Zach hasn't been riding mtb's for long and has a back ground in time trials etc.He came to me on recommendation and as soon as we met I gave him an outline for the session and my commitments to him for his coaching.
The skills check revealed a natural push that was bogged down by missing foot and looking skills and also some work was drastically needed in cornering too.
To Zach's surprise, we began with drops but in no time at all he was landing perfectly on all 3 drops as the power of his push technique shone through.
We moved onto the skills trail and worked on flat, switchback, off camber and bermed corners. We linked them to pumping, steps, rock gardens, flyouts and drops.
We worked our way gradually down the trail, working on the individual sections before adding the previous to the next one.
I worked hard with linking corners and drops together and soon Zach was motoring saving 3 seconds on a timed 70 meter segment.
We then began riding the entire trail end to end and with each run, Zach was smoother and faster.
We had a coffee break as Zach began to show tiredness but I really wanted to teach him to apply his push for jumping tabletops and after the break that's exactly what I did.
I managed his approach speed and added it gradually and in a short while he was sailing over the 6ft tabletop effortlessly.
Mental fatigue finally got the better of Zach and we called an end to the session just after 4 hours and I gave him a riding demonstration of the skill set in use in my riding on the herts woodwork.
Great session Zach!
Brilliant session thanks Tony! Have already had another go on FTD at Cannock Chase and I'm clearly smoother and more relaxed than before - the ride just flowed a lot better for me :-). Was nearly as fast as my previous best (dry), except this time it was wet and slippery.
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