Want to hone your mountain biking skills in a testosterone free environment and meet other like-minded women?
Why not partake in a Dirt Divas female only rider-training course? Dirt Divas offer day courses for novices through to advanced women mountain bikers who want to gain confidence and push their biking skills to the next level.
Dirt Divas know their stuff; they’re now in their 7th year and have had over 900 women on their courses since starting out. Set up by Jacqueline Easton who wanted to share her many years of experience and encourage women into the wonderful world of mountain biking. The wide-ranging team of coaches are all highly skilled experienced riders and have been selected for their ability to teach with compassion. The team’s enthusiasm is well known, hugely infectious, and creates a great atmosphere on their courses.
There are 6 courses per year, one a month from April to October, with between 20 and 30 women per course. Participants come from every corner of the country, so there’s a fantastic vibe on the day. The focus is very much on having fun, learning new skills and gaining confidence on the bike whilst making new friends with like-minded people.
Most of the women who take part are novice riders on the Back to Basics course, aimed at increasing their confidence and basic bike handling skills. There are also many, who come for the Singletrack Skills, covering steep technical climbs, tricky descents and steep drop-offs, with the personal analysis given at Dirt Divas, these women are able to push themselves to the next level.
At the other end of the spectrum, for the more adventurous rider, there is the Drops and Jumps course, perfect for those who may be looking to extend their skills in preparation for a mountain biking holiday abroad in the Alps.
These may be female only courses, but don’t get the wrong idea, it’s not that Dirt Divas don’t like men, quite the opposite they have lots of males coaches. It’s because men learn skills in a completely different way and Dirt Divas wanted to create a non-intimidating environment where women could thrive without feeling pressurized by men. Women basically like to read the manual first, absorb the content and then apply it in order to ultimately minimise the risk of hurting themselves.
The Dirt Divas courses do not in any way belittle the ability of women, in fact it’s quite the contrary, the amount of progress riders make in just one day is astonishing and testament to what a brilliant job the coaches do.
The Dirt Divas course dates for 2013 are set, with one even happening this Sunday;
Sunday 21st April
Sunday 19th May
Sunday 23rd June
Sunday 18th August
Sunday 22nd September
Sunday 20th October
The courses all take place in Crowthorne Woods, Berkshire, running from 9.30am to 4.30pm.
Each course costs a meagre £99, which not only includes some first class coaching, but a goodie bag crammed full of samples and bike related schwag, specially suited to the discerning woman.
If you are keen to become a Dirt Diva for a day, be sure to sign up early as they get booked up in advance.
For further details, have a look on the Dirt Divas website, or Like them on Facebook.
