NEW
We are proud to have played a small part in the development of this new award.
If you are interested in this award for yourself, your volunteers or your staff; please contact me and I’ll send further information as it becomes available. Ideal for anyone leading school groups, youth groups, community groups or looking to get into MTB Leadership.
Sharing your favourite trails is a wonderful feeling – and something that can really improve access to the outdoors for your friends, club mates, students or the wider cycling community. Whether you’re already familiar with the idea of mountain bike leadership or looking to find out more, we can support you to gain a qualification that will enable you to lead groups of riders for a brilliant day on the bike.
Essential Information

Pricing
£215.00 per person.

Course Duration
16 hours, usually over Two days; inc. Training and assessment (plus 3 to 4 hours of prior eLearning)
Course Dates
Please see our calendar, or contact us to discuss your individual requirements and private hire options.
Together with Scottish Cycling and experts in the outdoor industry, British Cycling have developed a course that combines online learning with face-to-face training and assessment to give you all the skills you need to lead mountain bike rides. Though you might already be a regular on group or club rides off-road (and therefore wondering where this award fits in), there are a few important elements to the qualification that will both empower and protect you for future activity:
- Learn leadership principles and skills from the most experienced mountain bike tutors in the country.
- Get the most out of your route planning with a dedicated module.
- Keep rolling with the knowledge to fix simple trailside repairs.
- Be prepared with plans to manage accidents and emergencies – plus you’ll undergo first aid training in order to qualify.
- Get protected with leader insurance.
The course is ideal for anyone who wants to lead groups using mixed road and off-road environments. This might include rides that are already taking place but require development and insurance, or perhaps you are looking to organise activity for your school, college, activity centre – or simply a group of friends. Your remit would be to lead on terrain that ranges from the urban fringe and gravel tracks through to open countryside, woodland and most trail centre blue routes.
What does the course include?
- 3-4 hours of elearning via British Cycling Learning
- 16 hours training and assessment course with Cycle4adventure
How much does the course cost?
£215.00 per person, plus registration with British Cycling (£30.00). The course price is inclusive of:
- Access to online learning
- All training content, tuition and resources
Groups looking for whole course (Private hire) bookings should contact us via email cycle4adventure@gmail.com - for costs and availability, as well as to determine if a course can be delivered from your location.
What do I need to be able to register
- The minimum age to attend a course is 16 (Scotland) or 17 (England and Wales) years old. Note you will only be able to lead independently once aged 17 in Scotland and 18 in England and Wales.
- You must be able to ride a mountain bike (or another appropriate bike for the terrain) comfortably on roads with some traffic, off-road and mountain bike trails up to blue grade, be regularly riding and have an appropriate level of fitness
- Complete a logbook to evidence your recent rides. We recommend a minimum of ten rides of at least 1 hour and five rides of at least 2.5 hours duration (inclusive alternatives are available by request) over the last six months. British Cycling have a downloadable Logbook that can be saved electronically or printed if needed.
What else do I need to do to achieve the Award?
In order for your award to be accredited in addition to successful completion of your Fundamentals of Mountain Bike Leadership, you are required to:
- hold British Cycling Membership of Ride level or above.
- attend and evidence a two-day outdoor First Aid course
- undergo and evidence safeguarding training appropriate to the country they are leading in
These can occur after your Fundamentals of Mountain Bike Leadership course, but your award will only be provided on receipt and acceptance of these.
If you would like to know when new course dates become available please contact us.