Kate and Paul's 2 to 1 skills session

Kate and Paul rang me to book a session and today was the day. I could tell that Kate was apprehensive about the session so I eased those worries when chatting over a coffee.
I began with the skills check and that showed me the areas in each of them where work was needed.
I changed their set ups to enhance the skills I was correcting and the effect was immediate. Both could raise the front wheel easily and it was time to move onto the drop technique. Both Paul and Kate had a concerned look on their faces but that soon passed as they began landing perfectly from the word go!


Both of them were surprised at the ease of this technique once their skill set was applied both physically and mentally.
After a while I moved onto the skills trail and I began working with them on not just riding the 14 sections within the trail but also on linking them together. Flat, bermed, switchback and off camber turns were linked to steps, rock gardens , drops and fly out jumps.


I worked on how and why to pump the trail and gain free speed from the trail. They both used that energy to ride the following berm, flat corner and rock garden and two more corners. Footwork and looking were worked on as well as body positioning.
We moved down the trail and I used a upslope on the trail to teach whether to absorb or jump.
Kate looked worried and questioned even riding up it but that soon changed as she took off with a woop woop of joy. Paul was loving how easy it felt too and they linked that all to the previous sections too. I worked on line choice and linking drops and steep roll ins into corners and braking technique. Finally it was time for them to ride the entire trail end to end and the difference is their riding attitude was striking as well as the speed and control they were now riding at.
Paul was using his new body position to rail the corners with a big smile on his face and Kate began to use her footwork unconsciously too.
After a few runs, they called an end to the session as they could feel mental tiredness creep in so I finished with a riding demonstration of the same skills I teach in use in my own riding.
Amazing session and we all learned some great stuff :)