Our session was taken by Andy, the owner of ridelines and started off with him checking over our bikes. While this was being done, we introduced ourselves and gave some info on our mtb experience. I was the only one who hadn't been to glentress (or any other trail centre) but Andy insisted I wouldn't be out of my depth. We then set off on climb up to the skills area. There we worked on riding along a log, pumping and braking. Because we were all doing pretty well, Andy then had us manualling, which isn't normally covered in the level 1 course. After lunch we did a few laps of the skills loop using all the techniques we had learned. We then moved onto the drop off area, practicing first of all on a smooth descent, then a rocky and even rockier one. After a few goes at that we moved to the next drop off area which had side by side blue, red and black descent. By then we all had enough confidence to go straight for the red which we took a few times. I even managed to lift the front wheel on a couple to get a bit of a jump. I would never have had the guts to even think about taking that on before Sunday. We then spent some time on cornering before climbing higher up the trails. We took each of the 5 descents with Andy behind a different rider, then giving feedback which I found really helpful and constructive. By the end of the day, we were all beaming with pride and enjoyment as we gathered in the cafe for a cuppa. 2 hour drive home, then I was exhausted but very happy. I'm so glad that I took the course and would recommend to anyone who wants to improve their skills and confidence on the bike
