Ride Ottawa Reviews

Great experience, very friendly! Highly recommend

Very good instructions for a first exposure to jumping. Mike is very knowledgible, patient and easy going make the course fun. Bravo Mike!, Good job Ride Ottawa

Ride Ottawa gives a professional learning experience with a personable touch. You will absolutely learn some skills that will allow you to improve your mountain biking in a comfortable atmosphere. Worth every penny.

I have taken several RideOttawa courses and each one of them has been extremely well structured and helped me progress. All the instructors are very skilled on the bike and with teaching. Highly recommend to anyone at any stage of their mountain biking journey.

Great lesson! My riding has improved a lot.

Great experience for learning in a safe supportive environment. The crew makes sure to provide individual advice to help riders at different levels all get something out of the time spent.

Excellent experience! The combo of two coaches with years of experience and expertise was amazing. They had slightly different approaches to coaching which made for a fantastic learning experience. I left the drops course with a lot more confidence - which was my goal!

Every course builds my beginner mountain bike confidence & it transcends into commuter and road riding, too.

Best place to learn or improve your MTB skills. The instructors are great, friendly and even as a beginner, I felt welcome and at ease!

We did several private lessons with Ride Ottawa and a drop clinic. we went from wavering beginner mountainbikers to strong intermediate riders and have ridden trails we never thought we would ride. The attentionj to detail of the Ride Ottawa instructors is central to their teahcing: a little adjustment of posture makes a whole lot of a difference and they'll lead you to it in clear, approachable steps. Very warmly recommended!

My husband and I signed up for 2 private lessons. Our instructors were Chris and Mike. Both were excellent teachers! We really learned a lot. It was a great experience! I feel way more confident riding. I would definitely recommend Ride Ottawa!

Long review, but honest and heartfelt! I have had three lessons with Ride Ottawa. I have been fortunate to have had two lessons with Chris, and one with Sandra. I got into MTB in my mid-40s. My health and fitness were horrible, also fear of hurting myself was very strong, I am naturally awkward and afraid of things like trees hitting my bars, falling over and hurting myself, ETC... You all know what I am talking about. My first lesson, beginner level with Chris, taught me that I am A) Not alone in my fears, and B) Keeping my eyes on the trail and off my front wheel will help. My confidence boost after my first session was almost visible. My first ride after my lesson was at Larose, I felt brave enough to ride a new trail on my own. I knew how to scan the trail and I knew how to use my brakes, all thanks to the first lesson. I was SOOOO Stoked after clearing my first new trail, I couldn’t wait to tell Chris, I knew without a doubt that he would care to know. He was as stoked as I was! I told Chris before I told my husband...LOL My second lesson was at Camp Fortune. Not gonna lie, I was TERRIFIED. I was stepping WAY out of my comfort zone, but I knew Chris wouldn't let me die...LOL...First thing he did when I got there was to tell me all I had to do was tell him if I didn't feel ready to do something and we would work through it at MY pace. we were in no rush, He said we were gonna "Eat an elephant, one little bite at a time:" So we started out with things that I was confident doing and built from there. Next thing I know I am riding Junior, there is climbing, which I was more confident doing thanks to knowing the better technique. I rode over rocks, roots the size of trees, they looked that way anyway and came down berms that were very scary, but I knew how to thanks to Chris's patience, I was able to ALMOST clear Junior, which may not be scary to experienced riders, but it was a Wonderful accomplishment for me. Had my third lesson yesterday at Fortune, this time with Sandra. I asked her if she could help me with bridges. My very first ride took a bad turn on a bridge and was emotionally scarred. (You know what I mean) Sandra said we will do that for sure, I asked for some more pointers on climbing, I am getting better, but these folks know voodoo that takes the littlest bits to make it more efficient and ALMOST enjoyable. This time I cleared Junior, WAY faster and much smoother. I would like to take this time to mention that these are the only two times I have been to Junior, I haven't been practicing there. At the turnaround point, Sandra said if I wanted to, we could ride it the other way and hit the bridges again. I knew I could do the climbs and bridges. Also there would be some fun downs to practice brake modulations. I was oozing confidence at the end of my ride. After a little break, I was almost ready to do it all again because, NOW, I knew I could do it well...ish... I felt like I ate the Elephant, little bites at a time, all together made it manageable and when you look back at what you have done, the instructors are almost more proud of you than you are of yourself! I HIGHLY recommend you take the time to improve through the proper technique. They are 100% worth the money. This is my personal experience with Ride Ottawa. :)

I had a lesson with my twin 9 year-old daughters and really enjoyed the experience. Our instructor, Chris, was a great communicator and really good with the girls. The instruction was great and really gave them the fundamentals that they can now build on. He even went so far as to adjust their bikes so that they can brake and shift more easily. I would definitely recommend it and am thinking of booking back for another lesson myself and wouldn’t hesitate to sign the girls up for another lesson after they get a chance to practice what they learned at the first one.

Money and time so well spent! Had my first mtb lesson today and it was just perfect for my current confidence level (low) and skill set (novice). I'm a new rider and was already developing less-than-ideal habits. Glad to now have a much better understanding of my position on the bike, how to brake more effectively and much more. Thanks Sandra! Your instruction was easy to understand and to implement. And you progressed at a pace that was in my comfort zone. Looking forward to our next lesson :-).

I took the lvl 1 ride better lesson with Instructor Mike. The wife took Ride better beginner Women's only with Sandra , we both learnt a lot, and had a blast! The instructors are very knowledgeable, friendly and just plain fun to ride with!