Saturday 30 November 2013

A Skills Session for Six Friends



































Pete, Andy, Ceriss, Tom, Alice and Sam arrived as planned, so once everyone was dressed and their bikes were built, we started with the skills checks. Here we described the foundation of cornering, and jumping and dropping. After a few set up changes, we moved on to put their new found skills to practise. We started with the drop technique, where we explained the mental side of riding, and had them choosing whether to ride what is in front of them or not. Before long, they where all riding the largest of the three drops comfortably, and some even started to add style when in the air. We then done a quick cornering exercise, before moving onto the trail. Here we walked them through and demonstrated each section, before allowing them to put their skills to the test. They where soon flying down the trail from top to bottom, linking both bermed, flat and switchbacked corners, rock gardens, fly outs, steps and drops. We then moved onto the table top, where we controlled everyones speed to match their jump technique. We sprinkled speed slowly and soon everyone was flying comfortably over the 6ft tabletop, and some rode the gap jump as well. We then moved onto the pump and jump trail, where they began pumping through sections in order to gain speed to jump other sections. Some began to manual through the sections also. We then linked the first half of the trail to the last, or gave them the option of linking the two berms at the end of it. Mental tiredness set in, and we finished the session with a walk around the northshore, just as the sun was going down. What an enjoyable session guys!

Tony (@ukbikeskills) & Nath (@ukbike_nath)

Wednesday 27 November 2013

Mark's pics and write up



















Mark arrived after recommendation from a friend and the skills check showed me that I needed to work on his footwork, body positioning and looking skills but also his concentration too.
The effect was almost immediate as when we moved to the drops, he was landing perfectly from the word go and quickly rode all three. I moved him to the 6ft tabletop next as his bmx background came flooding back and he was amazed at how easy it was to clear the jump and used his mental skills to decide to ride the gap too. I could see the adrenaline running through him so we moved on to a cornering exercise to work on his body position and that really took him by surprise at how much more grip he now had. We moved to another trail to work on pumping and jumping and choosing the best technique and why and soon he was flowing nicely.  I moved onto the skills trail and we worked on the top half first to work on rock gardens, pumping and cornering. Later we added the bottom half of the trail to it and he was riding the 14 sections smoothly. berms, flat, off camber and switchback turns were linked to drops, jumps, pumping and rocks.
 A rider error in a flat corner made  Mark wash out and he hurt his wrist that he couldn't comfortably hold onto his grip so we called an end to a great session.
High5