UKC

Evening All,

I've been mountain biking on and off for years and I'm looking at getting some kind of MTB leader ticket. There seems to be a few competing awarding bodies out there.

Does anyone know which body's qualification is likely to be more widely accepted or are we going through the MTB equivalent of a VHS vs. Betamax (there, that's aged me) war.

Thanks,

Rob.

In reply to Robert Lavin:

My advice? If you want a credible qualification steer clear of awards not backed by one of the governing bodies of the sport. And in terms of the governing bodies' awards, there's a convergence under way.

According to Cyclewise: "Scottish Cycling and British Cycling have agreed in principle to cease delivery of the MBLA scheme by the end of 2014 with the British Cycling Leadership award gaining full UK delivery from Jan 2015."

http://www.cyclewise.co.uk/index.php/mountain-bike-qualification-courses-an...

More from British Cycling:

http://www.britishcycling.org.uk/mtb/article/mtb20131104-mtb-static-content...

In reply to Robert Lavin:

where are you based . the company i work for runs them . based in stone , staffordshire.

http://velo-m.co.uk/mountainbike.php

In reply to tim000 and softlad:

Thanks both. I'm in Bristol these days. I'll keep an eye on how things develop.

Rob.

In reply to Robert Lavin:

I looked into all this last year and kinda discovered this.

MBLA (which was the Scottish one) will cease as such as it's being merged with the BC Awards but it will continue to be recognised. At the moment, I'd say the MBL is the most demanding of the awards with the TCL being around the same level as the BC L2. But there will be a BC L3 at some stage and this will in theory be more demanding again (with some differences in content too).

Seems TCL will be accepted as a pre-requisite for the L3.

So if you want it right now and want as high a level as you can get - go TCL then MBL. If you can wait a bit perhaps do TCL and watch and wait.

I realise this is a mega complex subject and that's a simplistic over view, and there are other awards MIAS and CTC for example, but quickly narrowed it down to these two.

Hope that helps?

In reply to Robert Lavin:

The new British Cycling Lvl 2 is the way to go. It's an improved version of Scottish MBLA and is even recognised in France when combined with a summer ML.

In reply to MischaHY:

Hate to argue but how is the L2 an improved version of MBL? It's pretty much seen as the equivalent of TCL? It's different from MBL, as in it has less/no coaching and more emphasis on straight leading. I think it's fair to say the L3 will/may be an improved version - 3 day training instead of 2 etc. But this isn't available yet. And as far as I can make out - which includes talking to providers of both schemes and BC themselves, either L2 or TCL would be acceptable as prerequisites for L3.

In reply to Tom Hutton:

Bad choice of words, I meant it was the future equivalent.

In reply to MischaHY:

No worries