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Tuesday 25 June 2013

The Glasgow Academy - Duke of Edinburgh Biking Expedition

Well, after a frenetic four week period of DofE overload, not complaining though, Craig and Bill have finally caught breath and found time to reflect on things.

We ran a silver practice for the team in the Trossachs followed by silver assessment two weeks later in the Cairngorms, following a stunning route around the area.   All 17 students passed the course and, on reflection we think, thoroughly enjoyed the experience; as they were told many, many time, 'if it was easy, it wouldn't be worth doing'.

The practice was an interesting introduction to biking and trailer life for some but they knuckled down and had a great few days in blistering sunshine.


They copied well with the hills and we only had one visit to hospital - thankfully not too bad - and all got through the event with much fuss and moaning at times...though all survived.



On assessment however, the weather was kind and unkind at times;
Nice weather...
Bouncing!!
The first night was rather wet at the bothy...well outside it was; inside was rather pleasant actually, but the candidates did great getting ut the rain pronto and getting themselves sorted in the morning despite the midge fest.


The teams relied on great team work to overcome all obstacles, regardless of the weather and cold feet and managed all challenges thrown at them, including tough navigation legs and hard mountain biking terrain.

Great bits of single track :)
Supervising things on a bike can be challenging at times but the candidates were well impressed with my MI5 surveillance tactics to sneek up on them and get some pics, totally unaware of my presence...


All in, we all had a great few days away with a great bunch of young people from The Glasgow Academy.   Some have even suggested they will continue biking through the summer...heaven forbid they actually enjoyed themselves :)

Well done to all 17 who passed the Silver Award and most (all??) can now move onto Gold.   Good luck when it comes.


Monday 17 June 2013

Can U Pass?

Things have been a bit hectic around Simply Epic recently with D of E work taking over, so apologies for things being a bit quiet on the social media front.

Notwithstanding, Bill was running an MBLA TCL Assessment course today around the Aberfoyle area, in Loch Ard Forest trails, for Can U Experience staff.

After some great riding in fine weather, Bill was happy to pass Ben, Ryan and Dave, who all had a grand day out enjoying new trails and putting their new found skills to the test.

Well done to them all and enjoy your new riding skills and empowerment to take people out on the trails :)