Course Info
£85
Date
Open group dates below. Please get in touch if you want to book this course as a private 1 to 1 or group day
Location
Level 1 & 2 full day courses are held at Gisburn Forest
Pricing Info
Terms & conditions apply, see 'Skills' tab above
Course Description
Good body position
Fed up of going over the bars or freezing up when the descents get rocky? Not sure if you’re using the brakes too much or at the wrong time? Don’t know how to properly pump the trail or corner with flow?
The Stop Crashing courses are the most popular Great Rock courses and there are 2 levels because it takes 2 days to learn to be awesome!
Stop Crashing is for the mountain biker who wants to get the essentials of riding right. Confidence can be built or restored by mastering some of the basics that might have been missing from your riding. Balance, steering and good active body position on the bike will bring more flow to your riding and will lay the foundations for smoother and faster riding which is more fun.
These are not beginner’s courses and there is a progression from level 1 to level 2. Often people do both levels on subsequent days or sometimes people prefer to leave a gap to practice. You can choose to do just one course, just get in touch if you’re unsure.
Level 1 is for all riders who want to make sure that they are doing the basics correctly. It includes lots of tips on good body position, weighting and unweighting the bike, cornering, braking and not braking and the foundations of riding with flow on blue and red grade trails. Level 2 takes this foundation and adds pump technique, riding tougher trails, faster cornering, manuals and rear wheel lifts.
Read a blog post from someone who did Level 1 and Level 2 courses.
More great feedback and an idea of what is involved in these courses.
These full day courses are run at Gisburn Forest. You can also book any of these courses as a private 1 to 1 or group course, just get in touch via the contact form for more details.
Berms
Manual
These courses will help if you are relatively new to mountain biking and building confidence or if you have been riding for years and want to have a refresher of the basics. They are not aimed at total beginners. Bad habits are spotted and alternatives put into practice. We also have a look at bike set up and can make equipment recommendations. If you feel like you’re stuck and need that little extra progression to help you take it up to ‘another level’ then these courses will suit you.
Carrying speed
These are really good courses to do before coming along to a more advanced course like Jumps for Dads or Alpine Tech. It will lay the foundations for more advanced technical riding. You need to get this stuff in place before you can bunny hop, ride drop offs or jumps.
People laughing!
Building mountain bike skills means building confidence so Great Rock Skills sessions are relaxed, with the chance to go at your own pace and with plenty of time to practice and ride.
“After following your tips from the day I now find myself pushing faster through the corners and everything feels more in control which adds to my confidence” Lorne
“Just wanted to report back after the skills day John and I did at Gisburn. I’m pushing much faster through the corners and everything feeling much more in control which again adds to my confidence and speed” Jack
“Many thanks for last Saturday. Taught me a lot. The real benefit to me was that I knew I had the ability to ride stuff like the staircase, but I just didn’t have the knowledge. You’ve now given me the knowledge. Now all I have to do is master those damned manuals!!! It’s surprising how much difference the proper technique makes to a ride, thanks for showing us that.” Frank
Upgrade Yourself and Stop Being Shit!
Get in touch if you want to know more, or if you want to book a private one to one or group mountain bike skills day or 07545 228209
Confident Cornering
Comments (11)
04 Mar 15:08
i learnt more in ten minutes with ed than i had in the last 20 years. im riding much more smoothly and with more confidence than ever before. by the end of the day i was riding things i had bottled earlier , and riding them well. cant recommend ed enough. as a teacher puts his lessons across in a way thats easy to understand and offers advice and encouragement all the while. ive just booked for the black magic and flow courses too so that should say it all really. cheers fella 😉
03 Jul 10:17
Simply the best £80 I ever spent. Ed quickly gets down to riding technique and within minutes I was riding better than I had ever had. By the end of the day I was a better rider riding better lines whilst using less energy and carrying more speed. Great Day from the man Great Rock, Great stuff Ed
14 Nov 21:55
Fantastic day out in Gisburn Forest. Cold and wet but that is soon forgotten as the learning and adrenaline kicks in. Learned loads today, and was going over it in my mind on the way home. Can’t way to apply the new ways of thinking into my regular rides to improve speed, performance and the ‘flow. Great stuff Ed, and the others there today, sorry we had to leave early at Beer o’clock.
07 Apr 20:07
Been on a Level 1 day with Ed today at Gisburn and have been able to go over rocks which I would have previously chickened out on.
My confidence has grown and I am going to build on this and practice over the coming weeks and will be back for the Level 2 course.
04 Dec 13:50
You could buy a new stem, some new tyres etc etc or you could spend £80 on a day with Ed. The kit may make your bike look better, the day with Ed will make you ride better.
As others have said, I rode a section towards the end of the day that I know I’d have bottled previously. I will definitely be back for more in the new year.
In the words of the man himself ‘don’t sit like you’re having a poo, keep your chin up, open your legs and relax hard’
Now that kind of wisdom is worth £80 of anyone’s money!!!!!
07 May 19:07
Ed,
Just a quick note to say thanks from myself and Dec the “silent assasin”. Your teaching method has improved our skills no end and has made us much more confident, tackling things we used to ride around. The whole day was very relaxed and I think everyone on the course benefitted from it. We will certainly be back for level 2 very soon.
The “Dog and Partridge” also deserves a mention for its excellent hospitality, good food and a fine pint of “Ewe Tosser”
09 May 17:14
Just done a Level 1 course with Ed at Hurstwood/Hebden Bridge and realised how little we all knew. However with some patient and highly intuitive words from the Beard, things got a whole lot clearer, even if the execution didn’t always match the understanding! Only one stack the whole day which, if you’ve ever seen a Hebden Bridge trail, you’ll realise is testament to Ed’s teaching skills. Anyway we are now happily not crashing and will definitely be back for Level 2 and beyond…. Cheers Ed 🙂
12 Dec 16:57
I booked a Level 1 Stop Crashing course for my wife Sue, which she took on a very icy December 8th at Hurstwood, a great compact location for developing skills. Whilst Sue is a newbie rider she has been thrashing about at Llandegla (Blue Run) and on the trails around the Pennine Way. She’s really gotten into her biking but her confidence had taken a knock on account of a couple of nasty spills. I expected this course to improve her riding having spoken to the guys at Blazing Saddles in HB about Ed and his teaching style. True to Ed’s reputation, he turned up on his Fat Bike looking like a man who meant business and whose business is pleasure. We’ve ridden Hurstwood again today and I’ve been blown away by how much smoother Sue’s riding has become. She’s a lot more confident in letting her bike flow and is now handling her bike much more fluidly. Thanks a million Ed, we’ll be back as family for a private day shortly after Christmas.
07 May 21:48
I did stop crashing 1&2 back to back. Like everyone else who’s commented I found Ed to have laid back manner and incredible depth of knowledge. He picks up on the smallest facets of your body position and your line through the sections and even the most minor of corrections seems to bring on a mountain biking epiphany. “Why have I not done that before?” is probably the most common thought that will go through your head throughout the course. Most importantly though Ed communicates these points so simply and effectively. I can’t recommend him enough and once I’ve practiced what he’s taught me so far I will be back for another course, probably ‘Flow’.
20 Mar 20:03
If you are considering stop crashing then stop – consider no longer – just book it! I am comfortable riding round trail centres on red routes and the odd black obstacle but was someone who would bottle the trickier sections. On Stop Crashing 1 Ed gave excellent tuition on position, moving the bike around more, moving yourself around more, weighting and unweighting the bike building up through the day till we were happily going through features I’d previously walked, and on sections that you think you ride well Ed’s tuition builds more skills so you are unconciously better, smoother and faster! I can say no more to recommend the course than the fact that I’ll be coming back for number 2 and more beyond that. Super course, thanks Ed
15 Sep 09:31
Just spent the weekend on Stop Crashing 1&2 and I really can’t speak highly enough of both the course content and Ed’s coaching techniques.
I’ve learnt more in two days about body positioning, balance, weighting and unweighting the bike than I had in the previous twenty years.
I crashed heavily a couple of years ago (broken/dislocated shoulder) and had become a bit of a bottler. Yesterday I rode a steep bank that I wouldn’t have ridden before my off, twice!! But more than that I was in control.
If your willing to listen, practice and commit you will get so much out of Ed’s courses whatever level you are.
Highly recommended and Ed is a top guy.
Looking forward to booking onto Alpine Tech soon. Cheers Ed.