His acting debut is watering down under a grey sky in the Franconian town of Bärenfels. No amount of moaning and groaning will help, the rain is drenching Bernd Streckert's ambitious performance. He does everything right: he crouches in the soaked meadow and forces some air into his lungs. He holds his left arm distorted in pain in front of his rain jacket and even his face colour shimmers pastel pale between the green stalks. Bernd is the heart attack, as Mathias Marschner, instructor of the DIMB (Deutsche Initiative Mountainbike e.V.) trail scout seminar, wanted.
Several times a year, Bärenfels, a village whose highlight is the annual festival organised by the volunteer fire brigade, becomes the centre of German trail scout training for mountain bikers. For the past three days, almost thirty bikers have besieged the village in Franconian Switzerland. Among them is Bernd, who does not act in real life. He works as an engineer and signed up for the DIMB's trail scout course, the entry-level course for prospective tour guides. The bike initiative has been offering the seminar, which it organises in cooperation with the German Cycling Federation (BDR), for four years. The four-day course is primarily aimed at people who want to plan and organise bike tours for clubs, cycling shops, tourist regions or tour operators.
In the seminar room, the notebook is gasping for cooling. The projector throws PowerPoint slides onto the wall and the course leaders scribble the characteristics of a guide on a flipchart. The course is meticulously planned. "We try to offer an introductory framework for bikers interested in becoming guides, both theoretically and practically," explains Marschner, who is one of the three instructors on the course. Theoretical and practical means absorbing three hours of teaching material in the morning and putting it into practice in the afternoon. This also includes Bernd's heart attack, which is part of the "Behaviour in the event of an accident" unit.
If you want to start as a tour guide with a tour operator today, you hardly stand a chance without the certificate
Bernd's role play ends with a simulated heart massage, without artificial respiration - they didn't want to go that far after all. Marschner, his body taut and wearing a red MTB guide jersey, monitors his group's learning success. "When people pay here, it doesn't mean that they will receive the final certificate," explains the trainer, who has set himself the goal of moulding the elite of bike guides. The certificate has no legal basis whatsoever. Anyone and anything can call themselves a bike guide or trail scout - with or without a certificate. Nevertheless, the course is considered a seal of quality, especially for tour operators. "If you want to start as a tour guide with a tour operator today, you hardly stand a chance without the certificate."
Bernd Streckerts paid just under 300 euros to take part in the course. The biker from Loiching attended the seminar so that he could lead a tour for a friend from time to time. The situation is different for Phillip Kraft, who brought Bernd back to life just a minute ago. The Hamburg native cycled 600 kilometres to Bärenfels on Wednesday evening to attend the trail scout seminar. "This is extremely important to me, it's the basis of my existence, so to speak," he explains, squeezing the rainwater out of his gloves. The 36-year-old bike courier is currently reorienting himself during his parental leave. "I can't be a courier forever, especially with a baby," says the young father. For Phillip, the course is a building block for his future career. "I want to start my own business in personal training and tour guiding."
Two motivations among many, as Marschner knows: "The people who take part here come to us for a wide variety of reasons. Whether pensioners who offer tours in their free time or dropouts who want to do something new." Nevertheless, he recognises a trend among the participants: More and more want to try their hand at guiding professionally. Especially since the economic crisis hit the labour market indiscriminately. Interest in the course increased unexpectedly this year. "We had to offer additional courses. This year we have some participants who have lost their jobs and see this as an opportunity for a better job," says the instructor. The only common denominator Marschner recognises among the bikers here is their enthusiasm for the sport.
The clouds are still grey over Bärenfels. A lousy twelve degrees is creeping into the last cracks of the functional clothing. The average speed of five kilometres per hour over the last few hours does the rest. Anyone who thinks they will be biking on the course should take the precaution of unscrewing their speedometer and doing 1000 squats in the evening - for the sake of physical exercise. There is little danger during the training, especially in the last two days of the course, which include emergency management and orientation.
Phillip trembles with his arms propped up over the hiking map of the district. With soaked shoes, he stands in the mud and tries his hand at the exercise: orientation in the terrain. But in the age of GPS-less systems, the art of map reading seems to have been forgotten. At an inconspicuous crossroads, the man from Hamburg bends over the map. Left green, right green, straight ahead green - Phillip can't make out the way. His biker group stands helplessly in the forest. One junction further on, the Bärenfels Bible study group turns off purposefully for their Sunday walk. Cars roar along the country road in the background. Phillip looks at the soggy map in frustration - in the middle of the virtual wilderness. Only Nicki Burger manages to orientate herself in the jumble of green leaves and little map lines. No problem for the 36-year-old nurse. She is passionate about the profession of bike guide and has been cramming in advance. Just like Phillip, she also wants to change her profession - even if this has already led to a few arguments within the family. Her father and mother dismiss her wish as a crazy idea. Some of her friends and acquaintances shake their heads. She doesn't care.
The venison stew is steaming on the tables. Just the thing after five hours freezing in the forest, you'd think. But the trail scout candidates poke apathetically at the food. Today is the final day, with a final meeting in the single room. This is where it's decided who gets the certificate and who doesn't. Bernd is called up and disappears behind the oak door, grey-faced. After 15 minutes, the door opens. Bernd comes out relieved, the heart attack has paid off and the certificate is in his pocket.
INFO
Training at a glance:
The "Trailscout" is the introduction to guiding. This four-day course is primarily aimed at people who want to offer tours in areas they are familiar with. Since 2009, the MTB trail scout course has also been a prerequisite for training to become a licensed MTB guide.
Participation requirements:
- Several years of biking experience
- Advanced bike control
- Sufficient physical condition for tours of approx. 60 km/1200 m altitude difference
- Membership of a sports association/organised sports club
- Membership of the DIMB
- First aid licence
Contents:
- Preparation and realisation of tours
- Management techniques
- Map skills and orientation in the terrain
- Group dynamics and de-escalation techniques
- Emergency management
- Access and liability law
- Teaching the basics of driving technique
- Map and meteorology
- Bike technology and breakdown assistance
- Organisation of bike events
- Basics of training theory
- Communication concepts to pass on his knowledge effectively
Costs and further information:
300-365 euros, depending on the location of the event
Web: www.dimb.de
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