Surfing the singletrack with Graeme

Having heard of my coaching from a friend, Graeme came up for a session today and as always I discovered what was missing in his skill set but also uncovered some good natural body psoitioning in corners and a great push to unweight the front end.
We first worked on the drop technique on 3 progressively larger drops and Graeme rode all three in time landing perfectly.
We moved onto the skills trail and worked our way methodically down the singletrack trail linking the 14 sections contained within it. Pumping, rock gardens, steps, fly outs and flat, bermed, switchback and off camber corners were linked with their entry's and exits.

We linked drops into corners before riding the entire trail a few times end to end and Graeme began to really flow down the trail.
Lastly, we worked on jumping and used a 6ft tabletop for this. After working through some protective mechanisms Graeme landed on the transition instead of the top.
Graeme called an end to the session as he was mentally tired, so I showed the skill set being used by myself in a demo on the ladders and drops then we kicked back with a beer.
Great session!

Noel, Brad and Steve's freeride session

Brad, Steve and noel turned up as arranged and the 1st thing I did was see what they did naturally and what skills were present. I then began working on their missing skills before moving onto the drop technique where I worked on body position and looking so that I could get them to move the bike about in the air rather than being static.
From there we worked on drops into corners and the guys really got to grips with this as I worked on Steve's fears in particular there.
Next, we moved onto tabletops and the guys soon got to grips with it before moving across to the 6ft gap jump and all clearing it several times with ease.



We then moved onto the ladders and beagn on a low ladder to work on peripheral fears before moving to a 7ft high ladder to drop and then we linked it into a wooden berm too!


Several drops were linked into the same wooden berm as they used their drop and cornering techniques to great effect. The effect of adrenalin took it's toll and the session came to an end.
Rad session!

Uncovering the rider in Will

On meeting Will I could tell he had developed some mental barriers in his riding and I began working on this by seeing what skills were missing and present. I found he lacked footwork and looking in corners and that he had a huge unweight of the front wheel but it was held down by his head position. Once corrected things really took off!
We moved onto the drops and Will used his unweight perfectly and never looked back again. All three drops were ridden at different speeds and his confidence grew massively as he found out how physically easy the technique is and also why the mental skill set takes the fear out of riding.
We then moved onto the trail and i broke the trail into 4 segments and worked on the sections contained within each before linking them to the next segment and so on. I showed why the speed manual is a great speed management tool . we worked on pumping, rock gardens, steps, fly outs, climbing, drops and flat, bermed, switchback and off camber turns. Will really was flowing nicely and when I followed him down the entire trail the braking was in the correct places, the hurry was taken out of riding as he looked into what's next. Footwork and looking in corners uncovered a great body position in Will that was bogged down by the missing skills only to re surface once I had corrected the errors.





We then moved onto our final technique for the session, jumping!
Will was surprised when I said he would clear the table top in the next 10 minutes and in 5 moves he sailed over it with ease with a smile all over his face.


Will called an end to the session after after a while as the adrenalin rush took it's toll and tired him out. I then gave him a demo of me riding using the exact skill set I had given him and the session ended with a coffee round the fire pit.
Great session!

John's new skill set

John turned up to me saying he lacked confidence and was aware of something wrong in his riding but not knowing what. After the skills check I uncovered a great push that was bogged down by a missing skill and also that he lacked footwork and looking in corners.
Once corrected, the 1st technique as always that we covered was the drop technique.
John used his new skill set both physical and mental and applied it to ride all 3 of the drops and land perfectly each time, he was surprised at how easy it had became.


Next, we moved onto the skills trail and worked on the 14 sections contained within it.
We worked on the entries and exits to each section and used these as braking zones. We worked on pumping, steps, rock gardens, fly outs and drops into corners, flat, bermed, switchbacks and off camber turns.


Methodically, we moved down the trail linking the next into what we had previously learned and the flow of the trail was harnessed and used.
After a few end to end runs John was beaming ear to ear. We then worked on alpine style switchbacks and used footwork and looking to great effect there too before moving onto our final technique, jumping.


Using John's natural push and matching it to a speed John sailed over he tabletop to his huge surprise and remarked how effortless it felt. Using his mental skill set he then continued to sail over the tabletop and even rode the 6ft gap side of it too a good few times before the session came to a natural end.
Awesome session!!

Jumps an drops public session

All 7 guys met as arranged and I soon found That they all had a natural habit in the un weight technique and I removed what was covering it up.
We moved onto 3 drops which all riders rode easily, using their mental skill sets. We then rode in pairs over the drops to deal with peripheral fears.
next, we worked on drops into berms and carrying speed through each section before moving onto jumping.
On the table top i matched each push to the individual speed of the rider and everyone sailed over the table top easily time and again. After a short lunch break we resumes on the gap side and once again everyone rode the 6ft gap easily.
From there, we moved onto a ladder drop to add the fear of being above ground and once again all 7 of them rode it easily.




Finally, we then moved onto a 9ft gap step down and used the mental skill set again.
Our session ended as riders used their mental skill set to decide weather they did or didn't ride it.
awesome session!

Redhill cc group day

The guys all turned up in a convoy and after giving them my commitment for the session we proceeded to the skills check where I find out what's missing in the skills set but also I uncovered a push in ALL of them!
Gareth had been with me before and it was great to see the skills being used unconciously and the rest followed suit pretty quickly.
The first technique I covered was drops.

In a short space of time the guys all used their natural push which I had helped flourish with the missing looking skill and their mental skill set and were landing perfectly off of all the 3 drops ranging from less than 1ft to 3ft in height.
We then moved onto the trail and we worked on the 14 sections contained within. flat, bermed, off camber and switchback corners were linked to drops, jumps, rock gardens, steps, pumping and speed manuals.
We worked our way down the trail methodically, and soon the flow was beginning to show.
Section after section was linked to the next and the braking zones were used. I worked on body positioning as well as looking and footwork as the guys managed the speed of the trail effectively.


We rode the trail quite a few times end to end and the speed and flow was really building as the skills embedded further and became more natural.
Finally, we moved onto the tabletop where I showed them how and why their push is used here too and each and every one of them sailed over the 6ft tabletop with ease. I even covered tweaking it with Gareth and John!
Our amazing day ended after I gave a demo of the skill set in the freeride environment and they all could see it was the same skills in use.
Awesome session guys!

Goth Andy's session

Andy made the trip to me from Bath and straight away I ran him through my skills check where I found body position and looking faults in corners but also uncovered a very natural push to unweight the front wheel that was bogged down by some bad habits. A set up tweak and the habits corrected, we moved onto the drop sections and very quickly Andy was landing perfectly.
Next we moved onto the skills trail where I worked heavily on Andy's cornering and trail energy management.
There are !4 sections on the trail and using the entries and exits we linked the trails sections together.
Flat, bermed, off camber and switchback corners were ridden. Speed manuals, steps, rock gardens, fly outs and linking drops into corners were all linked together using the correct braking zones.



We then began riding the entire trail end to end and with each run he became smoother and more fluid. Even the head wind didn't interrupt Andy's concentration as he flowed along the singletrack.


Finally, we moved onto the tabletop and began to apply the natural push of Andy in this context. In a very short time he was sailing over the jump and landing so smoothly. The smile on his face was a picture.


The ease he cleared the table top time and time again meant he was going to ride the gap jump side but the wind turned to a side wind which meant we stopped on the grounds of it becoming unsafe.
The session ended after 4.5 hours and I know Andy's future riding updates will be awesome.