Schools Bringing kids to MTB trails.

kona · 30-04-2011 07:11PM #1

Whats the story with this? Ive had a few parents come in this week looking for MTB for their kids to go on a MTB trail next week on a school trip. They were going for 4 days.
What struck me was the pure ignorance of the school, firstly expecting parents to buy a MTB for their kids (a MTB QUALITY bike not a BSO) , secondly, while displaying such ignorance, the teachers mustnt be the brightest sparks when it comes to this, and unless they have a guide oganised, such trips can turn into a disaster, as the kids are gone for 4 days.
The Letter I saw the school sent advised:

Good Brakes
Gears
"shocks"

While I have no issue with the items which are obvious and essential on a MTB, the issue I have is them sending parents out to buy bikes that with no description of trail (its up North so I havnt ridden it so have no Idea of what its like). The parents obviously want to go towards the cheap (AKA BSO territory) which is understandable, as the kid is only using it for four days. However I had to refuse to sell them the BSO as I really dont want to have anything to do with letting kids ride these bikes on trails, plus, if the bikes break, which even proper MTB o on trails, will they have the skills or parts to get them through a potential 4 days?
I advised them to find out if rental is a possibility, I was amazed at the blasé attitude from the school towards MTB and the costs and dangers of using substandard equipment, without being over dramatic, a kid could get maimed or worse very easily usinjg a BSO on a trail with little or no experience.

While I think its a good Idea I find it very ignorant from the school to have such attitude towards parents having a few hundred euro to blow so fast on a bike(this is after the cost of the trip), and to the risks associated with MTB.

Transition year eh? I did it, I wish I didnt, waste of time.

mcgarry098 · 30-04-2011 07:14PM

transition year is what ya make of it! i loved and and for me definately not a waste of time!

Lumen · 30-04-2011 07:18PM

Top rant, it doesn't sound very sensible. There are plenty of outdoor pursuits where equipment isn't so finicky (robbing stuff, setting fire to bins, drinking in the park etc).

kona · 30-04-2011 07:28PM

Lumen wrote: »

Top rant, it doesn't sound very sensible. There are plenty of outdoor pursuits where equipment isn't so finicky (robbing stuff, setting fire to bins, drinking in the park etc).

Whats wrong with drinking in the park? :pac:

kona · 30-04-2011 07:30PM

mcgarry098 wrote: »

transition year is what ya make of it! i loved and and for me definately not a waste of time!

Oh I made alot of it, still a waste of time from a educational POV, all I learned was Girls and Drink , as it eats up a year, it Just allows you to legally be in pubs in 6th year, nawt good!

Keep_Her_Lit · 30-04-2011 07:44PM

Lumen wrote: »

robbing stuff, setting fire to bins, drinking in the park etc

That's funny and unfunny at the same time. You don't by any chance live in West Dublin .... ?

Speaking of which (and apologies for this brief OT excursion), on the way home the other evening a BMW X5 came past, hotly pursued by a Ford Focus. The Beemer took a left turn about 50m ahead of me ... I was glad I wasn't in the way. The focus had its sunroof open, with one of the occupants standing clear of the roof from the waist upwards. He was waving a wheel brace and roaring at the top of his voice "I am going to ****ing shoot you ... I am going to blow your ****ing head off". The Beemer then swung a u-turn and rejoined the road it had been on. The two of them disappeared up the road at serious speed, in the hard shoulder, leaving a plume of dust in their wake.

Oh well, at least life isn't dull around these parts. :rolleyes:

kona · 30-04-2011 07:49PM

Keep_Her_Lit wrote: »

That's funny and unfunny at the same time. You don't by any chance live in West Dublin .... ?

Speaking of which (and apologies for this brief OT excursion), on the way home the other evening a BMW X5 came past, hotly pursued by a Ford Focus. The Beemer took a left turn about 50m ahead of me ... I was glad I wasn't in the way. The focus had its sunroof open, with one of the occupants standing clear of the roof from the waist upwards. He was waving a wheel brace and roaring at the top of his voice "I am going to ****ing shoot you ... I am going to blow your ****ing head off". The Beemer then swung a u-turn and rejoined the road it had been on. The two of them disappeared up the road at serious speed, in the hard shoulder, leaving a plume of dust in their wake.

Oh well, at least life isn't dull around these parts. :rolleyes:

Clondalkin is a joke.. place is bogey, I remember in my more naieve days getting off the train there and walking to my mates, completely ignorant to the obvious warning signs that its rougher than a dogfishs arse.

Merch · 30-04-2011 08:25PM

kona wrote: »

Clondalkin is a joke.. place is bogey, I remember in my more naieve days getting off the train there and walking to my mates, completely ignorant to the obvious warning signs that its rougher than a dogfishs arse.

Ha ha come on, I pass through a bit, I'm not from clondalkin but you make it sound like LA south central lol

kona · 30-04-2011 08:30PM

Merch wrote: »

Ha ha come on, I pass through a bit, I'm not from clondalkin but you make it sound like LA south central lol

You pass through it, ive spent hours in it. Its like the wild west, there isnt any Law there, I feel safer walking down Sheriff Street and East wall at night than out there, full of nutters.
Ive never been to LA south central, I have again due to my younger naievity been in some dodgy places in Vancouver and NYC and I have to say Id walk there before clondalkin again. Pity as there some nice people there.

Jesus this thread has gone on some tangent.

mcgarry098 · 30-04-2011 08:31PM

kona wrote: »

Oh I made alot of it, still a waste of time from a educational POV, all I learned was Girls and Drink , as it eats up a year, it Just allows you to legally be in pubs in 6th year, nawt good!

well our ty programe must be a lot different. We ran a school bank and ended up getting to take part in a competition in croke park for it, made a magazine which earned us 1200 between 10 of us from going out and getting ads from local business.! became handy with photoshop, done a musical bla bla bla,.. so for me nothing bad about it!!!!!!!! educational or social! nothing wrong with learnin about girls or drink, and t definately helped me mature a lot. Made a load of new friends aswell, and it gave me loads of free time to do anything i liked!

I loved it.

kona · 30-04-2011 08:36PM

mcgarry098 wrote: »

well our ty programe must be a lot different. We ran a school bank and ended up getting to take part in a competition in croke park for it, made a magazine which earned us 1200 between 10 of us from going out and getting ads from local business.! became handy with photoshop, done a musical bla bla bla,.. so for me nothing bad about it!!!!!!!! educational or social! nothing wrong with learnin about girls or drink, and t definately helped me mature a lot. Made a load of new friends aswell, and it gave me loads of free time to do anything i liked!

I loved it.

Academically it just caused me to take it easy, nawt good!, but then again I suppose it depends school to school.

zil · 30-04-2011 09:05PM

kona wrote: »

Academically it just caused me to take it easy, nawt good!, but then again I suppose it depends school to school.

Exact same thing happened to me. I spent transition year messing around and couldn't get back into academic mode afterwards, my grades dropped quite a bit between 3rd year and 5th year because of it.

Icyseanfitz · 30-04-2011 09:23PM

it would have been much smarter to bring the kids on a day or two trip to ballyhouras where the can rent quality mtb's, im fecking struggling to get up and running with all the gear and s*** you have to get for mtbing what was the school thinking when they thought kids could get everything sorted in a couple of days

Bren10101 · 30-04-2011 09:32PM

im only in second year and i cant wait for it!

I'd love if my school did something like that, but i'd say what that school should do is hire bikes for all the kids that don't have suitable bikes - ie pretty much all of the kids. It's too much for the parents too have to buy a bike for it, and if the kid just has a crappy POS then it will turn them away from doing biking ever again.

It's a good idea, maybe if it was done in association with biking.ie or a club then it would work a lot better. i'ts only about 20-30 euro a day too hire from biking.ie, thats a lot cheaper than even the crappiest bikes, and also then the child would have a better bike, making him want to bike more.

I wonder if biking.ie do courses for schools, maybe thats an idea that they should look at

kona · 30-04-2011 09:57PM

Bren10101 wrote: »

im only in second year and i cant wait for it!

I'd love if my school did something like that, but i'd say what that school should do is hire bikes for all the kids that don't have suitable bikes - ie pretty much all of the kids. It's too much for the parents too have to buy a bike for it, and if the kid just has a crappy POS then it will turn them away from doing biking ever again.

It's a good idea, maybe if it was done in association with biking.ie or a club then it would work a lot better. i'ts only about 20-30 euro a day too hire from biking.ie, thats a lot cheaper than even the crappiest bikes, and also then the child would have a better bike, making him want to bike more.

I wonder if biking.ie do courses for schools, maybe thats an idea that they should look at

Renting is grand bit when you have possibly 80+ students what do ya do??! Renting isnt feasible then?
Your right though it could be organised better, and is a activity that should be respected, its not a cycle track cycle. Also the wisdom of bringing kids of different fitness levels is mad too. Seemed a little mental to me!!
BUt what really scared me was the fact some people would be happy to sell a BSO for this activity and possibly ruin the kids trip and a bunch of kids impressions of cycling.

Alkers · 01-05-2011 03:50PM

kona wrote: »

Whats the story with this? Ive had a few parents come in this week looking for MTB for their kids to go on a MTB trail next week on a school trip. They were going for 4 days.
What struck me was the pure ignorance of the school, firstly expecting parents to buy a MTB for their kids (a MTB QUALITY bike not a BSO) , secondly, while displaying such ignorance, the teachers mustnt be the brightest sparks when it comes to this, and unless they have a guide oganised, such trips can turn into a disaster, as the kids are gone for 4 days.
The Letter I saw the school sent advised:
Good Brakes

Gears

"shocks"

While I have no issue with the items which are obvious and essential on a MTB, the issue I have is them sending parents out to buy bikes that with no description of trail (its up North so I havnt ridden it so have no Idea of what its like). The parents obviously want to go towards the cheap (AKA BSO territory) which is understandable, as the kid is only using it for four days. However I had to refuse to sell them the BSO as I really dont want to have anything to do with letting kids ride these bikes on trails, plus, if the bikes break, which even proper MTB o on trails, will they have the skills or parts to get them through a potential 4 days?
I advised them to find out if rental is a possibility, I was amazed at the blasé attitude from the school towards MTB and the costs and dangers of using substandard equipment, without being over dramatic, a kid could get maimed or worse very easily usinjg a BSO on a trail with little or no experience.

While I think its a good Idea I find it very ignorant from the school to have such attitude towards parents having a few hundred euro to blow so fast on a bike(this is after the cost of the trip), and to the risks associated with MTB.

Transition year eh? I did it, I wish I didnt, waste of time.

While I agree that is a really stupid idea for a school to bring a group of kids MTBing without organising it properly (they may just stick to fire-roads?) I spent my first 18months of MTBing on a crappy Barracuda dual sus and I didn't die or even get injured. You can easily get by for a couple of spins on a piece of crap bike, before forking out on a decent bike and then you may realise you don't even like the sport.

kona · 01-05-2011 04:07PM

Simona1986 wrote: »

While I agree that is a really stupid idea for a school to bring a group of kids MTBing without organising it properly (they may just stick to fire-roads?) I spent my first 18months of MTBing on a crappy Barracuda dual sus and I didn't die or even get injured. You can easily get by for a couple of spins on a piece of crap bike, before forking out on a decent bike and then you may realise you don't even like the sport.

I didnt want anything to do with being associated with reccomending kids take BSO onto trails, once I hear trails and kids Ill assume the worst, if kids can do dumb stuff day to day, they will definatley do dumb stuff off road. Ive done many stupid things but havnt died or got injured, thats not to say that it wont happen to somebody else and that I was more likely to get injured.

Besides its mad expecting parents to buy a bike for a few days on a trail, regardless of price.

Good idea badly executed I think.

Squidgy Black · 02-05-2011 01:42PM

I'm in Transition Year at the moment, it's terrible. Such a waste of time and money.

I think it's ridiculous to tell parents to buy bikes just for a weekend, although, a lot of kids ride mountain bikes, or well BSO, and I'm sure a few could get a lend.

But even then, there's a big chance of axle's breaking, chains snapping, wheels buckling and plenty of other dangers that could easily happen on a trail with a BSO.

smacl · 02-05-2011 02:23PM

kona wrote: »

Good idea badly executed I think.

Absolutely. All for kids getting into cycling, and fire roads / coilte tracks seems like a good idea with a large bunch, rather than the open road. Not so sure about MTB tracks, where there will always be falls. Renting also seems like the best solution, where the organiser has some control over the quality of the bike and any safety kit. Are the parents also expected to buy bike racks to bring their kids bikes to the location? Seems bizarre, if it was a kayaking trip, would the organisers expect the kids to buy kayaks and life jackets?

Schools Bringing kids to MTB trails.

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