Intermediate course 290810

Despite a wet start to the day, the sun eventually appeared along with very strong winds which nearly saw me ending a demo headfirst into a quarry! Dawn, Colin and Stuart had joined Chris and James from Saturday’s course to build further on their riding techniques on the intermediate course. Despite the groups mixed experience level (Stuart had been riding intensively for 5 years and Colin for 15 years, while James still was finding the mtb geometry completely different to the BMX he was used to) everyone managed to ride everything and most techniques were grasped quickly although obviously not perfected (nobody learns to wheelie in 10 minutes!). By the end of the day the group were fully aware of the "physics" behind mountain biking being able to put weight on back resp front wheel in bunny hops/front wheel lifts as well as beginning to compress the bike to make it light or heavy and the importance of smooth and constant speed. James and Chris had improved quite a lot since the day before despite their legs being very tired from biking two full days in a row. Dawn refused to be beaten by any climb while Stuart made everything look ridiculously easy!

Hi Emmy,
Thanks for a great couple of days training, you've given me the
confidence and knowledge to try stuff I certainly wouldn't have before.
If I'd have attempted some of those descents we did on Sunday before I
would have certainly been off the bike loads, so I am really pleased
with the progress in a short time frame. I've already been practising
track stands on the back yard and will be out putting some of the other
skills in practice tonight.
Thanks again,
Chris Pike

Beginner course 280810

After a few weeks holiday it was nice to get back to coaching again, although the weather could have been a lot better. Braving the rain showers Chris, James, Suzanne and Hef showed great enthusiasm and picked up lots of new skills as we attempted to ride harder and harder terrain. The morning was spent putting in place the core skills such as bodypositioning and where to look along the trail etc while in the afternoon there were plenty of opportunities to put the skills into practise! Everything was made quite a bit harder by being covered with really slippery mud! They all were confident enough to ride the big drop-off at the end!

Beginner course 020810

Stuart booked his whole family in for a skills course as his boys were getting more and more fond of mountain biking. The boys picked up the skills very quickly and the same for the parents, so maybe it is genetic! It was particularly rewarding hearing the youngest at the top of the longest climb saying "I'm in love with climbing but I don't know why!". No participant has ever said that before! They are now practising their newly found skills around the Peak and will be back on Friday for the intermediate course!