Testimonials

 

Tom’s well-known talents as a rider and competitor are complemented by a natural flair for teaching the skills of off-road riding. The lessons are clear and well-structured, with precise but easy to follow demonstrations of technique. He knows just how far to stretch you in each session, so that you leave with the tangible feeling of being a better rider every time. Above all, lessons with Tom are great fun! 

 Peter Bronder

 

 My partner and I have been riding cross country mountain biking for about 15 years and loving it. That is the good news. The bad news is that we were getting very frustrated with our lack of technical development. We seemed to be making the same mistakes and falling off in the same ways as the years progressed. It is discouraging. We went on several different training courses which we enjoyed but did not make a huge amount of difference. We love our riding and want to get more out of it – more fun and less frustration. We began to wonder if we had started a bit too late in life. I am in my 40s and my partner in his 60s. We came across Tom Dowie by accident and decided to give his training a go. We were immediately impressed. Despite being about ½ my age and nearly 1/3 my partner’s, his manner and attitude were brilliant. He instantly identified what we needed to know and showed us clearly and precisely how to develop our skills for greater ease and flow on the trails and much greater safety. We instantly started having more fun. Cornering and long berms are now exciting instead of challenging. I can jump when I want to and keep the bike on the ground when I chose.

 

I was particularly impressed when Tom showed us how to pump. He trained us on his pump track and at last I understand what pumping is. We have been trying to learn this skill for years and made very little progress. Within 3 short weeks we could happily pump the track. I have been on other courses that promise to teach this skill but do no such thing. Tom showed us the timing and the un-weighting of the bike that no one had ever explained before. It has totally changed the way that I handle the bike and the feeling of being glued to the trail rather than skidding around on top of it.

 

Tom’s manner is outstanding. He is patient to an astonishing degree. He shows you what you need to know and at exactly the pace you need to learn. I was not at all sure that Tom would want to train us as we must seem to him – frankly - old! Also we are into cross country rather than downhill. Our abilities when we met him were very limited. I imagined we would seem rather uninspiring to him. We felt a little bit embarrassed in the face of his outstanding abilities. I couldn’t have been more wrong. Tom is superb at training youngsters – not surprisingly but he is also a master at training any age. He can answer any question we have ever come up with, complete with a stunning demonstration and then a system of practise for us to gain the skills ourselves. I can’t recommend him highly enough. He is by far the best and most conscientious trainer that I have experienced and he most definitely walks the talk. Whether you want to get your kids to have more fun and more safety on their bikes or you yourself want to race a bit faster or jump a bit higher without wearing the dirt, Tom is your man. My only regret is that we didn’t do this training 10 years ago.

 

Clare Allen. Cambridge

 

I've been riding for 17 years and in just over 2 hours I learnt so much. It was real game changing stuff . My core skills for jumps and drops were completely overhauled, now I'm faster, more controlled and much better in the air.Tom is an excellent coach. He istechnical, patient and great value as well.

 

Phil Hallybone

 

 So how to conclude? Maybe I was initially sceptical about how successful the day would be but in reality I shouldn’t have been.

Tom made my riding noticeably better in a number of ways, either by massively overhauling my technique or by suggesting a number of small refinements in other areas.

I know it’s an often used cliché that you should fork out on a training day rather than spending your hard earned cash on that new part that might shave a thousandth of a second off your time, but quite frankly, the cliché is true.

I was genuinely surprised just how much my riding had changed in one day, full props to Tom Dowie. If he can sort my technique out, you can bet he can sort you out and make you quicker, more stylish and generally better than you were. Tom doesn’t only do 4x training, he can teach you how to improve any aspect of your riding, and you will benefit from a day with him if you’re an absolute newbie or if you’re a seasoned pro.    

 

Dave – wide open magazine.

 

 

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