The return of Travis

I coached Travis a year ago and it was good to see that session had paid dividends in his riding but a washout in a loose corner knocked his confidence. During the skills check I picked up why this happened and I set about correcting his body positioning in corners and also building back his looking too.
We went to the drop sections and Travis rode them confidently and I worked on his body position during flight and landing.
We then moved onto the skills trail and I worked on his cornering on flat,bermed, off camber and switchbacks. We then linked them to pump bumps using the speed manual, rock gardens, fly outs and steps.
I worked on line choice when linking drops into corners and Travis really began to fly along the trail.
We both rode the trail end to end a few times and on his final run he took 9 seconds off his first run for the 200m trail to be the 2nd fastest rider along that trail and he said he felt smooth and perfect, he was!
I then moved onto jumping using a table top and also his big fear of gap jumps.
In no time at all Trav was landing perfectly on the tabletops transition. He then used his mental skill set to ride the gap jump on his own accord and rode away smiling every time.
Finally we moved onto a wooden berm to work on carrying speed into them so he could handle ny he came across on his holidays abroad.
Our session ended when Travis declared he was tired and it ended with a demo of the skill set in use by myself on the woodwork trails.
Great session Travis.

Ian's 2nd session

After attending a jumps and drops public session , Ian came back for a one to one session.
During the skills checks I found body position faults and set about correcting these.
I covered basic pumping and also the speed manual, Ian picked these up very quickly indeed. We worked on flat, bermed, off camber and switchback corners and linked them into pump bumps, fly outs , rock gardens, steps and linked them into drops.
We worked our way down the trail, linking each section to the next using the correct baking zones. By looking further along the trail Ian began to get faster and faster as his footwork and body position was used to maximize his speed management.
I worked on connecting to the trail and using the trails energy instead of his own.

We worked heavily on linking corners into drops and into berms. Here I worked on line choice too and Ian really began to fly.
We rode the entire trail end to end a few times and Ian really started to shift fast but controlled and ended the day as the 3rd fastest rider I have had on the trail to that point.
The final technique we worked on was riding wooden berms, some call them wall rides but as they are not vertical they remain berms. Ian used his own speed management to go fast and smooth through the entire berm using footwork and looking to control his arc.
Awesome session!

James and Frankie's session

James and Frankie came to me for an overall skill polish but looking to getting their wheels in the air. Frankie had a low in confidence after a few rides that she crashed during and didn't know what she was doing wrong. I discovered why this was happening during the skills check and also uncovered some great habits in James too.
Once I showed them why we use the push we moved onto the drops first to use this "push"
To Frankie's surprise, she was landing perfectly straight away and her worried look turned into a massive smile.
I worked with James on body position in the air so he could begin to style it and not be stuck in a dead sailor whilst in the air.


I then moved us onto the trail where I worked heavily on footwork, looking and body positioning with them both. I showed basic pumping to begin with and a more advanced technique called speed manuals. We worked on flat, bermed, switchback and off camber turns. Rock gardens, drops, steps and fly outs and we linked them together using their exit's and entry's .
We worked down the trail methodically, always linking the next section to the previous ones and the flow and speed really began to happen. Both James and Frankie were flying and in a 70 meter section shaved 3 seconds off which is a big difference. Fewer and fewer pedal strokes were used as they used the trails energy rather than their own.

After a few runs of the complete trail we moved onto our final technique of the session, jumping.
I have a very successful way of coaching jumping and in a very short space of time both were flying over the 6ft tabletop and landing perfectly. James couldn't believe how smooth it felt and even used his mental skills set to ride the gap jump side too!
The heat of the day meant fatigue came on fast and I called an end to an awesome session and I'm looking forward to their ride updates!

A family skills session

Chris, Nikki, Beth and Tom came to me as a family wanting to share a skill session so they could develop together and share the experience.
I made loads of set up changes to their bikes to enable them to be in control and to give them confidence in their control. I worked on looking and footwork with them and Taught them how and why we push to unweight the front of the bike.
We went to the drop technique as I would with anyone and we applied this push and to their amazement they rode off the drops.
We moved onto cornering and we worked heavily on this and added pumping and a rock garden to deal with and we linked them together using their entry's and exits.
We took breaks to ensure we kept the tiredness away as long as we could. Tom really got the hang of pumping. Beth used her new riding position to feel in control all of the time and used her footwork in corners. Chris started to feel more fluid as the session progressed and he stopped over analyzing and Nikki really flew along the trail, reveling in her new skill set.
Finally we moved onto the pump trail and they all began to pump the up and down slopes and gained speed from it, even getting the wheels up in the air too.
We ended the session as tiredness crept in.
What a great session guys!

Rich, Paul and Matt's session

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Matt and the guys came to me with an eye on getting comfortable to be able to get air off drops and jumps and maybe even a singletrack skills tweak too.
During the skills check I discovered their missing skills and corrected their set ups too.
First up to their surprise was the drop technique and using a very simple technique they were flying off into the air and landing perfectly on all 3 drops.
We then moved onto the trail were we worked on flat,bermed , switchback and off camber turns and linked them to other sections on the trail. I covered trail energy management and pumping.
The guys used their new looking and footwork skills to awesome effect as they began shifting at speed along the trail using the correct braking zones, each run becoming faster.
We worked on rock gardens, steps and fly outs and linking drops into berms too.
lastly, We worked on jumping tabletops and none of them were sure they would be able to but in a few well managed runs they were all air bourne and landing on the transition 6ft away and the smiles beamed. They even used their mental skill set to ride the gap jump side too.
Awesome session!!!

Peta's one to one

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Peta has lots of experience in many other sports but mountain biking is pretty new to her. I set about seeing what was missing in her skill set but also what was already present as memory from other sports too.
I found footwork and looking faults but uncovered a good body position habit too and planned to bring this out too.
The 1st technique I covered was the drop technique and after dispelling the rear wheel landing myth Peta began landing perfectly. using her physical and mental skill set, Peta moved up and rode the next drop too and landed confidently and controlled a few times.
We moved onto the skills trail next and worked on the 14 sections within it and linking them together using the correct braking areas.
Flat, bermed, switchback and off camber corners were linked to pump bumps, rock gardens, jumps, steps and drops.
We worked our way down the trail methodically and gradually Peta began to use her footwork and looking unconsciously and After 6-7 complete runs we called an end to the session.
Great foundations were laid and I'm looking forward to Peta's ongoing connection.

Nick's one to one session

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Nick turned up as arranged and I lost no time in putting him through my skills check where I discovered looking and body position faults and I set about correcting these before moving on to the drop technique.
Nick has a habit of staring down when pushing off of drops and I began removing this.
Soon he was landing perfectly.
We then moved onto the trail where I worked section by section and added it to the previous as we worked our way methodically along the trail.
Flat, bermed, switchback and off camber corners were linked to steps, pump bumps, rock gardens and fly outs.
I worked on Nicks peripheral fear to that we uncovered and worked on the mental aspect of the skills set.
We linked drops into berms too before we rode the entire trail end to end quite a few times and with each run Nick was getting more fluid and smooth as his new body position became more of a natural action.


We then worked on getting air under his wheels using a fly out and table top. This uncovered a protective mechanism but I worked hard on this and also his peripheral fear too and soon he was airbourne.
The session ended as mental fatigue crept in and I look forward to Nick's riding updates!