Nick came to me for mountain bike skills coaching to understand why his jumping was hit and miss and lacked height too. The skills check showed him why and also that he was weak in his cornering too. I worked hard on his positioning and footwork in all areas and in particular jumps and right hand turns.
Dee and Amy work for Tftuned.com suspension tuning company and arrived as arranged for 10am. We chatted about their needs and expectations for the mountain bike skills coaching session. Cornering and possibly getting air under their wheels was on that list. The skills check showed the areas in their physical skill sets that needed work and a small set up change assisted the skills change further.
It wasn’t long before they could easily get their front wheel into the air and then off of drops to 3ft too. I worked on cornering next and also pumping and maintaining connection to the ground when riding multiple mounds on a trail. Soon they were choosing to jump them instead and flow through three berms. Steeps drops were a bit of a mental barrier, but by application of their new mental and physical skills it all clicked into place and became easy.
Jo and Andrew have been to me for mountain bike skills coaching a couple of times before but today was after a two year gap. I worked on Andrew’s weaker right hand turns and on Jo’s positioning in turns. We then moved to linking gap jumps, drops and adding style too. An amazing end to a great week of coaching.
The pics tell a great story of the session
Dan came to me for mountain bike skills coaching to understand what to do and why when riding off road. Previous to today he had never jumped or anything. The skills check showed me the areas that needed correcting in his physical skills set and it wasn’t long before he could pop either wheel off the floor and ride over obstacles with ease. Drops, jumps, gaps, pumping, cornering and steep drop offs were all ridden and Dan’s riding by his own admission had changed dramatically.
Kevin not only rides bikes but also windsurfs and skis. A skiing accident where he snapped his quadriceps really set him back and he wanted to regain his riding skills. I gradually built the session up working on moving his feet, looking and body to enable him to feel more comfortable and secure on his bike. The techniques I teach then suddenly became simple and his confidence and other mental skills grew as a consequence.
I coached Rob last year on a public jumps and drops session and he wanted to return for a private mountain bike skills coaching session to develop his cornering and trail fluidity, as well as bring his jumping on more too.
I was able to use his muscle memory from other sports to really improve his grip control in turns but also in riding drops, tabletops, wall rides, gap jumps and drops offs. Linking them all together was the order of the day before we ended the session with over coming the head game of wall rides.
I coached Pete back in December and he wanted to return with his brothers Joseph and Tom for another session. I was able to use their skiing experience to develop a new understanding of their skill sets. They said it was like being shown how to make fire for the first time.
