Thursday 31 May 2012

Leigh's one to one session















 Leigh made the trip up from Eastbourne for his session and I we chatted over a coffee of his expectations for the session. The skills check revealed I had to work on his looking and body position and also his mental skills too. I made some set up changes and the effect was immediate.
 We moved onto the drops and Leigh was so comfortable now that I could teach him to style in the air too.
 From there, we moved onto the skills trail and I worked on linking the 14 sections on the trail together. Bermed, flat, off camber and switchback turns were linked to pumping, rock gardens, drops and steps. It didn't take him long to be riding end to end and fast too!
 We moved onto the 6ft tabletop and gap jump and that proved no problem at all anymore as he sailed over both with ease. The session was moving along nicely as the physical skills became an unconscious action and the mental questions I teach were applied. On the pump and jump trail We linked pumping, jumping, cornering and manuals along the trail which blew Leigh away big time as he never thought he'd be able to manual in such a short time frame.
 I then worked on the different applications of the skills set when riding steeps.
Leigh now chose whether to roll, drop or drop in on steep stuff with equal control. I could see he was beginning to tire but he wanted to ride some woodwork if possible to off we went to the herts shore woodwork.
Once I had enhanced his control of the woodwork environment he quickly rode a small 1ft drop and soon we were looking at a higher gap drop which he never in his wildest dreams thought possible for him to ride but in a short while he did and even styled it in the air. Our session ended there to smiles all round and a cold beer!
 Great session!

Wednesday 30 May 2012

A session with mtbberkhamstead







































Loz, Tony, Rich, Tim, Neil and Steve are part of a cool group of mtber called mtbberkhamstead and on arrival we had tea an coffee and chatted about their expectations for the session. The skills check told me everything i needed to know and I worked on their looking and body positioning as well as their mental skills. A few set up changes were required then we set off to apply the skill set to the drop technique. in no time at all they were landing perfectly and easier than ever before.
 We moved onto the skills trail and its 14 sections and we worked on each before linking them all together. Flat, bermed, off camber and switchback turns were linked to steps, rock gardens, drops, fly out jumps and pump bumps. i worked hard on braking technique and line choice too and soon they were flying along the trail.
 next up was the 6ft tabletop and gap jump and in a few small steps they were up in the air with smiles on their faces as the kid in them all returned. The heat of the day meant lots of little breaks were taken and as they were tiring I could see they had a bit more in them so off we went to the pump and jumps trail where I showed why the skills allowed them to choose to jump, manual or pump sections on the trail.
Our session ended after over 6hrs as they were all tired mentally. I gave them a riding demonstration of the same skills set in use in my riding on a line at herts and then Gave them a tour whilst we had a cold beer.
 Great session with some cool riders.
High5!