Performance Mountain Bike

Overview

Welcome to our advanced mountain biking course, designed for 14-17-year-olds eager to elevate their skills. In Snowdonia National Park, you’ll explore local trail centres, challenging natural trails, wild mountain routes, and dedicated skills areas. A day of uplift streamlines your downhill practice. Our experienced coaches are committed to helping you reach your goals. You’ll enhance fundamental skills like manuals, cornering, wheelies, and bunny hops, and apply them in advanced settings. We’ll also tackle jumps, drops, root navigation, and steep terrain to elevate your riding. Whether racing or personal growth, this course is your pathway to excellence.

You can now hire a Mountain Bike – subject to availability at the time of enquiry for Plas y Brenin. The cost is £35 per day. Please contact us via e-mail to info@pyb.co.uk to make your enquiry.

The Objectives

Our course aims to improve your fundamental skills, such as manuals, cornering, wheelies, and bunny hops, and teach you how to apply them in more advanced settings. We’ll also work on more advanced skills like jumps, drops, root navigation, and conquering steeper terrain. Whether you’re aspiring to excel in mountain bike racing or simply looking to become a more proficient rider, we’re here to help you enhance your abilities and push your limits.

Itinerary

Over five days, you’ll dive into a comprehensive range of new skills, starting with the improvement of fundamental techniques like manuals, cornering, wheelies, and bunny hops. You’ll learn to connect and apply these skills in more challenging environments. Additionally, we’ll focus on honing your expertise in advanced areas, including jumps, drops, root handling, and tackling steeper terrain.

Experience Required

To get the most from this course, it’s essential to be comfortable riding red graded trails and possess a good level of fitness. As a guideline, you should be capable of riding for 4-5 hours and covering distances of approximately 25km. This course is designed to help you progress to a higher level of mountain biking and achieve your riding aspirations.

How Should I Prepare/What to Bring?

You should bring your own MTB in good working order. Or you can hire a bike from Plas y Brenin (subject to availability) for an additional fee.

You’ll also need;

• Cycle helmet and gloves (full and fingerless)
• Warm outdoor cycling specific clothing such as padded shorts and leggings
• Eye protection
• Backpack (plus liners – 3-4 small bin bags is fine)
• Drinks bottle – 1 litre (or hydration system)
• Tool kit, including pump and inner tubes
• Waterproof jacket and trousers
• Tracksuit or walking trousers (not jeans or heavy cotton)
• Tops – long and short-sleeved (ideally not cotton, poor insulation properties, thermal tops are ideal)
• Fleeces/warm tops (not cotton)
• Footwear to bike in (ones you don’t mind getting muddy/wet)
• Warm hat, gloves, sun hat/cap
• Trainers and a set of clothes for evening activities that can get wet
• Large Towel
• Lunch box/bag
• High factor sun cream (min factor 30)
• Midge repellent
• Sandals/flip flops or spare shoes for wearing around centre

Suggested Additional Items:

• Flask Torch (head torch is best, don’t forget the batteries!)
• Small amount of cash
• Notebook and pen
• Book, games etc. for the evenings when you’re not on activities

Plas y Brenin has an excellent drying room, where clothes should dry overnight if wrung out and hung carefully, but do bring a few changes.

If you are using this course for your Gold Residential for the Duke of Edinburgh’s award, don’t forget to bring your eDofE number with you.

Note

Comfortable dormitory accommodation and home-cooked meals are part of the deal. Support is on hand from our friendly and exceptionally well-qualified staff to help develop your understanding and personal skills. They will also help you formulate an appropriate action plan to further your development.