Jumps & Drops training in N.Wales / Snowdonia
Discussion
Harpoon said:
Cheers for that Harpoon - I'd seen that but alas the one day a month it's on doesn't suit when I'm up there.The Jumps & Drops Course is (usually) run by Al Bond. Al also does individual sessions, or reduced rates if more than one of you in the group.
If he's available, you may be able to sort something. It isn't cheap but I've done both the jumps and drops course (years ago, when Neil Donoghue ran it) and a session with Al and they are both great. Al is definitely worth the extra spend though if you want to really progress your riding.
The advantage of doing a personal session is that you can tailor it to suit what you want. I can tell you, both from living near where Al lives and having him show me, that there are enough trails around here to suit your skill level and some / most that will really push your limits (unless you're a pro!).
If he's available, you may be able to sort something. It isn't cheap but I've done both the jumps and drops course (years ago, when Neil Donoghue ran it) and a session with Al and they are both great. Al is definitely worth the extra spend though if you want to really progress your riding.
The advantage of doing a personal session is that you can tailor it to suit what you want. I can tell you, both from living near where Al lives and having him show me, that there are enough trails around here to suit your skill level and some / most that will really push your limits (unless you're a pro!).
I completed the Jumps and Drops course at Llandegla back when it was presented by Neil Donoghue (it wasn't really, he was more of a performing monkey for another guy, but that's not important).
It's a good course, but they're a bit at odds with the rest of the riding course world, most places give you a morning's worth of training and then you go off to practice, the D&Js course is a morning of Jumps and an afternoon of Drops, most people came back a lot better at one, and a little better at the other.
It may have changed, but also they teach you the best, but hardest way to do either (they're very similar in technique) which requires split-second timing and the potential for face to ground interface if you get it wrong, basically you spend the morning trying to learn to manual, and then manual off drops or use the same technique to manual up the face of jumps to get airborne. It's hard because a) it's very hard to manual well b) it much harder to manual at exactly the right time if you're already not great at drops.
As above, by the end of the day I could jump a lot better, but wasn't any more confident dropping, even though at least now I know how to do it, I suppose.
The drops course I completed at BPW years later had a much, much simpler technique which could be summed up in a single line "look up, and get your arse behind the balance point of the bike and you really can't screw it up" once you've understood that, which takes about as long as it takes to say the words, it's really easy to learn the finesse yourself later, which you can because you've got an afternoon of uplift to do so.
It's a good course, but they're a bit at odds with the rest of the riding course world, most places give you a morning's worth of training and then you go off to practice, the D&Js course is a morning of Jumps and an afternoon of Drops, most people came back a lot better at one, and a little better at the other.
It may have changed, but also they teach you the best, but hardest way to do either (they're very similar in technique) which requires split-second timing and the potential for face to ground interface if you get it wrong, basically you spend the morning trying to learn to manual, and then manual off drops or use the same technique to manual up the face of jumps to get airborne. It's hard because a) it's very hard to manual well b) it much harder to manual at exactly the right time if you're already not great at drops.
As above, by the end of the day I could jump a lot better, but wasn't any more confident dropping, even though at least now I know how to do it, I suppose.
The drops course I completed at BPW years later had a much, much simpler technique which could be summed up in a single line "look up, and get your arse behind the balance point of the bike and you really can't screw it up" once you've understood that, which takes about as long as it takes to say the words, it's really easy to learn the finesse yourself later, which you can because you've got an afternoon of uplift to do so.
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