Steve made his way down from Sheffield and stayed locally in a bed and breakfast so he could be fresh for his session.The skills check revealed the present and also the missing skills and once I had made the necessary set up changes, I set to work.
We began with the drop technique and I worked on looking and body positioning here and the eefect was immediate, Steve was landing perfectly and effortlessly.
After confidently riding all 3 drops we moved onto the skills trail and I began with pumping and harnessing the trails energy and using it to ride the following bermed and flat corner. I added a rock garden and 2 more corners into the mix and Steve began to ride more fluidly.
I moved us down the trail and worked on fly out jumps and dealing with corners with a step on the exit and eventually to linking the cornering technique and drop technique together. Steve used his new mental skill set to great effect before riding the entire trail end to end a few times.
Each run was faster and more controlled than the last and even though there were a couple of errors, Steve knew what they were and how and why to correct them.
Finally it was time to show why the skills set applied to jumping tabletops and gaps. Steve took no time at all in clearing the 6ft tabletop and used his mental skills to be able to commit to riding the gap jump side also.
Steve called an end to the session himself as he began to tire and an awesome session came to a close.
Great session!
It’s been 6 months since our session at Herts so it’s about time I left some feedback.
ReplyDeleteBefore I came to you I knew you had had great feedback from previous clients but to be honest, I was a little bit sceptical about whether it would work for me. I shouldn’t have worried.
What you do is to break things down into a few simple elements. You demonstrate the skills at appropriate times in the session so that they build on each other. Because the difference can be felt on the trail you can tell when & why things go wrong, which means in time it becomes self correcting & ingrained.
You’ve given a structure to my riding that wasn’t there before. I know what I should be doing and when, and if it doesn’t always happen, I know why. I don’t know if I’m actually faster or not, but I feel faster & more fluid now than before. I’m more relaxed on the bike and I’m definitely having more fun, which is what it's all about.
Great session Tony, which is still building into my riding to this day.
Steve