cycle guides \instructors

[jonny jeez]

I was waiting for some buddies to arrive for a ride a few weekends ago and a a couple of riders approached me asking if I was the "guide".

I had no idea that such people existed. It sounds quite enjoyable, heading out with riders, showing them the twists and turns of the local roads, not to mention joining a guide for the same.

Anyone know if such guides are qualified, if so how and at what cost.

Lastly, does CylcleChat have a group of local guides...if not...why not?

 

[Dogtrousers]

Were you wearing a blue dress and a beret?

 

[velovoice]

Is this like Ride Leaders? Yes, that's a qualification -- British Cycling, Sustrans and Cycling UK all run workshops and courses.

 

[mjr]

Guides exist and in my experience are mostly no more qualified than an ordinary rider. They may know some routes and like helping people out, but riding with them is basically like riding on your own except that you're not needing to plan/check/follow the route. Larger guided rides will have another guide acting as backmarker, sweeper or Tail-end Charlie to alert the main guide if the group splits and lead the remainder to a regrouping point. Guided rides may have published schedules or be held on request - although I've heard on-request rides called "buddy rides" too.

I see the term guide as an unqualified alternative to Ride Leaders who have passed some qualification backed by CUK, HSBCUKBC or a company (often one that runs cycling tours). Such led rides may be more tightly controlled, with different procedures to an informal group riding along together normally. I know one BC-qualified Ride Leader (probably lapsed now) who also acts as a guide and I think he said that for a formal led ride, he'd be far more careful to "snake" the group across junctions and so on.

I sometimes use "wayfinder" or "navigator" as alternative terms for the same role.

 

[velovoice]

I agree @mjr, all those 'roles' co-mingle and the definitions are pretty fluid.

I took the OP to be asking "how do I get this gig?" For that, googling on "ride leader training" may be more productive than searching on "guide training".

 

[Drago]

I'm an Instructor (MIAS L5 off road skills, road skills, EMS riding, defensive tactics, riding specific first aid, search techniques, group riding, maintenance) but I'm not a ride leader.

However, I've read the CUK ride leader syllabus and I've been taught everything in it already as part of the basic MIAS L4 qualification, day 1. Not surprising really, as in order to do my own training I have to train on the road, use the roads and public routes to navigate to training areas etc.

This being the case, many instructors are liable to be qualified far in excess of a ride leader, but the reverse seems unlikely to be true.

Lord only knows what qualifications one requires to be a guide, but I suspect standards are quite variable.

 

[mjr]

Is this like Ride Leaders? Yes, that's a qualification -- British Cycling, Sustrans and Cycling UK all run workshops and courses.

HSBCUKBC "Ride Leader" - 2 days plus online learning, £280, requalification required at unspecified future date
Sustrans "Cycle Ride Leader" - 1 day, price seems to vary with local funding, saw some at £75, some free if you agree to lead 10 weekday morning (sod the workers, eh Sustrans?) rides, no idea about requalification
Cycling UK "Group Leader" - 4 days, £485 (thanks to prerequisite Assistant course), no idea about requalification

And I feel that's part of why "guide" has appeared as a more anarchist alternative for a rider who is happy to share good routes but isn't going to boss others about.

(edited to add links to the qualifications, so far as I found them)

 

[Drago]

Good heavens above. Those prices are madness for what are very basic qualifications. I teach now for free, expenses only, to SAR groups.

 

[Spiderweb]

We hired bikes and a guide when mountain biking in The Sierra Nevada mountains.
Dales bike centre in Swaledale has Guided mountain bike rides ( not cheap!)

 

[mjr]

I took the OP to be asking "how do I get this gig?" For that, googling on "ride leader training" may be more productive than searching on "guide training".

Oh right. I didn't take it like that. I wondered if it was asking about how people understood the term, or wondering if CC should have some list of riders like me who would be happy to show visitors the great rides here which we never knew until other local riders showed us, only some of which are signposted as cycle routes.

 

[annedonnelly]

I did some training which would have enabled me to lead Breeze rides. As a qualification it was laughable - it was one of those courses that attendance guaranteed you the certificate, so everyone who turned up and stayed for the day was entitled to become a Breeze Champion subject to doing a first aid course.

I am confident that I could have gone on to lead rides (family problems put a stop to it) but others on the course were - a) scared to ride on a 30mph limit residential road, b) had recently arrived in the UK and didn't understand the UK road system and wasn't clear about the difference between left and right, c) had turned up on bikes with faulty brakes.

In addition the instructor admitted that she mixed up left and right so when she told a group to practice more left turns she actually meant practice the - slightly trickier - right turns.

It's slightly worrying that a group subject to that training could then go out and lead complete beginners, but I suspect most people realise their own limits and either didn't do any leading or stuck to off-road cycle paths.

 

[steveindenmark]

This may help

http://www.cyclinguk.org/courses-and-training

 

[mjr]

This may help

http://www.cyclinguk.org/courses-and-training

TMN to me!

I did some training which would have enabled me to lead Breeze rides. As a qualification it was laughable - it was one of those courses that attendance guaranteed you the certificate, so everyone who turned up and stayed for the day was entitled to become a Breeze Champion subject to doing a first aid course.

And I'm sure the funding provider paid handsomely for each Champion's training. It's money that could have done so much more good

I guess it's like many qualifications: it's a matter of convincing some respected authority to vouch for you and while you'd hope that authority would require people to demonstrate competence and/or ability, it's always likely that some may choose to cash in their reputation in part or (more worryingly) in whole because, after all, what's the chance of HSBCUKBC's qualifications being dismissed as laughable by cyclists in general, insurers and funders?

c) had turned up on bikes with faulty brakes.

How did they handle that? I think some organisations have told Ride Leaders that they'll need to arrange their own insurances if they want to do even basic "Dr Bike" Air-Brakes-Chain checks. I wonder if instructors have the same restriction.

 

[jonny jeez]

Oh right. I didn't take it like that. I wondered if it was asking about how people understood the term, or wondering if CC should have some list of riders like me who would be happy to show visitors the great rides here which we never knew until other local riders showed us, only some of which are signposted as cycle routes.

So, yep to clarify.

I fancy the gig, so much as id love to show people around my manor, perhaps help those who want to ride in busy cities etc but I don't fancy the role of instructor. I'm not up for the repos sibilty and frankly it doesn't sound much fun...unlike just riding.

I guess I'm comparing this to a ski instructor and a ski guide. I've always fancied a ski guide gig but don't fancy being an instructor, too much standing about talking, id rather be showing people where to find the best runs...or beer.

On the cyclechat front , I wondered id like minded members did this kind of thing.

Sounds like you do...how, may I ask?

 

[mjr]

Sounds like you do...how, may I ask?

There's a pool of us who take it in turns (some more often than others) for a local group. All voluntary, unpaid except that you know sometimes you won't have to worry about the route. Additionally, I'm sure some of our group would happily show visitors around if we can find a mutually-convenient time, just because we'd be riding somewhere anyway for work or chores or health or fun and it makes our town nicer if more visitors are on bikes instead of getting confused trying to navigate in cars. I think we don't really advertise that now outside of special events like the cycling festivals, though.

Do you mean as a paid gig? I think then you might ask a highways council, because ours offers free buddy rides to would-be cycle-commuters from time to time, but they'd probably want you to qualify as an instructor too. I'm not sure how you'd market it privately (tourism offices or bike hire shops, perhaps?) and I expect potential buyers or funders would want/require sturdier insurance than the usual cycling group third-party stuff, which might itself mean getting formal Ride Leader qualifications and shoot. I'm not sure how the economics of commercial cycle guiding would add up. Anyone know of people doing it commercially?