Steve and Darren's skills session

Darren and Steve came to me wanting to develop thier jumping and drop techniques. Darren was coming back from injury after breaking his collarbone in august and needed some help with identifying why it had happened.
After the skills check I found that both lacked a skill and I set about correcting this before moving onto the coaching drop sections.
This is exactly the section that Darren had previously hurt himself on but now with a new skill set both him and Steve applied themselves confidently.
We then moved onto an isolated corner to work on carrying speed into and out of corners.

We worked on footwork, looking and also body position before then stitching both techniques together with a drop into a corner.


Next up we moved onto a fly out to begin to get used to the feeling of getting airborne and then onto the tabletop and its gap section. I managed the riders speed as we focused on looking whilst jumping and both of them sailed over the table top easily with Steve applying his mental skill set to clear the gap side of the jump too!
Lastly, we moved onto a 9ft gap step down that was preceded by a corner and Steve cleared that too!
We ended our session as tiredness crept in.
Awesome session guys!

5 go mad in Herts

Dan, Lee, Dave, Colin and Andy all came to me for a private group session to work on their overall riding. I identified the missing skills and also what was already a natural action during my skills check before moving onto the drop technique. All five of the lads rode all three drops landing both wheels perfectly. I even had time to teach Lee how to begin to move the bike in the air.

Next, we moved onto the trail and we worked hard on body position in corners as well as footwork and looking. I demonstrated the correct braking areas and where sections begin and end. We worked on flat, bermed , switchback and off camber corners. Steps, pumping, rocks, Jumping and linking drops into corners. Gradually we worked our way down the trail reinforcing the previous as we went and before you knew it we were riding the complete trail. The trails energy was there to be used and they all used the trails energy where they could instead of their own and really began flowing down the trail. I also went through the psychological skill set too and this was used when we went to look at the alpine switchbacks. I don't get to coach these to everyone as they have common fears attached to them but recognising what and why you are afraid is a massive step in over coming them. using footwork and looking to great effect, Lee rode them smoothly. We ended our session there and I demonstrated the skill set in another context by riding a fast high line on the north shore where the riders could see speed control, looking, footwork and body position working and they all could see it clearly.
A truly awesome group session!

Jo, Sam and louise's private skills session

We met as arranged at the Herts skills area and I gave the ladies an outline of what we would cover and began with finding out what they already did naturally during two quick exercises.
I began working on looking, footwork and body positioning in their cornering and also in their push technique.
Once that was all bubbling away nicely, we moved onto the drops and used the same skills in this technique. In no time at all they were landing correctly and confidence and commitment grew as they moved up to the next drop and so on.
Next, we moved onto the trail and splitting it into 4 segments, we worked on the section contained within each before moving down the trail and linking it to the previous one. We worked on flat, off camber, bermed and switchbacked corners, as well as steps, rock gardens, pumping and linking sections together using the correct braking areas. I timed them down part the trail and each were 2-3 seconds faster for the 80 meter section, a great improvement over such a short distance!
We rode the entire trail and they began to flow nicely through each section smoothly. We moved onto the table top to change things up and remove the focus off cornering and freshen the mind with something new.
Methodically the ladies worked on their skills as I gradually added speed and they cleared the table top smoothly. Our session ended there and I gave them a demonstration of the skill set I installed in them working in another context in riding, on Herts shore itself.
Great session!

Developing Beth's riding

Beth finally got a date together to come for the session she had wanted for a while now. I discovered how she learned during the skills check and found she needed body position and looking skills worked on but had great footwork and speed management skills. The first technique we applied the skills to was the drop technique, Beth was comfortable with the drops after looking further so I worked on her body position in take off. From there we moved onto the trail and worked on flat, bermed, switchback and off camber corners, as well as steps, rocks, pumping, jumping and linking sections together. It came clear that the changes were having a huge effect as Beth began to really fly through the sections on the trail.



We worked on linking drops into corners and found Beth became protective at a point. I moved onto an isolated berm to work on this before moving back to the trail. This resulted in Beth riding the trail end to end in a time only bettered by 2 other riders!! Amazing time savings happened as she hacked seconds off of a timed 80 meter section.
Next we worked on the dis connected bunny hop which Beth grasped quickly before we moved on to a big fear of hers, committing to steep roll ins. We worked on this and Beth understood what was creating this block and how to overcome it. Beth used her mental skill set with great effect.
Lastly I moved us onto a wooden berm and worked on her commitment to speed into the berm and in no time at all she was railing it!
We ended our session after as Beth declared mental tiredness. I cannot wait to hear how her dh riding goes this year.
High5 Beth!

Public singletrack skills day

Today's public session began as always with myself finding out what was already a natural reaction in the 7 riders who attended. Once I had identified the missing skills, I set about correcting it before we moved onto the trail to work on pumping and cornering. Methodically, I worked the group down the first half of the trail, linking each section to the previous one and so on. Piers and His brother Richard really got to grips with the body positioning in corners as did Kev and Paul. I worked heavily on Duncan, Scott and Nic's looking and footwork skills in corners before adding body positioning later on , which Duncan really took to. I broke the trail at the half way point and then worked on straight on sections. Using another skill check I found that all & riders pushed naturally to some degree and had looking as a missing skill which I installed there and then before moving onto the drop technique.
My job in this technique was to match their natural push to a given speed and soon they all were landing perfectly.
We then moved back to the 3rd quarter of the trail and began working on fly outs and dealing with the bike in flight. We then added that segment to the previous ones and all the riders began to notice how fluid their riding felt.
We worked on flat, bermed, switchback and off camber corners. Steps, pumping, rocks, drops and linking sections using the correct braking areas. Once we had worked our way down the whole trail it was time to ride the complete trail.
Each rider was riding confidently and committing to each section as they rode top to bottom on the whole trail and they all looked like different riders to when they began 4 hours earlier.
Mental tiredness showed in a few of them and it was clear that the session needed to end before it undone one of them by causing errors.
To end the session I demonstrated a couple of lines on the woodwork to show that it is the same mental and physical skills I use that I teach.
Great session!

Flowing singletrack with John

John came all the way down to see me from Chester. He wanted to find what was holding him back riding wise and why. During the skills check I found the answer and began working on his footwork and looking skills straight away. I discovered that he possessed a great push to unweight but it was bogged down under a missing skill. Having corrected these, We moved onto applying them to techniques, beginning with drops.
In no time at all John was riding off the drops and landing perfectly. John remarked how simple it all felt, that's the point! Riding bikes is not a difficult thing as such and it's the bad habits picked up along the way that create problems.
Next up we moved onto the trail and worked on pumping, steps, rocks, jumping and linking sections together. We worked heavily on cornering too! Flat, bermed, switchback and off camber corners were worked on and we even linked them into drops and out again.
John was convinced he couldn't get airtime jumping until I showed him how to apply his skills and then he was airborne and landing sweetly, much to his surprise.
We rode the whole trail together a few times, linking all the sections together and using the correct braking areas too. The flow was there and John could feel it!
After nearly 5 hours, John began showing signs of mental fatigue so our session ended.
A truly great session! High5 John.

Mike's day of flow

Mike contacted me back in December wanting to increase his flow in singletrack and maybe, he said get a little air. On meeting I ran him through the skills check and began working on what I discovered. I began working heavily on his footwork, looking and later on his body positioning too. The first technique to Mike's surprise was drops. Using the skills that I had corrected, Mike flew through the air effortlessly and using the mental skill set I gave him, he rode all 3 drop sections easily.
We then moved onto the skills trail and worked our way methodically down the trail. We worked on flat, bermed, off camber and flat corners. Steps, rocks, pumping and fly outs. Mike really worked hard and began linking each section to the next fluidly and confidence was growing. I covered linking drops into corners too as Mike learned to carry speed into corners as his commitment grew.
We rode the whole trail a few times and the flow was there for all to see, Mike's face was a picture as the smile grew and grew.
Mike mentioned that he had trouble on steep sections, so I moved over to the alpine switchbacks and worked hard on his footwork and looking but also his mental skills again. It was awesome to see the change in Mike as he chose to roll into them and rode them smoothly.
We ended our session at the tabletop as Mike used his skill set in that context and flew over the 6ft tabletop easily. Mental fatigue brought an end to the session as Mike declared he was knackered and very happy!