Wednesday 14 September 2011

Five go mad in Hertfordshire


,



Phil, Barry, Nick, John and Nigel all ride together and came to me as a group to sort out their collective issues in their riding. After a quick chat, I began with the skills check where I make any set up changes and I identify the missing and also the present skills.
Once corrected, we moved onto the first technique I always cover, drops.
After showing them braking technique and the explaining the four mental skills questions they must ask when faced with sections on a trail, we began on the smallest of the 3 drops. In no time at all they were all landing perfectly and the simplicity of the technique once the skill set was applied was something they found astonishing. After a while we moved onto the skills trail and began working on linking the sections on the trail together using the identified braking areas.
We worked on pumping the trail to use the trails energy rather than riders. We linked this to flat, bermed, switchback and off camber turns. Rock gardens, steps, fly out jumps and drops.
Each section was linked to the previous one as we worked along the trails 14 sections.
Finally, it came time for them to ride the entire trail.
The smiles were written all over their faces as they rode. Each said they felt so much more confident and smooth as well as comfortable. Each run was better than the last and it came time for a scenery change so i moved us onto our last technique, jumping tabletops.
I already taught them why the skills applied to jumping the fly out on the trail but tabletops are a mental game.
They applied their mental skills and physical and they all began to fly. the simplicity, once again amazed them.
I feel very privileged to be in a position where I get to see the birth and rebirth of riders as my job and today was no different. I can't wait for their riding updates as they changed so dramatically in such a short time.
High5 guys

1 comment:

  1. Tony,

    We all can't thank you enough. You have totally changed our riding capabilities 10 fold just in a single day.

    Your unique approach to keeping it simple and no BS style of instruction really hits home and I lost count of the number of moments where the light bulb came on.

    You truly are a gifted instructor Tony bringing a level of passion to what you do that inspires us all. Your ability to read people and explain things in a way they will understand it really makes a difference to the speed at which we picked techniques up.

    As for your demo's at the end of the day, you are officially insane! ;-)

    We are all still buzzing from the day and can't wait to get out there to practice our new found skills with a totally new level of confidence.

    We will definitely be back to see you again Tony.

    Phil, Nige, Jon, Nick, Bazza.

    ReplyDelete