Experience

FAQ

You take us in, teach us so much, push us to see what’s newly attainable, and send us out forever changed.

— Edith Taylor, Whistler camp participant

Frequently Asked Questions

One of our favorite things is getting to connect with participants, answer questions, share information, and make things easier to understand. That said, there are over a thousand participants out in the world and just a couple of us in the office, so have a peek at the below information to see if we can fill in any knowledge gaps for you. If not, you can always reach out to us to ask for more information!

Registration

We have 3 registration periods for camps throughout the season:

Spring (camps scheduled April through May) - open February 15
Summer (camps scheduled June - August) - open April 15
Fall (camps scheduled September - November) - open June 15

We recommend that you register for the camp you’d like to take as soon as you can, however registration will remain open until all camp spaces are sold, or the Wednesday prior to camp commencing.

If the camp you want to attend is full, you can either choose another camp and / or sign up for the waitlist for the camp you initially wanted to take.

The waitlist link will be published on the camp location page when a camp sells out. In some cases, we may decide to not keep a waitlist, and in that case, no link will be provided.

Once you register for the waitlist, you’ll receive an email for your waitlist confirmation. If a space opens up, we’ll email you an invitation to register, and give you 24 hours to sign up. By signing up on the wait list, there is no guarantee you will have a spot at camp.

If the camp is over a month away, you will get your own unique invitation. If the camp is sooner than that, your invitation will be shared with a few other people, and the first to accept and sign up will get the spot. Once your registration goes through, you will get another email, this time confirming your spot in the camp.

You will only get an invitation to register from the waitlist if a spot becomes available. If you receive an invitation to register and you’re no longer interested in attending the camp, please email us back so that we can remove you from the list.

The waitlist stays open until the Wednesday before the camp. While it’s ideal to register when there’s still space available, if you have the flexibility to make plans on short notice, your chances of getting in are actually quite good.

We occasionally run special promotions through our partners or social media channels, however we do not offer discounts for returning participants. About 75% of our camp participants are either returning or referred by those who have participated before. We love to see those familiar faces returning, and are grateful to our supporters. While it’s wonderful to see people come back, discounting these registrations would be very similar to just changing our camp pricing.

We do offer group discounts for groups of five or more, and a fixed number of scholarships for those who couldn’t otherwise afford camp at all. Please email us for more information.

New to Dirt Series, we are now offering Youth Camps in a number of locations! These camps are exclusively for female-identifying youth, aged 11-17 years old as of the date of camp. Check out our schedule to see when and where these camps will be run.

Our Adult Weekend and Bike Park Camps will continue to be for participants 18 years and up, and unfortunately we cannot extend the age limit for these events.

Logistics

On Saturday, the riding ends around 4:00 PM for youth, and 5:00PM for adults, and both groups will have an optional evening session following their ride end times. More details for these evening sessions will be included in the pre-camp email.

On Sunday the riding finishes at about 4:30PM for youth, and 5:30PM for adults. If you need to get home and don't think that the finish time will allow you to do that, please talk to us in advance so that we can try to accommodate.

In some locations where we are operating at a bike park/resort, everything is close together and we simply ride our bikes from spot to spot. However, in most locations, at least some driving is required.

Our pre-camp email, sent about a week before camp, will include details such as parking and / or driving information for your particular camp location.

If you're at a "driving required" camp, please be prepared to transport yourself and your bike between the meeting location and the afternoon ride area.

If you don't have access to a vehicle for the weekend, please just get yourself to the meeting location in the morning, and we'll work on setting you up to carpool with other participants from then on.

Youth event locations have been selected due to trail proximity, but in some instances, we will be transporting participants to trail heads in our vehicles, or will pre-arrange a shuttle service.

We’ll always do the best job we can because we want you to have the best weekend possible. That’s our biggest motivation, but not to say that getting tips isn't also really nice.

If you'd like to leave a tip, please give it to the head coach or demo manager, or even one of your coaches if that’s easiest for you. We can accept cash, e-transfer, credit card and Venmo at camp. We share the tips we receive between our coaching team, and appreciate your support!

Skill Levels and Disciplines

When you register for camp, we ask you to fill out an extensive skill and interest questionnaire. This gives us a good idea of where you're at with your riding, and what you're most excited to learn.

If your skills and interests change significantly between the time you register for camp and the actual camp date, you can modify your questionnaire up to the Wednesday prior to camp. If you can't find your confirmation email from your submitted questionnaire, please let us know and we’ll forward you the link.

We spend hours pre-camp sorting out the groups, and use all the information you’ve given us to place you appropriately. Ideally, where we assign you is where you’ll feel happiest throughout your camp. If you find that you'd rather ride and learn with a different group, we'll do our best to switch things for you.

Yes. At camps located at lift-accessible resorts you can choose to spend both days riding the cross-country trails accessed from the valley, both days riding the downhill trails in the bike park, or one day in each area. You will get to make this selection at your time of booking, and in the case you select 1 day of each, you will use the lift-accessible terrain on the Sunday only.

We have a variety of camp styles to accommodate all kinds of riding preferences. Be sure to check that the camp style you sign up for is the most appropriate for your skill level and ride goals. If you’re unsure, please reach out to us prior to registering and we’ll be happy to help!

Bike Park camp registration includes lift tickets for all lift-accessed days in camp. These are purchased on your behalf ahead of time, so there is no additional expense once you arrive in camp.

Please note that these lift tickets are exclusive to camp days, and are non-transferable.

If you have a season pass for the bike park we’ll be riding, please let us know ahead of camp, and bring it with you for all lift-accessed camp days.

Very unlikely! In order to enjoy the camp, all you need to be able to do is ride a bike comfortably on bumpy gravel terrain, shift your gears, and use your brakes. Our step-by-step approach and ultra-encouraging coaches will take it from there, and probably teach you a year’s worth of skills in one weekend.

There is a great group of beginner riders at every camp, and since we organize all the participants according to ability level and interest, you’ll be in good company. The list of skills you can look forward to learning is long. Here are some to start you off:

(1) A dynamic on-bike body position: neutral position, ready position, fore-aft movement and lateral movement.

(2) Front wheel lifts: getting up a curb and over a log with ease.

(3) Technical braking and descending: getting the most out of your brakes, choosing your lines, and making descents of all kinds more than manageable.

(4) Climbing: key techniques to minimize your exertion and maximize your success.

(5) Tight cornering: making your way through switchbacks and twisty spaces.

Beginner riders have a fantastic time at our camps. If you’re thinking of attending, you should.

Our camps have been graded to help you to decide which location will best suit your riding goals. Not every location is suitable for advanced coaching, including access to jumps, drops or rough technical terrain.

We ensure that our coaching team at each camp is capable of, and excited to, coach advanced levels, however, we cater our trail and skill selections to the overall level of the camp. Because of this, we cannot guarantee that every camp will have multiple advanced level groups, but our coaching team will always be ready to ensure you have an outstanding experience and learn something new.

If you do not think the camp experience will be enough for your level, we do have private lessons with our team of exceptional coaches, and can customize a lesson to your goals. If this is something you are interested in, please visit our Private Lesson page to get more information.

If you want to focus exclusively on downhill skills we also have Bike Park Camps which will be hosted by a resort, and focus on lift-accessed downhill instruction and bike park features. Typically these camps have access to higher level terrain, and participants, and so we do recommend these events for those looking for more challenge. These camps include the cost of two-days of lift tickets in the registration fee.

Other locations offer shuttle accessible trails, which are great for technical descents and some air techniques. If your camp goals are related to specifically learning air techniques, we do recommend you look to attend camp at a location that offers downhill bike park opportunities.

Equipment

Bring a mountain bike that fits you and is in good working condition, which is to say with gears and brakes working, bolts tightened, and recently checked over by a certified bike mechanic.

Ideally you'll want to be on a dual suspension bike, but having just front suspension will work just fine too. Having an adjustable seat post is great, but even a quick release (dropper) on your traditional seat post will prove really useful, as then you can raise and lower your seat with ease. If you have a traditional fixed seat post, consider getting a quick release installed before camp.

If you have two bikes at home and are trying to decide between them, bring the one that is best suited to the skills you most want to learn, and the trails in the camp location you most want to ride. Please note, we do not recommend Triple Crown - Downhill specific bikes for locations that are not lift-accessible. Even if there are shuttle opportunities, there may still be a decent amount of climbing.

At this time, we do not recommend e-bikes at Dirt Series camps. As many locations that we coach on do not permit e-bikes, we cannot guarantee that your bike will be permitted on all trails.

In addition, many of the skills we teach at camp are more complicated, or different to learn and accomplish on an e-bike, and require individual attention or e-bike specific programming.

While we are working hard on creating e-bike specific camps, and are excited to offer these programs, they are still in progress and we hope to release them by next season.

We require full-face downhill specific helmets for all bike park / lift access skill sessions and rides. We also strongly recommend them for advanced downhill focused riding of all kinds.

If you have a full-face helmet, please bring it with you. If you’d like to rent one on-site, please check with the host shop at your camp location; we’ll send you this information in your pre camp emails.

If you bring a full-face with you, it’s helpful to bring a regular open-face (trail) helmet as well. Sometimes you might choose to be in skill sessions that are lower risk (and higher heat), and you’ll be happy to have that lighter helmet around.

Please note that if you have a helmet with an optional chin guard, you’ll want to make sure it’s ASTM certified before you plan to use it for bike park / lift access sessions at camp. If you have questions about your particular helmet, feel free to send us a note.

Many of the coaches had the very same question the first time someone suggested they switch pedals and shoes to learn a new skill.

Basically, if you’re super comfortable with your clip / SPD pedals, so much so that you never have to think about getting in or out, you don’t have to use flats for the camp.

However, flats really do make learning a number of skills that much better. It’s generally helpful to have a wider platform under your feet for balance, and it’s also nice to have a system that lets you get off of your bike super fast. While working on air drops and jumps especially, flat pedals make you use an active technique, and this will improve your riding no matter whether you stick with flats or not.

On the flip side, using flat pedals and shoes can make technical climbs a bit more challenging and long rides a bit more tiring, as there isn’t the same exact efficiency involved. We will, though, give you some tips at camp that’ll help in these situations too.

If you’re new to flats, what we suggest is that you put a pair on your bike, set yourself up with some flat soft-soled shoes, and practice with them a few times before the camp. Depending on how comfortable you feel, and what skills you most want to learn, you can then decide to: a) use flats for the entire camp, b) use flats for just the morning skill sessions and switch back to clips for the afternoon rides, or c) not use them at all.