15 Feb 2022

Seasoned Mountain Bike (MTB) coach and founder of Life Cycle Bicycle Coaching and Tuition, Gobona Mantle, added another qualification to her belt, becoming a Bike Instructor Certification Programme (BICP) Instructor.

Already a Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) Coaching Level 1 and 2 instructor, Mantle embarked on a professional training and certification programme in South Africa to enhance her coaching skills.

“While I am a competent and race proven mountain bike rider and cycling coach, I felt that this training would extent my mountain biking skills and training competency to cover skills such as jumping, negotiating large rocks and steep downhills and going over logs,” explained Mantle.

BICP in partnership with Cycling USA and accredited by the International Mountain Biking Association (IMBA), aims to establish a global standard for mountain bike skills instructor training and demystify the process of teaching mountain biking skills in a structured progression.

Mantle who is not only passionate about riding but coaching children on MTB skills, said she believed the programme would not only extend her skills and confidence on the mountain bike but enhanced the training and experience she offered to her students.

Having undertaken this level of training and certification, Mantle also noted that transferring the acquired skills to her students would elevate their confidence.

“Our riders need to be equipped with necessary skills for them to be competitive riders,” she said.  ENDS