Josh was bought today’s mountain bike skills coaching session as a gift and he wanted to get more fluidity in his singletrack xc riding at places like Thetford and the Surrey hills. I worked on positioning, looking, footwork and braking in his skills set and applied these to the techniques required.
Andrew is fit as a butchers dog but felt he was lacking some what in his technical handling. He had never got air and always took the b lines in races where air was mandatory. Things were about to change. By the end of the session Andrew was riding over large obstacles, jumping, pumping, dropping and cornering fast and fluid.
Tracey, Steve, Justin and Colin all ride together and wanted to see myself for mountain bike coaching to give them more control in their riding. The skills check showed that I would need to correct body positioning, footwork and also their looking skills as they wanted to get better at cornering. I surprised them by starting with the drop technique as that was something common in most singletrack trails and their new skills sets made a huge difference. We worked on absorbing and pumping as well aslinking one, then two and three berms together before moving to the singletrack trail.
The singletrack trail contains 14 sections and by the end of the session they were all linking them together smoothly and faster than they ever could have previously but most importantly, it was controlled.
Brilliant progress.
High5!
Karin took a short notice cancellation as she had wanted mountain bike coaching from myself and this was her chance.
We began with the skills check and I found that Karin needed work on looking and body positioning before I could work on her mental skills. When I said I was going to work on getting air from drops she thought I was crazy but in no time at all , Karin was airborne and a big old grin spread across her face and that never left.
We worked hard on body positioning in corners as well as the art of pumping undulations on a trail too. Linking pumping and two corners and a rock garden proved no issue once Karin applied her new Jedi skills.
We worked on carrying speed through berms and after lunch I demonstrated linking three berms together before it was Karin’s turn.
Lastly, we worked on linking jumping, steps , corners and drop offs on a trail and everything felt easier and simpler for Karin and more importantly, less scary. Karin herself ended the session with a big hug.
Brilliant, High5!
Carl and Mark came to for mountain bike coaching and a windy day greeted us but didn’t deter us at all. The skills check showed footwork, looking ad body positioning needed work and that would leave the mental skills to work on later. I began with getting air from drops. They looked surprised at this but soon they were riding all three drops with ease, applying their new mental skills along the way.
Onto cornering and they were able to dig into their skiing experiences and that helped them big time. Soon they were linking three berms together smoothly and faster than ever. We took a break and resumed with riding steeper terrain and Carl learned that you cannot force the mental skills and a wash out mid section proved that point. Errors were however self diagnosed and we continued with riding and linking sections of singletrack together. Flat, bermed, off camber and switchback turns were linked with pumping, rocks, steps, drop offs and absorbing sections. Line choices and braking areas were identified and used. They were riding the trail end to end together and were now way faster than ever and smooth too.
We ended the session when tiredness and mental fatigue began to appear but not before they were pumping and absorbing multiple sections of trail and flying through the three berms we began with.
High5!
Steve was bought a skills session as a gift voucher and today was the date that we arranged. Steve said he lacked confidence in riding off road and that when racing he simply got left behind when it got remotely technical. The skills check showed him why he was lacking confidence as that affected the other mental skills so I corrected his body positioning and looking skills as well as adjusting his set up and the effect was immediate.
We began with drops and using a 6inch drop to begin Steve began feeling more control than ever before and was soon landing perfectly and used his new mental skills set to decide to ride all three drops up to 3ft! Then we worked on basic pumping and cornering on a single berm, adding a further two later as his mental and physical skills blossomed. A welcome coffee break was followed by riding steeper stuff and although Steve chose not to ride them it was a demonstration he won’t forget as I demonstrated exactly what to do and why.
Rock gardens were something he’d never ridden but he was amazed at how easy everything was becoming. We worked on linking drop offs into corners as well as when to pump and absorb and why and when to jump. Funny, now that Steve was comfortable jumping and dropping sections rather than cornering, even though that was way better than when we had begun too. We worked on gaining speed through pumping and sticking to the ground before moving to the singletrack trail. I could see that Steve was tired from the mental exertion from the session but he didn’t realise until he began making unforced errors and even when he knew what to do, he couldn’t make himself do it and our session ended with a cold beer to celebrate an amazing transformation in his riding
High5!
