the ground.

What kind of riding do you like? Any particular trails to mention?

I love technical enduro trails, and I would say that’s where my strengths lie too. Awkward, slower speed rooty madness is my comfort zone. The riding on my doorstep in the Tweed Valley is perfect for that. Very hard to choose, but a few favourites would be Date Night, Bart’s Trail, New Wolf, Raelee’s Revenge, and the Angry Sheep.

What would the other coaches say about you?

Errr… apparently I’m a (lovely) robot… I’m going to take it to mean I always get the job done!

Do you have any goals for the year?

Yes. I have plans to get back into Enduro racing this year. I had quite a big crash on a step down jump during the 2017 race season resulting in three months off exercise with a bad concussion. I wasn’t ready to go back into a competitive environment last year, but am very much looking forward to racing the Scottish Enduro Series again now.

What are you currently working on in your own riding?

Loads!! I think there will always be stuff to work on. Currently, I guess my main focus is rebuilding confidence on jumps… and manuals… and trying to stop myself comfort braking in spots where it’s not necessary. Everything really, which is what I love about riding, you’ll always be progressing.

If you missed last’s weeks Q&A with Andy, you can find it here.

Dirt School are pleased to announce we are now offering a new and improved training plan managed by the head of META — James McCallum — our trusted training partner.

James has over 20 years experience in cycling with several British and Scottish Championship titles on both track and road to his name and is also a Commonwealth Games athlete and bronze medallist. He’s been performance coaching since he retired from international racing in 2014 and has a wealth of experience and expertise to bring to our Dirt School Training Plans.

The Dirt School Training Plan is customised to fit alongside your other time commitments and contains three to four sessions per week, focused on real-world bike riding. We can create a plan for whatever you goal may be — whether it’s to simply stay fit and healthy, prepare for a riding holiday or improve your own race results at national or international level, we take all of this into consideration when writing your training sessions.

We’ll get you started by carrying out baseline testing to determine your training zones, meaning the programme will take your current level into account and build on it using specific power or heart rate data. Your training schedule will then be emailed to you weekly, detailing your training and rest days. The Training Plan also includes a call with your coach each week to discuss your progress, with updates being made to your plan after each call to make sure everything is on track and working well for you.

In addition to the standard training plan, there are three optional packages that can also be included: Technical, Performance and Power.

Our Technical Package is — as you may expect — to improve your technical riding skills. Our team will select the best coach/rider match we have for your specific needs and you’ll have monthly personal riding skills sessions at Glentress or Innerleithen. Your coach will assess your current riding and work on the aspects that will help you improve the most — filling out a personalised technical skills progress report for you through monthly ongoing assessments.

The Performance Package is for racers looking for the ultimate edge. It includes detailed power profiling for a more accurate insight to what disciplines suit you, as well as blood lactate and VO2 Max testing. We can then use this information to give you an even more personalised training plan.

Lastly, our Power Package is all about increasing your power and speed. Along with your training plan, you’ll get a personalised strength and conditioning programme with weekly assessments and updates and you’ll also learn how best to prevent injury.

“It’s a huge privilege to team up along side the UK’s premier MTB coaching team at Dirt School. Our combination of experience and methodology allows for a very dynamic team to cover everything coaching. I get a huge buzz from working with like minded Coaches who are always look for progression with their clients. Be that making them fitter, stronger or up-skilling the riders technique. Simply put — if your looking to improve any part of your riding experience….we have it covered!” James

If you think we could help you with train, visit our website for more information, or contact elisa@dirtschool.co.uk.