Meet the Team — Joe Flanagan
This week we asked Joe some questions…
What do you do for Dirt School?
I get to ride my bike and get paid for it! How amazing is that! I’m a part time coach and a Mountain Bike Coaching UK (MBCUK) tutor, so I run the leadership courses for Dirt School too. I have been coming up from my home in the Lake District since last spring and also help out with the Borders College BASE sessions, facilitating the good times!
Tell us a bit about your background:
I was born in Kendal and grew up across the border in the Yorkshire Dales. Me and my brother spent all our time building jumps and messing around on bikes as youngsters and this developed into racing downhill and then later enduro. I went to university to do a fun degree in Outdoor Education and when I graduated I got into work in the outdoors but mainly MTB skills coaching for a company based in the North East called Pro Ride. Having coached for them for a number of years that business was sold and moved down south and through a leadership award I met the Dirt School guys and was offered opportunities up in Scotland. I’m really grateful for this they are an amazing bunch to work for and are always super psyched to develop for the better. I look forward to the future.
What do you like about coaching?
It’s brilliant to earn a bit of coin doing something you love to do. I also love it when people get light bulb moments of realisation if you’ve helped them develop a skill or iron out a bad habit they may have had for years. It usually puts a smile on their faces and gets everyone fired up!
What do you do with your free time?
All sorts — I love to try new things. My favourite things have to be riding my bike of course and rock climbing. I find they compliment each other really well. I will do a load of biking for a while then get blown out and climb for a while then vice versa. My truly ideal day though has to be a multi activity day when you get a ride climb and maybe a swim in a lake in at the end.
What kind of riding do you like? Any particular trails to mention?
Living in the Lake District I’ve grown to love riding rocky loose passes up in the mountains. I love a big loop where you have to carry your bike up steep mountains then blast down the other side. One of my favourites has to be the 4 passes loop in the Lakes or Sticks pass on Helvellyn. However I have loved coming up to the tweed valley more and riding between trees.
What would the other coaches say about you?
I’m not sure, I think they’re still trying to figure me out 😂, I think I’m still trying to figure myself out too!
Do you have any goals for the year?
To settle my life out a bit, I’d ideally like to get a house of my own, have a go at doing the grown up thing!
What are you currently working on in your own riding?
Getting back in the groove of riding between trees. I don’t do enough of it in the Lakes so it’s great coming up to the Tweed Valley and blasting through the trees trying to keep up with the BASE students.
If you’ve missed our last Q&A with Janey, you can find it here.
