Rob booked in for coaching after rave reviews from his brother Tim, who I have coached a couple of times before. Rob said he has a big fear of air time as any time he tried to get air under his wheels it felt dangerous and unsafe. The skills check showed me why and I set about correcting his physical skills before working on the all important mental skills set. We started on a 1ft drop and progressed to 2ft, then 3ft and by applying the technique i teach, Rob was landing perfectly and in control. The look of amazement on his face was a picture. Rob said his fitness wasn't as good as he'd hoped but i explained the mental aspect of my coaching will tire him more than his physical lack of fitness.
We moved to the 6ft tabletop, something he thought would take a few sessions to be able to jump, but in a few small steps and adjustments he was sailing over it. Then he used his mental skills to ride his 1st ever gap jump too. A few clears later saw us break for coffee and food before resuming with working on pumping and cornering. Soon Rob was riding through three berms faster and more controlled than ever before and even began jumping a larger jump that followed as the picture shows.
We moved to working on his singletrack fluidity and by the end of the session, Rob was linking 14 sections of the trail together. Flat, off camber, switchback and bermed turns were linked to pumping, rocks, steps, jumps and drops. After a few top to bottom runs, Rob was too tired to continue and an exellent session came to a close with a pint in the local www.thehornsdatchworth.com
High5!
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