Cracking (and that was just his carbon bars) write up by Alan of his 1 to 1 skills day with me today in Hebden Bridge. Just click on the text below to go to Alan’s Blog and read the full story.

Learning to ride a bike…

Well, I’ve finally got round to using my 40th Birthday present from lots of you kind folks – a one-to-one tuition day with Ed Oxley of Great Rock fame.Although I can ride fast and ride all day, cornering / balance and moving weight forward and backwards over rocky terrain is something I’m just not as good at compared to other riders, so that’s really what I wanted to improve on with Ed.

It was about a 2 and a half hour drive north this morning which made a really pleasant change to half an hour south every other morning.  There’s something about heading North – especially to Calderdale and Hebden Bridge – that feels so much more right than heading south.

I know Hebden Bridge quite well having done some fell running there, some adventure racing, some mountain biking and of course the Mary Towneley Loop passes right through it.  It’s a lovely small quiet town which is bustling with unusual shops and boutiques and loads of cafes more importantly !

We met up 10ish at Blazing Saddles. Ed’s a really relaxed guy so that made it easy for me. I think me having a lot to learn made it easy for Ed too !

I’m very proud to be running this day with Alan and Dave who are both very experienced cyclocross racers and Three Peaks obsessives. The course is suitable for cyclocross racers as well as people who have a ‘cross bike and would just like to learn how to ride it better.

Further details and how to book this course are here

There’s a great write up here of our Basque mountain bike skills adventure, written by Doug from Basque MTB.

Just finishing the first Basque Riding Week that I’ve been running with Basque MTB. We’ve had 6 days of riding in the Basque mountains, forests and along the Atlantic coast in north west Spain. I’ve been giving skills input to the group to help give them the know how to get the most from the these big mountain trail riding days.

There’s lots of video and photos to go through from the week. Expect a full write up here as well as a video of the trip, after I’ve got back home. In the meantime there are plenty of photos over on Flickr.

We’re already planning next year’s trip. Tune in for further details here.