MTB CULTURE

Guiding Lights

IN A WORLD WITH FEW REMAINING SECRETS, WHY ARE MOUNTAIN BIKE GUIDES STILL IN DEMAND? CHIPPS INVESTIGATES.

WORDS CHIPPS

PHOTOS MTB WALES AND CYCLEWISE

There are no more secrets left to explore in the world. Anywhere you might want to ride your mountain bike has probably been mapped at several different scales and resolutions; the trails recorded, rated and shared online. New to an area? All you need to do is scour Strava Heatmaps, Trailforks, or ask on a friendly mountain bike forum, and you’ll probably get a .gpx file within the hour.

And yet, guided mountain bike trips seem numerous; as do the riders signing up to train to be guides. Or at least that has been my impression, both as a punter and as a British Cycling-qualified guide myself. In order to test out my theories, I quizzed two well-regarded British mountain bike guides: Phill Stasiw of MTB Wales and Rich Martin of Cyclewise in the Lake District. They both have extensive experience as mountain bike guides and as tutors for the next generation of guides. Was it really as I thought?

Rich Martin is a trainer for British Cycling’s (recently revamped) guiding programme, and he also helps run Cyclewise, which is a couple of bike shops, as well as the guiding hub of Whinlatter Forest in the Lake District. In the decade since I got my guide qualification with him, he’s seen a dramatic shift in both the folks looking to qualify as a guide as well as the riders looking to hire a Lake District guide.

Taking guiding qualifications first, there are two major external influences that have massively affected the riders coming to train and qualify as a mountain bike guide. Compared to a half dozen years ago, when Cyclewise would run four Trail Leader courses a year with six people on each, they’re now lucky to do one a year. Why so few?

Two reasons – and both have to do with the limited scope that newly qualified guides have to work with.

Poachers and gamekeepers

One modern obstacle to a dream job as a guide is the fallout from Brexit. You can no longer qualify as a guide in the UK and expect to be able to work freely as a guide in Europe as you could do pre-Brexit. There’s no longer an obligation for European countries to recognise a UK guiding qualification as being equivalent to their own. While British Cycling will insure UK guides accompanying UK residents abroad, whether the local authorities will recognise the legality of that arrangement is another matter. In addition, you have the whole ‘working in Europe’ thing, which demands a visa if you’re not to fall foul of European labour law and the 90/180-day Schengen limits.