The OMBI (Ontario Mountain Bike Instructor) Course
Have you ever been frustrated trying to teach a beginner to mountain bike? The sport of mountain biking has grown. All over Ontario, more and more riders are taking their mountain bikes and venturing offroad with them.
Many of these people lack the skills and knowledge to make this experience enjoyable. Volunteers have developed a certification program for those people who would like to teach others how to mountain bike. The program developed out of a desire to have a standard teaching system in Ontario, so that the student would be assured of being taught the basic skills of Mountain Biking.
The OMBI (Ontario Mountain Biking Instructor) course is designed to evaluate your teaching skills, your technical (riding) skills, and your knowledge of basic bike repair. We do not teach you these skills, but rather evaluate you and provide feedback to improve your skills. Students will be expected to come to the course with the necessary skills to teach others to Mountain Bike.
Summer camp councilors where mountain biking is included, school teachers who may want to include mountain biking in their curriculum, students in outdoor recreation classes who need certification in various sports, staff at private clubs where mountain biking is offered and cycling clubs who do bike patrols. Even bike enthusiasts who want to take friends out mountain biking and want to ensure that they will enjoy the experience. This course may even be of interest to bike shop employees who know that a friendly atmosphere keeps customers coming back.
You would have the necessary riding skills to lead a one day tour. You should consider yourself at least an intermediate rider when riding offroad. You will understand proper shifting, climbing and descending, and cadence. You should be physically fit and be able to ride a reasonable distance.
You should be able to do basic trailside repair on your bike. You should know which tools would most likely be needed, and how to use them. Repairs would include changing tires, fixing broken chains, and adjusting shifters or brakes; in short, anything that could be expected to occur during a one day tour. During the course, you will be required to demonstrate the repair of a rear tire and you will be given one other skill, and be asked to teach this skill.
You should have some ability to teach other people. You need to be able to break down a skill, and teach the components so that others can understand and perform the action. The skills you might be expected to teach are log hops, hill climbing, descending, and emergency stops. We are not requiring formal education in teaching here. We simply want to ensure that you can impart your knowledge to others in an understandable manner.
Please check the mountain bike calendar for the current schedule of courses. If you have a group that would like to schedule a course, please contact the OCA office.
If this course doesn't seem to interest you, think about it. It is amazing what you can learn about your riding and yourself. And, if you've ever experienced frustration when taking out beginning riders, then this course could be for you.
* Special dates and locations can be arranged for groups, clubs, camps, etc.
(1) Date and location subject to weather conditions.
(2) By invitation
Contact the Ontario Cycling Association
For more information on OMBI please click here.
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