Over this past weekend, I took a PMBI Level 1 Mountain Biking Instructor Course at Endless Biking in North Vancouver. As mentioned in a previous post, I will be helping Cory of C4 Rider Training out with some younger riders to help develop their skills so if they are interested, they will be ready to race when they are old enough.

Endless biking does more than instructing the PMBI Course. They rent and tour people around showing them the local trails and provide instruction and lessons for beginners and advanced riders as well!

The course was over three days and we did a lot of our learning on Fromme or over by the Richard Jurn trail. It was very cool to see a lot of different riders from all over the lower mainland come and learn new skills and be taught how to effectively teach them. The weather worked with us for two days, but on Sunday it poured pretty much the whole time we were outside! Even though I was there to learn how to teach skills, I also learned new skills that I will be using in my riding. Primarily climbing positions. I wasn’t raised on the North Shore, so I’m constantly being passed on the technical climbs by these local mountain goats on two wheels. Hopefully a lot less now that I know some tips to help keep my front wheel on the ground!

The “Party Bus” Can take 18 people and 12 bikes to the trailhead!

The instructor for the course, Darren Butler is a very knowledgeable and skilled rider. I’ve taken a lot of instructor courses for swimming, and this was a totally different environment. All the feedback he gave everybody was positive and encouraging and really made me less nervous and be able to do what I knew I could do. Because of this experience, I am feeling much more confident going into my swimming instructor evaluation later on this week!

The Level 2 course will be offered in the end of May probably in the Whistler Bike park, so I’ll have to wait a while to complete my level 2 training.