Andy Barlow joined Dirt School as a partner in 2009. His motivation to help as many people as possible get the most out of their time on their bikes made him the perfect match. A well celebrated rider himself, Andy adds his pragmatic attention to detail, his excellent riding ability and his love of all things cycling into his mountain bike coaching.

Credentials

• Dirt School Level 3 Coach
• MBCUK Level 3 Coach
• MBCUK Leadership Tutor
• ABMG Level 4 Guide
• British Cycling MTB Coach qualified
• Emergency Outdoor first aid qualified
• MBLA Mountain Bike Leader
• Scottish and GB XC mountain bike Champion 2009
• Trans Scotland 07 Winner (Solo)
• Scottish Junior Downhill mountain bike Champion 1997
• Regular MBR Magazine Skills Article Contributor

Innes first became involved with Dirt School back in 2013 as one of our BASE College students. He spent two years on the course full time, before graduating and starting his world cup downhill career, riding for MS Mondraker and later Dirt Propain. Unfortunately, injury put an end to his downhill career back in 2016 where he spent his time riding BMX, before retraining as a coach, and now heading up our BASE College performance programme. In 2022, Innes made a return to racing, this time in the Enduro World Series, and landed a 3rd place behind some of the biggest names in the sport in his first ever EWS race. Alongside working as our full time coach and content manager, Innes is continuing his EWS racing in 2023.

Credentials

• Dirt School Level 2 Coach
• MBCUK Level 3 Coach
• Current EWS Racer
• 3rd place at EWS Tweed Valley 2022
• National Downhill Champion 2016
• Ex-Professional Downhill World Cup Racer
• BASE College Graduate

Our new BASE performance coach, Mark Scott will already be familiar to many as one of the most well travelled EWS pro racers out there, riding for Santa Cruz Bicycles since the very start of the discipline. There’s more to Mark's riding than just enduro racing however. A passionate all round cyclist he’s also expanded into other disciplines taking on everything from fast paced gravel races to huge endurance challenges, while his instagram lines and gaps on the Tweed Valleys trails are the stuff of local legend.

Now adding coaching to his resume he’ll be helping hone future generations of racers and riders and passing down the wealth of knowledge he’s amassed.

Credentials

• Professional rider for Santa Cruz Bicycles
• Previous regular Top 10 EWS racer, with a 3rd place at EWS Whistler 2017
• Only rider to successfully ride the full current Golfie trail network in a single day
• MBCUK Technical Trail Leader
• Outdoor First Aid Qualified

Fi joined the team back in 2020 and has been working with us full time ever since. When she’s not out on the hill leading sessions, she can be found working in our shop Tweed Valley Bikes where she looks after pretty much everything. Fi's enthusiasm for riding bikes is infectious, always bringing positivity and fun to any session she delivers. She's equally at home delivering our day courses, running our Kids Academy programme, or riding with our BASE College students - she's always got a smile on her face.

Credentials

• Dirt School Level 2 Coach
• MBCUK Level 3 Coach
• British Cycling Level 2 Leader
• Outdoor First Aid Qualified
• Spent many years racing the Scottish Enduro Series between 2015 and 2019.
• Learnt to ride on a Kona Stinky during a season in Whistler

Bringing his infectious smile with him wherever he goes, Tom brings the good vibes to any ride he is a part of. Starting his career working as a guide in the Whistler Bike Park in 2013, and rapidly expanding on that experience since he joined our team in March 2021, Tom has a wealth of experience working with groups on the hill. You’ll see Tom as a Coach on our Day Courses, Kids Academy or BASE College course, as well as leading guided rides around the local trails for our guiding outfit, Tweed Valley Guides. 

Tom is usually found up the Golfie on his enduro bike, but it’s becoming increasingly common to see Tom aboard his gravel bike, attempting to take it down some more “coarse” terrain.

Credentials

• Dirt School Level 1 Coach
• MBCUK Level 3 Coach
• Emergency Outdoor first aid qualified

The newest addition to our coaching and guiding team but a long standing Tweed Valley fixture, you'll also find Neil managing our shop Tweed Valley Bikes where he'll be happy to give advice on all things or fix your bike for you too. A well known local trail builder and well travelled rider & climber, Neil knows the whole valley like the back of his hand and has been around the riding scene for almost 20 years now with a lifetime of outdoor experience before that. Whether he's up on the trails with a mattock, running a day course or chatting bikes, you'll see the same enthusiasm for the outdoors and people come through.

Credentials

• Dirt School Level 1 Coach
• MBCUK Level 3 Coach
• Outdoor First Aid Qualified
• Long standing Tweed Valley Trail Builder and Dig Day Leader
• Tweed Valley Trails Association Founder

Gregor is another of our BASE College graduates who spent three years on the course with Dirt School before graduating and enrolling in a physiotherapy degree at Queen Margaret University. Gregor has been coaching mountain biking since graduating from BASE in 2019, and joined the Dirt School team in January 2021. He's now into this fifth year of working with us regularly between being a student and now coach himself, he has a solid understanding of the Dirt School coaching ethos and is a valuable asset at the side of the trail.

Credentials

• Dirt School Level 2 Coach
• Dirt School Level 3 Coach (trained)
• MBCUK Level 3 Coach
• British Cycling Level 2 Leader
• Outdoor First Aid Qualified
• BASE College Graduate

Our resident suspension guru, Ady, splits his time between suspension servicing work for TVB Tech and Leadership for us here at Dirt School. Also running guided data acquisition days he knows bike setup incredibly well and is our go-to for any suspension queries in the team.

Having previously worked as a Guide in Verbier, Ady brings an easy going attitude along with a wealth of riding and technical experience. A real lover of tight and steep trails, Ady is right at home in the Tweed Valley and usually is the first to find a creative line choice to a technical problem that no one else has spotted.

Credentials

• MBCUK Level 3 Coach
• Outdoor First Aid Qualified
• Founder of Swarf Cycles

Swapping the world of finance for biking in 2019, our Leader Paul is an experienced outdoorsman and possesses the unflappable confidence that only years spent in the hills can breed. As comfortable on an enduro stage as he is halfway up a remote Munro, Paul is a mountain biker in the truest sense of the word.

Paul splits his time between Dirt School and his work as a high level performance coach, working with the next generation of XC and cyclo-cross racers, and looks after our coach Innes.

Credentials

• Dirt School Assistant Coach
• British Cycling Level 3 Leader
• British Cycling Level 3 Coach
• Strength & Conditioning in Sport, Level 2 Coach
• Emergency Outdoor first aid qualified

Polly first started riding with us at Dirt School when she was just 8 years old, attending our very first Kids Academy back in 2011. As the years went by, she continued to work on her riding and racecraft through our BASE college course.

Now racing at the highest level in the Enduro World Series’ Elite Women’s category Polly is an incredibly accomplished rider with a complete understanding of technical riding and an ability to break down complex techniques into simple moves.

Polly works with us as an assistant coach, around her racing calendar, throughout the year.

Credentials

• Dirt School Assistant Coach
• MBCUK Technical Trail Leader
• Outdoor First Aid Qualified
• BASE College Graduate
• Current Enduro World Series Elite Racer
• Sponsored Rider for Juliana

Janey has been part of our coaching team since 2017, where she coached for many years before becoming a partner in 2020 and moving into an office based role as Managing Director of Tweed Valley Group. Janey now spends her time looking after our bike shop Tweed Valley Bikes, guiding outfit Tweed Valley Guides, suspension servicing centre TVB Tech and of course continuing to improve everything we do here at Dirt School. When time allows, she still occasionally spends time teaching some of her long term regular clients.

• Dirt School Level 3 Coach
• MBLA Mountain Bike Leader
• Mountain Leader
• Advanced Outdoor First Aid Qualified
• 1st Class BSc Hons in Mathematics

The founder of Dirt School, Chris has roots in sport science, competition and international governing body level work. When he founded Dirt School his ethos was simple. He wanted to pass on all that he had learnt, not just from riding and competing at world level but from the psychologists, physiologists and coaches he works with. But, more importantly, he wanted to pass this on to every rider, through people who had the experience and skill level themselves. Dirt School continues to deliver with this front of mind today.

• CEO of ESO Sports and leading on mountain bike racing within the Warner Bros. Discovery Sports Group
• Founder of the Enduro World Series and the Enduro MTB Association
• Founder and National Coach of the Scottish Downhill Academy
• UCI Gravity Sports Coordinator and UCI Technical Delegate (2008 - 2012)
• Author: The Manual - Mountain Biking and original MBR Skills expert
• BSc Hons Sports Science