The Fundamentals of Leadership is the ideal qualification for riders of 16 and over who want the skills to venture further on their bikes or lead groups but feel they are not ready for the Level 2 MTB Leadership award

Sharing your favourite trails is a wonderful feeling – and something that can really improve access to the outdoors for your friends, club mates, students or the wider cycling community. Whether you’re already familiar with the idea of mountain bike leadership or looking to find out more, we can support you to gain a qualification that will enable you to lead groups of riders for a brilliant day on the bike.

This award combines online learning with face-to-face training and assessment to give you all the skills you need to lead mountain bike rides. Though you might already be a regular on group or club rides off-road (and therefore wondering where this award fits in), there are a few important elements to the qualification that will both empower and protect you for future activity:

• Learn leadership principles and skills from the most experienced mountain bike tutors in the country
• Get the most out of your route planning with a dedicated module
• Keep rolling with the knowledge to fix simple trailside repairs
• Be prepared with plans to manage accidents and emergencies –  you’ll undergo a separate first aid training course in order to qualify
• Get protected with leader insurance

The course is ideal for anyone who wants to lead groups using mixed road and off-road environments. This might include rides that are already taking place but require development and insurance, or perhaps you are looking to organise activity for your school, college, activity centre – or simply a group of friends. Your remit would be to lead on terrain that ranges from the urban fringe and gravel tracks through to open countryside, woodland and most trail centre blue routes.

What does the course include?

• 3-4 hours of elearning via British Cycling Learning
• A 2-day combined training/assessment course with Cycle Wild Scotland
• Zoom workshop with Cycle Wild Scotland

How much does the course cost?

£260 plus £30 registration fee –  price is inclusive of:

• Access to online learning
• All training content, tuition and resources
• Support via Zoom sessions and phone access to Cycle Wild Scotland tutor

Groups looking for a tailor-made course should contact us for costs and availability.  NB the cost of a bespoke course is approximately the same as for 4 candidates on an open course.  The maximum number of candidates on the course is 6.

What do I need to be able to register

• The minimum age to attend a course is 16 years old in Scotland. Note, you will only be able to lead independently once aged 17 in Scotland, or 18 in England and Wales.
• You must be able to ride a mountain bike (or another appropriate bike for the terrain) comfortably on roads with some traffic, off-road and mountain bike trails up to blue grade, be regularly riding and have an appropriate level of fitness
• Complete a logbook to evidence your recent rides. We recommend a minimum of ten rides of at least 1 hour and five rides of at least 2.5 hours duration (inclusive alternatives are available by request) over the last six months.  BC have a downloadable Logbook that can be saved electronically or printed if needed.