"Lack of Flexibility Sooooo Off-putting"

My car broke down on the day of my class and despite this Singketrack was not willing to flexible about letting me rebook my lesson. I tried up until it was not longer possible to make it that day.

I understand they have terms and conditions but when it's a situation being ones control, this lack of flexibility means I will never ever ever use them for MTB courses. Never ever.

Further Update:18/12/2019
At No point in time did I try to blame Singketrack for my misfortune. Even if I could change the tyre by myself, my spare is a doughnut and there is no way I would have been able to drive it from Kent to Surrey and back feeling safe and comfortable. And for whomever it was that responded to make a snarkey remark that I should know how to change a true is totally uncalled for. Just goes to show how much they want new business. I wish them all the best but I stand by my review that they were inflexible, snaeky remarks notwithstanding

"Singletrack Improvers Part One"

This was my second course with Danielle and Singletrack School (Fundamentals and Singletrack Improvers part 1). I have really enjoyed both courses and learnt loads of great skills to improve my riding. Already looking to book up on my next course in the new year.

"Still buzzing. Great course !"

Still buzzing from this weekend's Fast Track Singletrack Skills course with SingletrackSchool at Holmbury St Mary with Danielle.

Not long ago, I didn't even have the confidence to ride up or down a curb, let alone survive a muddy track with wet roots, rolling drops and bomb holes, nor could I have imagined myself manual relatively comfortably over logs.

On the road bike and TT bike second nature has always been 'to be one' with the bike. So the concept of 'moving around the bike' was quite alien to me. Cornering not just by using your head, but also actively use your heels and hips makes sense, but the concept of leaning the bike, not your body, took a bit longer to sink in.

To my surprise I didn't fall off once (I did put my foot down a few times), was scared only half the time and really enjoyed it the rest of the time.

It is funny how your perceptions change as your skills, knowledge and confidence increase. At the end of the 1st course day I couldn't apprehend how I could possibly be doing more challenging things or ride more challenging terrain, but we definitely upped it on the 2nd course day and things that seemed daunting on day 1 no longer faced me as much by day 2.

Doing the intensive course over two days back to back was good as the skills nicely built onto each other and it was also nice to see 3 of the other riders back on day 2.

Danielle was a great coach. I liked her style. Clear and knowledgeable, yet packed with humour. Intensive with a lot of information to take in, yet delivered in a relaxed style and pace. I never felt rushed or pushed beyond my limits and she cleverly adapted the course in parts so we all could learn at our own pace/challenge level.

I don't feel quite a hero yet, but definitely not a zero anymore either. Time to practice a lot now and return for the improver course in due time.

"I'd never sat on a mountain bike before…"

I'd never sat on a mountain bike before doing this course and had no idea what to expect.
For me the course was great. Lots of detailed infomation given in the first hour about set up, equipment and so on. It made me realise that good preparation is essential before getting on the bike.
The skills sessions were incredibly useful and I have no doubt that I wouldn't have been able to ride the trails in the afternoon without them.
Once we started ridng the trails I could see what the fuss was about. I'm sure experienced riders would laugh at my attempts but I was pretty pleased to complete them and it was a great buzz.
I'll look to buy a bike mountain now and book on one of the follow up courses.
Danielle was very knowlegable and had a dry sense of humour which added to the day. The dogs were well behaved.

"Great skills course"

Great skills course. Danielle was very good with her instructions and made me laugh a lot. Thoroughly enjoyed the two days and gave me a lot to think about and practice. I would recommend the foundation course level 2 to sharpen your skills and boost your confidence.

Adrian, Kent

"Read the bad reviews rather than seeing…"

Read the bad reviews rather than seeing what you want to believe from the positives!!!

I originally booked a weekend course. I'm not local so this meant booking accommodation from Friday to Monday, as well as paying for someone to look after my 2 dogs for 4 days.

The course instructor turned up with 4 dogs who bark at every person or dog walker that goes by, which I think is extremely unprofessional. Regardless of how well trained they are, what if they get injured, the course ends? What if they cause an accident (on the very little trail time I got I had to emergency stop to stop myself running over one of her dogs that had hung back)? What if they are attacked / attack another dog? Very poor judgement in my opinion. The course attendee's should be the main focus of the course, and having multiple dogs joining the course can only lead to complications. I could of seriously hurt myself or the dog when having to make allowances for it on a trail, I should been fully concentrating on improving my skills.

After about 2 hours or so, the Instructor had to go home as she was feeling "ill". Nothing more was offered by any of the other instructors for that weekend. I was offered a FOC course a future date TBC.

I have just had to cancel my rebooking due a knee injury and I've been told by Singletrack I would need to pay to book another course with them.

I couldn't of been more understanding with the instructor wanting to go home ill and have been very flexible towards singletrack cancelling the event, regardless of the loss of holiday booked from work, money spent on food and accommodation as well as dog cover. I would say the weekend cost me around £800 with all things considered, but I was flexible and didn't want to be difficult about it. In hind sight, I should of asked for a refund there and then.

I now wish I had never spent any money with this company. I'm sure Singletrack will post a long response doing their best to contradict and deny all of this, but ultimately these facts remain, and I only wished I'd looked at the reviews harder to begin with.

Fact 1. I booked a weekend course at full price
Fact 2. The instructor went home ill after a couple hours tuition (only 25% of course delivered, at best)
Fact 3. Riding with other instructors was not offered (although they say it was)
Fact 4. I had to cancel the re-booked date due to injury
Fact 5. Singletrack have told me I need to pay to book again or claim on insurance.
Fact 6. Singletrack are more than happy to mess you about through cancellation ON THE DAY, but when it goes the other way they will just keep your money.

Bearing in mind I paid my fees back in Oct 2018, so how this can affect a course taking place in May 2019?

As advised, I would pay more attention to the bad reviews than the responses from Singletrack. There seems to be a few that back my claims.

Singletrack have basically charged me £200 for two hours tuition. Never again.

"Great day and great instructor"

Great day and great instructor. I was doing tracks at the end of the day that I never imagined I would! The pace of instruction could have gone a little quicker, with a bit less background on bikes and the history or trails etc, but overall a really good day and I've come away a MUCH better rider.

"Amazing day!!"

Amazing day!!! Highly recommend

"An afternoon at Hurtwood with the dogs"

I had an excellent afternoon with Danielle. It's was just me, my friend's 11 year old and Aki (4 year old Shiba). Danielle was professional, easy going and fun. She choose routes suitable to our abilities and Aki had fun with her three dogs, all of them following. The Hurtwood was a lovely location, the bikes all of a high specification and in good condition.
I would highly recommend Danielle and single track school to anyone, either just for a guided tour or training.

"Doing this improved my MTBing significantly!"

Attended all-day L2 Singletrack Fundamentals with guided/coached ride. Very good experience & highly recommend it. Quality coaching made learning basic concepts & putting them into practice a lot of fun. Gained confidence step-by-step, yet surprisingly quickly. This was evident on the subsequent guided/coached ride after lunch. Was so much more confident and quicker on the trails. (And improvements continued in the weeks & months that followed, on events like BHF London to Brighton off-road & Evans MTB Ride Its, etc.) Only regret was that my fitness level was a bit low & was carrying a bit of extra weight. Though one needn't be super-fit either, a reasonable fitness level would allow getting more out of this training.