Thursday 31 July 2014

Changing how Paul and Steve think


















 What a session. They came wanting to work on what they said were the basics and I told them that there is nothing more than the basics involved in riding mountain bikes. They looked puzzled, but over the next 4 and a half hours they really understood as they applied the physical and mental skills to the techniques that i teach. We worked on set up, braking control and  line choice. Cornering was next and the levels of grip stunned them as they could now turn tighter and faster than ever. We worked on drops, berms, pumping, rock gardens, steps, drop offs and jumps. Paul and Steve called an end to the session themselves as their minds had been blown as to how much control they now had and how much faster they had became.
High5!

Wednesday 30 July 2014

Andy and Roy come for a session


















I started with the skills checks where i worked on looking and body position within them both. I also made some set up changes before moving onto drops. Here they put to practise the technique we had just covered. We also worked on braking correctly here. We worked further on cornering, using first a grassy slope, then 2 single berms, then we moved onto the trail. We worked our way down the whole trail over the next couple of hours, linking corners, rocks, fly outs, steps and drops, and they where riding top to bottom, each run was quicker and more in control than the previous. The tabletop was next, and i worked with them individually to find their clearance point. They both rode the gap jump too! We finished on the pump and jump trail where they were pumping and jumping certain sections, but soon mental tiredness set in and brought our session to an end.

Good work guys, remember that hand.

Nath (@ukbike_nath)

Tony (@ukbikeskills)

Some paths are meant to cross


 John and Chris came to me for a two to one session to find the answers to the errors in their riding that they knew were happening but didn't know why. The skills check showed that they were missing body positioning and looking skills and then it was a case of working on the mental skills as they applied them to the  techniques I taught them in sections found out on the trails. Drops now proved no issue and soon we worked on cornering and here they were stunned at the new found levels of grip. We worked on linking sections of a trail together and flowing smoother and becoming faster as a result. Next was steep stuff and different ways of riding near vertical drop offs. 
 The heat of the day didn't detract from the session and it was time to move to jumping. The 6ft tabletop was first followed by the 6ft gap jump and they were floating on air as the smiles beamed over their faces.
 They wanted more so we moved to a linked 9ft gap jump, sandwiched between 2 berms. one after the other they sailed over it and a couple of goes later our session closed to high5's and smiles.
Amazing day. High5!