A father and son skills session

Colin and his 12yr old son Henry came to me to share a skills session and to develop their riding together. The skills check revealed the missing skills and also the present natural unweight of the front wheel they both possessed.
Once set ups were changed to enhance this push technique I moved us onto the drops and with a bit a Jedi magic they began landing perfectly.
We then moved onto my skills trail and I used 9 sections of it and we worked on linking them together.
Pumping, rock gardens, fly out jumps and drops were linked to bermed, flat , off camber and switchback corners. We worked our way section by section and worked on looking and footwork heavily and they both began to flow along the trail.
After a short break, we continued and linked all 9 sections together a few times and each run became more confident and smooth as a result.
Both Henry and Colin were smiling at how the riding now felt.
I then brought them to my pump trail and worked on generating speed through mounds and jumps on a trail. both getting the wheel off the ground too in the process.
Tiredness began to appear and the session came to a natural end.
Great session and I look forward to their riding updates.

Mark's all round skills session

On meeting Mark, I put him through my skills check where I discover what's missing and more importantly, what's present in his riding skills.
I found he needed looking and body positioning work in corners and a set up tweak and looking skills in straight on sections.
We moved onto the drops and Mark quickly rode them perfectly and quickly became the theme for the day as when we moved onto the skills trail I worked on speed manuals and pumping. Linked into flat , bermed, switchback and off camber corners. Rock gardens, steps, jump fly outs and drops. As we moved down the trail , Mark became quicker and quicker and it was clear I was looking at a possible top 3 time wise down the trail top to bottom.


I worked hard with Mark on linking drops into berms and once corrected he rode top to bottom faster and faster until he was joint fastest over all with Ben all those months ago.
I moved us off the trail before his form began undoing so the skills stayed solid and moved onto jumping tabletops.

Mark had tried them before at trail centers but now he floated over them easily and I was even able to teach him to style it a bit too!
He then rode the gap jump side too and styled it for good measure.
Awesome session!!!!

Andy's return

It's been almost a year since I saw Andy and he contacted me wanting to over come his fear for drops. On meeting him I found the looking and footwork was there still in corners and I could work on his body position there and straight on in sections he lacked looking and the mental skill set. I set to work.
We began with the 3 drops and Andy was solid on the first two but showed a protective mechanism and a lack of commitment on the 3rd. He rode all 3 but the last wasn't as solid as the others so I quickly moved him away to not worry him further.
We then worked on the 2 drops on the end of the skills trail and linked them into the berm at the end. We worked on line choice and body position here too. Andy really began to be smooth here and after a while we moved onto the fly out to get him comfortable with riding up something to get in the air. He loved it but kept saying that he'd love to be able to jump the tabletop but reckoned it'd never happen.
Andy then went to the top of the trail for a complete run and even though he hadn't seen the top half, he rode it so smoothly and fluid and was buzzing at the end of the trail. A few more runs and it was time to ride the 6ft tabletop. I demonstrated from 3 distances to show show the effect of speed and Andy was amazed when he sailed over it with ease. Time after time he rode it, running laughing like a kid as he ran back up for another go.





He then used his new mental skills and moved across to ride the 6ft gap jump side and the yells of delight as he flew in the air over it was something special to hear and see.
Andy rode it twice more and then called an end to the session saying it exceeded his wildest dreams and wanted to come back for more anyway.
Andy, it was a pleasure to be there with you today!

Airtime is not just for kids

Andy, Paul and Ollie made the journey to me wanting to improve their riding and hopefully get a bit of air under their wheels.
The skills check revealed what I needed to know and once their set ups had been changed and the push technique installed. They told me how they used to ride jumps etc back in the day as kids but that was many years ago. They needed to wake the inner child.
We moved onto braking technique and then onto the drops and in no time at all the lads were sailing through the air off the first two drops. I went through a specific mental skill set too and they applied this and rode the largest drop too.
I moved them onto the trail and we worked on applying their skill set to pumping, flat, bermed, switchback and off camber corners. I worked heavily on footwork and looking but also body positioning too. We linked these to rock gardens, steps, fly outs and drops.
As we moved down the trail they added the previous sections to the next and soon they really began to flow smoothly along the trail.


After a few complete runs of the trail it was time to move onto their nemesis, Jumping!
Using the 6ft tabletop and gap jump They applied their push once again and Paul, followed by Ollie sailed across the jump to shouts of joy. I worked hard with Andy on his mental barriers before he too sailed across the jump. The three of them were kids once again as they ran back up for another go followed by another.
Paul then rode the gap jump side , Andy then followed and Ollie later on. They were in fits of laughter.


They wanted to try the ladder drops so we moved over to them too.
Our session ended there with a couple of demonstrations from myself riding, using the exact skill set they now have.
Amazing session.

Today's public jump and drops session

Neil, Sam, Dave, Tony, Matt and Tom joined me for my jumps and drops course.
The first technique we covered after the simple set up and skills check, was drops. Here I worked with them at various levels due to their past experiences. Some I was able to teach how to style in the air and others I worked with the simplicity of the technique alone. All riders rode and landed perfectly from all 3 drops. I worked on riding drops in numbers too as they followed and led in turn off the drops. Next I added in a corner as they need to be able to handle what comes "next" on a trail.


I moved onto the jump technique and used a simple fly out to flat landing and once again all riders got their wheels into the air.
Now it was time to jump a 6ft table top. Here I managed their speed and allowed them to focus on their looking, body and footwork and they all jumped again.

Each gradually worked their way over the jump and landed the other side. Mental tiredness added to the heat of the day made fatigue hit riders and they sat the rest of the session out accordingly. Dave was first to ride the 6ft gap jump and others followed.

Finally, I moved onto a 9ft gap jump with a 3ft step down and here the riders used their new mental skill set to decide whether they can or cannot ride it.
Tom said he was ok to ride it and landed perfectly 5 times over the gap and rode the preceding berm too.
This brought another excellent session to a close and I ended it with a demonstration of the skills in use on the high woodwork trails.

Greg, 65 and flying!

Greg finally made it to me after having to cancel last month due to illness and I set about finding what was present and missing in his riding during my short skills check.
I discovered he lacked body position and looking in corners and possessed a natural push technique that was bogged down by missing skills. Once corrected, Greg was stunned at the ease of this technique so we moved onto braking technique and then onto the drops.
It took a while for me to create an alchemy between speed and push but once Greg had landed perfectly once it stuck and he went off like a firework on all 3 drops.
I then moved us onto the coaching trail where we worked on pumping undulations on a trail before linking that to corners.
I worked hard on Greg s cornering in berms before working on flat and switchback corners too. I added in rock gardens, steps and up ramps and the flow began to appear. Greg was surprised how his push related to jumping too and was amazed that once again his wheels were flying through the air effortlessly. We linked 9 sections on the trail together smoothly and mental fatigue began to appear as the adrenalin from getting air took its toll and drained Greg of energy so I called an end to the session.
Fantastic , fun session!

Leona's one to one

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Leona likes her racing and the same goes for her mtbing. She felt she was losing so much time on the technical side of her riding that she sought my help.
During the skills check I discovered she had footwork and looking faults in corners just for starters but possessed a perfect push! This meant that anything she faced straight on was a mental battle not a physical one.
I began with the drop technique and used the first 2 drops to enable Leona to get to grips with the ease of the technique and discover the power in her push.
We then moved onto the trail and we worked on pumping and linking the sections of the trail using the exits and entries. We linked flat, bermed, off camber and switchback turns into steps, up ramps and drop offs. We worked methodically down the trail linking the next sections to the previous ones and soon Leona was traveling faster and more controlled and remarking on how slow it feels. This is due to her looking further down the trail than she ever had and that gives you a sense of time delay as you ride to the vanishing point.
I timed Leona on the first half of the trail and she took 3 seconds off with relative ease, which relates to massive time gains.
We rode the trail end to end and it was great to see her looking and footwork becoming more of an unconscious action. There's more work to do but its getting there big time.
Our session came to a close as Leona became mentally drained rather than physically and I'm looking forward to her riding updates!