Emmy Hoyes Mountain Bike Instructor

Intermediate course 150112

2012-01-16T01:30:00.000-08:00

Ah, finally some glorious sunshine and blue skies! A stunningly beautiful day which saw Gavin and Alistair attend the intermediate course to progress their riding further. To add to the excitement there were plenty of ice in certain places which gave the opportunity to teach ice riding. This was the first but not the last time I emphasized the importance of staying relaxed!

Gavin rediscovered skills from his childhood days such as wheelies and bunny hopping and to this added things such as power assisted front wheel lifts and track standing. Same for Alistair who confessed to normally just bombing through things which I have to say isn't such a bad idea even if it occasionally lacks flair and sophistication. For him the emphasis was to learn how to ride things slowly, by staying relaxed and moving your body weight correctly transferring it to either the back or the front of the bike at the right time.

The day saw a few hilarious dismounts with Alistair getting trapped on some roots and falling on top of me having picked a dangerous spot for some action photography and right at the end me unintentionally demonstrating the effects of loosing control of the bike and performing a swan dive gliding through the mud!

Great day and lovely participants! What more can you ask for!

Beginners course 301211

2012-01-03T03:34:00.000-08:00

It was nice to get out and do one more course just before the end of the year. I had the pleasure of meeting Lissa whose very cautious approach had meant that she hadn't built up the confidence in riding technical terrain. She was joined by her husband writing a feature about the courses.

As usual we started off with the basic climbing and descending techniques as well as tight turns and it was very encouraging to hear Lissa's verbal feedback that suddenly everything felt so easy and effortless! I very rarely see anybody riding badly as I always make sure people know what to do before they have a go and this was definitely the case with Lissa who straight away applied every technique and rode stuff making it look easy! The instructions of looking further ahead were implemented in all the right places meaning that Lissa felt much more in control and could remain clipped into her SPDs and not as she had done previously un-clip when the terrain got harder. Her increase in confidence also meant she was happy ride much faster and to enjoy riding technical terrain.
Despite the horrid and rainy weather it was a very enjoyable day and a good way to finish 2011.

Beginners course 271111

2011-11-28T03:23:00.000-08:00

Time for one more course before the end of this years mountain biking season. The delightful and enthusiastic participants turned out to be Anna, Helen and Sarah who sometimes ride together and Mike who recently bought himself a lovely full-suspension bike as a treat not having done much off road riding since being a kid.

The weather didn't look promising with gale force winds and rain but just in time for the start of the course the sun came out and despite a chill to the air it was quite pleasant to be outside.

Things progressed very nicely with harder and harder terrain being ridden and it was nice to hear comments such as "That looked much harder than it was!" as we progressed to bigger drop-offs. Anna's spinning classes had given her the edge on the climbs as she was making good use of the new found technique of power assisted front wheel lifts. Towards the end we popped in at mine for a cup of tea and brownies, giving my husband the task to fix Sarah's brakes which had completely stopped working at this point.

All that remained was the last blast down the hill stopping for the last obstacle of the day. It was a delight to see all four of them riding the last rooty drop really comfortably, especially Sarah who after quite a few aborted attempt finally went for it and rode it extremely well and controlled. I would be very surprised if any of them had to walk a tricky section in the Peak District ever again!

Intermediate course 021111

2011-11-03T10:41:00.000-07:00

It was a great day with David coming from near York attending the intermediate course given to him as a birthday present from his wife. He quickly picked up on little tips and tricks to take his already very good skills set even further, this made easier by his nonexistent fear of throwing himself off anything presented in front of him. We worked especially on his manual front wheel lifts as this was something he hadn't managed to perfect by himself. With fitness not being a limiting factor (he not only cycles but also runs several marathons a year!) we progressed very quickly through the day which of course necessitated harder obstacles!

As people who have been on the courses know, I always spend along time explaining why it is wise to move your weight far behind the saddle for large steps and drops! I must have had my mind on other things as today it was my turn to go over the handlebars! The moment of balancing on the front wheel with the forks slowly and unavoidably compressing beneath me until the center of gravity passed the front wheel hub and I tumbled very ungracefully down the remaining steep wooden steps will certainly come to mind next time the intermediate courses requires a visit to this particular section and trust me I'll certainly emphasize the importance of moving your weight really far backwards before anyone including myself get on the bike to ride this bit!

Beginners course 311011

2011-11-01T03:00:00.000-07:00

I always try to tailor the skills day to the participants and when the level of experience is good as it was in the case of Marc and Mark it was clear that what started as a pure beginners course was going to finish up as more of an intermediate course. Everything was mastered so quickly so instead of just doing manual front wheel lifts we ended up practicing bunny hops to give them something harder to do.

Descending on rocky terrain was also covered and as usual it was trying to look a bit further ahead and relax more that saw them turning from slightly cautious riders to riding faster and more confidently. The highlight of the day was watching them have a go at track standing. After I demonstrated it and explained how to do it they had a go and the look on their faces of mixed surprise and delight after over 10 seconds of balancing still on the bike on their very first attempt was priceless!

The day was not all pleasure though as Marc slipped of his pedal on the hardest obstacle and not only tore the top of his sock clean off but also put a very deep gash in his shin. One of the drawbacks of flat spiky pedals I must confess as I normally speak only of the advantages of flat pedals for the courses. After a bit of first aid he was back on the bike and we moved on to jumping as we still had plenty of time left. The injury didn't hold him back and he did some really good jumps off a drop. Mark wasn't far behind having initially taken it a little more cautiously but once persuaded to lower his seat post he felt the confidence to use more speed and also experience the fun of jumping rather than rolling stuff.

Intermediate course 271011

2011-10-27T10:42:00.000-07:00

Great day yet again when John and Tim came both from down south somewhere (sorry for being largely ignorant of anything south of Birmingham, although lots of names of places to ride down south sounds very interesting so might venture south at some point!) to build on their skills. John had done the beginners course last year but was now ready for more challenges and it was clear nothing would stop him as he flung himself off everything I showed them. Tim was slightly more cautious needing a few attempts before being able to override the feeling that maybe the bike wasn't up to all these strange, steep and occasionally scary obstacles, but I knew early on that he wasn't giving up. He always rode stuff eventually and when he did, he did so perfectly, making it look very easy.

For Tim it was largely to encourage him to look further forwards that improved his riding the most and to make him realize just how capable mountain bikes are at even the roughest stuff. John, who had all the basics already in place, just needed to build on the repertoire regarding bunny hopping, wheeling and jumping, this to encourage him to move his weight more on the bike to more stylishly negotiate very rough stuff by unweighting the front resp back wheel at the right times.

It all made for a good day with only the odd hilarious dismount to occasionally break the never-ending demonstrations of perfect riding!

Beginners course 151011

2011-10-18T02:56:00.000-07:00

It is such a pleasure to watch the progress of riders coming on the courses and this Saturday was a perfect example. Carina and Jennifer had come on the course to learn how to ride technical terrain such as drops, steps and rocky descents as up until now their riding had been more cross country based and allowed them to avoid obstacles rather than embrace them. Despite being slightly hesitant with each new challenge they more or less perfected the techniques on the first attempt which boosted their confidence and kept them progressing easily to harder and harder terrain. There wasn't a moment during the day when I was worried about either of them as they were riding with such control and composure showing how easy it can be to start riding fairly scary stuff with just a little tuition! I was also impressed by them after a full day of tuition riding the 12 miles home to Macclesfield, but I suspect that the Middlewood way would have seemed very tame in comparison with the riding they had done previously in the day!

Intermediate course 091011

2011-10-09T09:23:00.000-07:00

David and David (another easy day for me in respect of names!) had known each other for a long time and had come down from Yorkshire for some fun on the bikes. One of the Davids had grown up on a BMX which showed as wheelies, track standing and not at least bunny hopping was pretty much already perfected. Messing about on a BMX as a kid is easily the best way of learning what to do on a bike. The other David had not had the same opportunity when it came to cycling since he had instead spend his childhood doing other things like canoeing etc and this showed as a lot of the techniques were very new to him. It didn't take him long to learn and just within a few minutes there were big improvements in anything he attempted. His best asset was lack of fear and the ability to go at things at speed which kept him going with a good flow. However the course has plenty of things that need for one reason or another to be ridden quite slowly and this tested their balance and ability to shift their weight about on the bike at the correct time. This wasn't always easy as the rain in the afternoon made the quite heavily rooted sections quite tricky. It was great to see their appetite not only for descending but also techy uphill sections as they spurred each other on but also were relentless at taking the piss. Hugely enjoyable day and we managed to complete all the fun and difficult sections and apart from a simultaneous toppling over into some bushes due to SPD issues we had no real crashes today despite the wet and slippery terrain.

Private skills day 290911

2011-09-30T01:21:00.000-07:00

Dave managed to pick the hottest day of the year (!) to come and have a day of skills. He was a good rider already, particularly when it came to climbing (both with and without bike!) but felt that his descending needed a little work. Throughout the day we did various descents and drops and by moving his weight with better timing and also with more controlled braking he seemed to master everything with ease. Drops offs featured highly during the day. This included rooty, rocky and man-made ones and even the very steep nearly vertical drop towards the end he had to ride three times as I repeatedly messed up with the camera. Jumping off drops was also quickly mastered and I'm sure he will get some good use out of his adjustable seat post! Very enjoyable day with almost tropical climate!

Intermediate course 260911

2011-09-27T08:39:00.000-07:00

It is extremely rare that I feel I should have even harder terrain available to push people's limits but today was one of those days. Alex, Andy and George ride together in Rugby and had booked to come to concentrate on skills. Enjoying messing about on bikes throughout their lives, they had already built up a huge arsenal of talents (as demonstrated straight away by George wheeling up the hill after having performed an effortless power assisted front wheel lift over a step). This made for an extremely fast paced day where to some extent only their fitness was the limiting factor. Wheelies, bunny hops, track standing, drops and jumps were already in place (and to great extent better than my own!) and anything remotely scary was ridden in seconds! Courtney who came on the previous days beginner's course also got swept up in the fast tempo and continued to build on the skills from the previous day.

Once the we had covered everything that was part of the course it was clear that the remaining time should be spent just riding cool stuff and in the same furious pace as earlier we set off to the other side of the valley and added more rocks, roots and massive steps to give the lads an opportunity to use all their capabilities and have some fun. As it turned out, the skills were already there (and I think they knew that already...) but the day provided them with the opportunity to ride new type of terrain at a challenging but fun level of difficulty and the day was made even better by the glorious and warming sunshine!

Beginners course 250911

2011-09-27T07:57:00.000-07:00

It wouldn't have been accurate to label today's course as a beginners course, yes, we did take it from the basics to start with but it was immediately obvious that both Courtney and Robert had both done a lot of riding before. To make sure they didn't get bored we quickly progressed on to harder terrain, making sure that the smaller details were in place which involved the usual culprits of looking too close to the front wheel and not quite being relaxed enough to move well with the bike. Steps, drops and rocky descending were all dealt with and included a few extra bits that time and skills allowed for which made it a lovely day out. We finished ahead of schedule just as the sun came out!

Beginners course 200911

2011-09-21T00:32:00.000-07:00

Dave and Robert were booked on this very drizzly and grey day to receive a thorough introduction to mountain biking. I am glad to say that the day ran so smoothly there is almost nothing to blog about! Both were good bike riders but neither had been off road much other than easy level paths and Robert didn't even own a mountain bike. The fairly easy morning session was quickly completed and the scariest thing up to that point were the geese at the cafe wanting to steal our sandwiches!

The afternoon showed me the determination of these two chaps as they demonstrated very good climbing technique using all the skills showed to them earlier to make it up one of the rockiest tracks in the area. All other techniques were also put in place quickly and the highlight of the day was showing them the big rooty drop! Usually there is some hesitation when people are confronted by it (especially in the wet!) but I had hardly finished demonstrating it before Robert had leapt up on it with his bike and before I knew it he had been down it twice! Dave didn't take long to follow and it seemed like they would have gone on riding the drop forever until eventually we had to move on to finish the last descent down to the end of the course.

Intermediate course 180911

2011-09-19T01:10:00.000-07:00

Today was easy, not only because both participants were called Alex, but also they were very quick to learn. This was fortunate as we had to change the order of events of the day as the little quarry I use for some of the riding contained a camera crew filming two singers performing what sounded like folk songs (it was hard tell as Alex's disc brakes were louder than anything else as we not so quietly left to have an early lunch).

After lunch we started the bunny hopping, something that they had never tried before. It was amazing how quickly they picked it up, not only improving their manual front wheel lifts by using their body rather than arms but also quickly including very good back wheel lifts. It is always interesting to then put the two together in to one movement as for some people it takes quite a long time to get right but for both Alex and Alex this happened on their very first attempt!

We then moved on to do more drops and jumping and the pattern throughout the afternoon was for me to tell Alex, the lad, to move further back behind the saddle and to tell the other Alex, the lass, to not go too far back!

Roots, drops, chutes and bends, all were ridden very well and it was great to see Aleksandra ride the last drop of doom right at the end of the day!

Intermediate course 080911

2011-09-08T09:47:00.000-07:00

Andy came for the beginners course earlier in the summer and was now ready for more skills. Having quickly adopted all the beginners skills and used them to full effect in places like the Forest of Dean and Coed Llandegla, one of the main things he now wanted to achieve was jumping.

To achieve this we needed to build up a repertoire of skills useful for being in the air. Starting off we did wheelies was good practice for putting down your front wheel straight and getting used to it being in the air and later we added bunny hopping to promote moving your weight on the bike, not only important for the take off when jumping but also important for nicely balanced landings.

Initially Andy struggled with lifting the back wheel, but we tried different techniques to get his timing and movement right so that by the end he was doing wonderful front and back wheel lifts. I am a great fan of flat spiky pedals but after a slip on his pedal Andy pierced his shin properly (I nearly felt sick looking at the injury!) and I had to get the first aid kit out. I can now see why some people prefer SPDs in this respect. By encouraging him to move his foot forward to have the pedal more under the middle part of the shoe he will hopefully avoid further injuries.

Even though we lack some of the pumptrack style jumps we do have a good drop to start jumping off with enough height to make sure you get a feeling of being in the air. It took Andy a few goes to get his weight far enough back to stop the front wheel dropping too soon but once he managed it, there was no turning back and he did one great jump one after the other.

I like to push the boundaries on the course and take people out of their comfort zone and with the weather having turned the ground into a mess of mud and slippery roots the last challenge wasn't easy, but that didn't put Andy off. As usual the camera doesn't show how steep it actually is, but trust me you don't see what is coming until you are actually riding it, it is that steep. And Andy didn't have any problems riding it what so ever!

Beginners course 070911

2011-09-08T08:44:00.000-07:00

It was definitely an autumnal feel to the day when Chris came to the beginners course. He was a keen road cyclist but felt mountain biking could be a better option for the winter time. It was immediately obvious that he had done a lot of cycling previously. Despite not having been off-road much he looked very comfortable on his mountain bike that he got only 6 weeks earlier.

Every instruction was put in place immediately and once we went past the stage where before the course he would have got off and walked rather than cycled, such as steep steps, it was a delight to see the smile on his face after finding out that it was relatively easy to ride. As he was the only one on the course and he was making such great progress we also did a few intermediate skills such as track standing and jumping off drops and even with these additions we finished well ahead of schedule.

Beginners course 040911

2011-09-05T02:38:00.000-07:00

Today was an example of two participants with very similar ability but on two very different bikes. Emma on her budget Apollo hardtail and Cath on her brand new lightweight long travel suspension bike that she had only used twice before the course. So how did they get on? The answer is that both did very well indeed but not entirely without incidents!

Both managed the climbs very well, although Emma had to work very hard as she lacked the spockets on the rear cassette that would have provided her with easier gears for climbing with. She made up for this with shear determination! They were both very good at listening and immediately putting into place the techniques on the course, which was demonstrated in very quickly learning to set off on climbs, negotiating tight turns, drop-offs and front wheel lifts.

So did this make them immune to crashing?... well no. Grabbing of the brakes is a reflex which a lot of beginners suffer from and for Cath, whose brakes were the most efficient brakes I've ever come across on a mountain bike (and I'm not exaggerating here), this caused a couple of very impressive over the bar incidents. I am glad to say that it is a stage that passes quite quickly as not only will her brakes loose some of that immediate "bite" with time, but she will also be more able to fine tune her finger action with a bit of practice. Her ability to get back on the bike straight away for more riding was very impressive!

Brakes that worked well wasn't a problem for Emma as not even the strongest squeeze of the back brake could provide a skid of the back wheel even on a loose gravel descent, which was hugely disappointing for her, although at least it saved her from going over the bars!
At the end after comparing the bruises and scratches we finished the day in the late summer sun and judging by the enthusiasm I'm sure they both will be out riding the trails very soon regardless if it is on a budget hard tail with rim brakes or a top of the range full suspension bike.

Beginners course 270811

2011-08-29T11:09:00.000-07:00

After a nice summer break it was good to be back in the saddle. Today turned out by chance to be a ladies-only day, with Cate, Maureen and Paula coming to learn off-road cycling. During the chat in the carpark I found out that all three of them were quite new to mountain biking and afterwards I had to confess to Maureen that I had been slightly worried about quite how new to cycling she was when she asked how to get on the bike and get it rolling. However it was a very legitimate question and with a few hints (stand on the pedal and push off with the other foot on the ground) she started to be able to set off much more graciously. And one thing was certain, once Maureen got rolling she really got rolling and set a great example of how to use speed as your friend!

During the day there were a few crashes (some more comical than others!) but it didn't put any of the participants off. A few details, small but important, such as foot and leg positions were tweaked and the confidence grew for all the participants as the course progressed on to rockier terrain. Cate who had a couple of quite big crashes earlier in the day due to being too tense managed to relax enough to ride down all the other obstacles including the rocky track very successfully and it was great to see her confidence returning as she found out she could ride quite technical terrain.

At the end when tiredness was setting in Paula still hadn't quite reached her limit of scary obstacles and was presented with the "rooty drop". Most people I know have expressed amazement that it it part of the beginners course but Paula proved again that by showing people the right techniques it is perfectly possible for a beginner to ride even some quite challenging drops.

It was a lovely day with lovely people and was great fun. I believe the girls who didn't know each other before this day might have plans to meet up again for some riding together.

Hi Emmy,

Thank you so much for the photos and your witty narrative of the day. I just wanted to thank you for your input on Sat and to let you know that I cycled the entire blue route at Llandegla today without stopping and with some speed! went around berms and handled corners well. Was on and off the bike much more elegantly and my confidence level was high.

I very much enjoyed my day with you and I have learnt loads and am putting it all into practice.

So thank you,

Maureen

Intermediate course 030811

2011-08-04T03:20:00.000-07:00

Normally I have a little moan about the weather being too cold, too wet or too windy and today it was too hot! Being warm was nice for a change, but it certainly made it much harder especially on the climbs. It was nice to see Peter again who came on the beginner's course last October as a complete novice. He did exceptionally well that day so it was no surprise he had developed into a very good rider since seeing him last. He was ready to build more on his jumping skills having had a taste of it during a skills session at Cannock where he regularly rides.

David had come for similar reasons wanting to move on from riding mostly red routes to feel confident about tackling black graded routes, especially since he had booked a trip up to Fort William with his mountain biking sons.

Apart from getting the wheels off the ground and bunny hopping, we also spent some time on riding slowly. It is absolutely true that speed is your friend and both riders were great at speed so it made sense to increase their range off skills to improving their ability to negotiate stuff slower. The track standing came in handy to increase their ability to balance and they were already better than average at this, while bunny hopping and independently unweighting the front and the rear wheel was applied to tackle some nice wheel hugging roots.

Both David and Peter weren't hanging about when it came to riding even quite scary looking features which made for quick progress through out the day. Even the "drop off doom" was ridden 3 times each until it had lost its scariness factor and both participants had re-evaluated what was actually possible to ride down.

Very enjoyable day which was finished off with an ice cream back at the cafe!

One-to-one skills day 210711

2011-07-21T13:09:00.000-07:00

What a wonderful day! Sun shining, warm weather, pub lunch and a cheerful participant! What more could you ask for! When Brian contacted me about doing a one to one session to come to grips with certain types of descents that repeatedly had defeated him, he particularly mentioned very steep and narrow ones. Naturally I planned the day to take in the narrowest and steepest slopes in the area but also included other skills such as power assisted front wheel lifts, track standing, bunny hopping and jumps along the way.

It was immediately obvious that Brian needed to look further ahead to not only keep a straighter line but also to be able to relax more while descending. You could tell he didn't enjoy the terrain but kept a brave face as he repeatedly had to go up and down the slopes. He quickly got encouraged by the improvement as each time he had another go he rode better and more confidently. Same kind of improvements were seen on the drop offs. Once we lowered the saddle he was able to find the balanced low center of gravity slightly behind the saddle position that he had struggled to find before in his riding and once he was following me he would ride anything. It was harder for me to make him have a go at some of the very scary looking obstacles at the end as the longer he hesitated the more he managed to persuade himself that having a go wasn't a good idea. I was really pleased when right at the end he rode one of the quite tricky series of drops despite initial hesitation!

Intermediate course 170711

2011-07-18T03:42:00.000-07:00

The torrential rain didn't abandon us for Sunday's intermediate course either. This time I was joined by an undeterred Helen who wanted to get the most out of her lovely Orange 5 that she recently had acquired. I also had arranged for my friend Julian to come along to potentially provide some demos of stuff in case my wrist which I injured a couple of weeks ago decided to flare up.

Together we fought through rain and mist climbing to the top of the hill while Julian managed to learn to wheelie remarkably well and Helen was improving on her power assisted wheel lifts. Once up at the top we used the little quarry for various types of descending. Helen's confidence grew once she started to look further ahead and able to let go of the brakes. The rocky and loose terrain was a very different surface from what Helen usually rides at trail centers and gradually she was able to trust her bike's ability to roll over the big boulders. Slow speed drops was no problem for her as she already was moving about on the bike perfectly.

Part of the afternoon was spent practicing bunny hopping. This was something Julian also wanted to be able to do as he mostly up until now had relied on speed hops. Both Helen and Julian (and Julian's wife Jane who also happened to join us!) very quickly were able to lift both front wheel and then rear wheel over the obstacles. This practiced the sequence of weight shifting on the bike necessary for performing the bunny hops. By approaching the obstacles slightly faster they were forced to use only a single "pump" of the bike for both movements. While Helen and Jane will need a little more practice to get some height into their bunny hops Julian impressed us all by bouncing over the obstacles making it look easy! Helen was able to "pump" the bike extremely well and since using SPDs it was only fair to teach her speed hops, something she put to immediate good use by bombing every puddle with her rear wheel splashing everyone in the vicinity!

The pumping action was put to further use by getting some nice air while jumping of a small drop and we finished the day off nicely with a slippery singletrack descent down to the bottom of the valley.

Beginners course 160711

2011-07-18T02:35:00.000-07:00

They say that statistically fewer passengers book on flights that crash. Well there must have been similar premonitions regarding the courses this weekend as only one person had booked on each day which saved a few people from having to experience underwater mountain biking. Not so fortunate was Beccy who came to brush up on her skills in preparation for a mountain biking holiday in Slovenia, where apparently you can even go mountain biking in caves! (Sounds a great deal nicer than the underwater option on offer here!) However a bit of water didn't deter Beccy as she progressed quickly learning all the little tricks and techniques that makes mountain biking more fun and exciting and trying the skills out under the hardest of conditions! I think the photo kind of says it all!

Beginners course 190611

2011-06-20T05:44:00.000-07:00

Kate and Will had been given a beginner's course as birthday presents by their respective partners while Maddie had booked the course as a preparation for her first mountain bike race in August. It was clear from the start that Maddie had a great advantage learning to mountain bike on technical terrain from having done off road motorbiking in the past. Her slow speed balance was fantastic making tight turns very easy once she was looking in the right place as well as giving her an advantage on rocky and technical climbs.

Kate and Will wasn't far behind though and as a group they made fantastic progress. Kate was slightly less experienced than Will and also more cautious but the the whole group encouraged every attempt and the atmosphere was wonderfully positive throughout the whole day.

Particularly amusing was to see the surprised look on their faces when they managed to do power assisted front wheel lifts on their first attempt having initially thought it an impossible task! Will surprised himself by riding things he only ever considered walking down previously and living locally I'm sure I'll see him enjoying all the technical features on these trails in the future.

Great day, wonderful participants and decent weather, what more could I ask for!

Hi Emmy

Fantastic course and I really appreciate the way it was delivered. You explained everything in a way I could understand. That did help me to pick things up quite easily. Didn't get bogged down with too much technical stuff. Thank you.
Yes I would love to do the intermediate course. Sounds awesome getting some "air". I am going to get a few more hours in practising the stuff we learnt and do the race in August then I'll be in touch about the course. I want the basics to become second nature first.
Rightio thank you so much for your patience and encouragement it has helped.
Regards
Maddi

Beginners course

2011-06-15T13:18:00.000-07:00

It was a lovely day today not just because the weather was warm and pleasant but also the group was very eager to learn and enthusiastic even about the climbs! Jane had recently got into mountain biking after a holiday in Greece and wanted to know more, especially about descending techniques after having had a nasty crash on a slope. Andy whose main sport is surfing loves the adrenalin rush from mountain biking but was also slightly hesitant about certain descents after having had a few crashes while getting used to riding off road. Kieron on the hand had been more or less worn down by me constantly telling him over the last year and a half to come along on the course as we regularly see each other on the trails and to be frank (sorry Kieron) he needed a lesson to make him enjoy riding more and not look so tense and worried!

The group was quick to learn correct body positioning and moving around on the bike to always stay balanced. Again and again they kept saying "Oh it is so much easier now I'm looking further ahead!" and quite often it is the simple things that make the most difference. We also dealt with all the core skills such as tight turns, braking, gears, climbing, front wheel lifts and singletrack riding. By making them ride a particularly loose and rocky descent they also discovered just how capable their bikes were at rolling over things which in turn made them relax more and trust both themselves and their bikes. It was lovely to see how much more confident they looked at the end!

Intermediate course 120611

2011-06-12T11:59:00.000-07:00

Thanks to both Mark and Neil having done the beginner's course we were able to quickly progress to true intermediate skills and not dwell long on the core skills which were already in place. This was fortunate as the weather was as bad as I've experienced in a very long time with constant soaking rain from eleven o'clock onwards (and it is still raining now 9 hours later!). Thankfully spirits weren't damped too much and both Neil and Mark did very well on all the different techniques. Mark struggled with his confidence as he has been blessed with a very sensible brain but managed to show that he could beat his demons right at the end by riding the last tricky slope and riding it very well indeed! Neil (still being sensible!) found things easier to ride straight away although found that his adjustable seatpost might have caused him to become slightly lazy in moving his weight behind the saddle. Thankfully he wasn't averse to having repeated attempts to finepolish his riding position and also did very well with the bunny hops. They both enjoyed jumping off a step and "getting air" and Mark's face after a particularly high jump was an equal mix of enjoyment and terror! No crashes though and plenty of good discussions and questions and despite the horrid and slippy conditions a very enjoyable day!

Intermediate course 240511

2011-05-24T12:22:00.000-07:00

I very rarely drive to the start of the course as I live only 5 minutes of lovely descending away from Roman Lakes Cafe, but today I had brought the car due to other commitments. Well, I wish I hadn't! During the trip down the end nut on the skewer holding the back wheel in place had fallen off and disappeared as it later turned out down the multiple folding seats at the back of the boot. Poor Anthony probably wondered what he had signed up for with me running behind him on the first climb up the hillside carrying my bike. We quickly passed my house for a bike swap and was back on track continuing with the skills. Things went very well with most things nailed on the first few attempts while others just needed a little tweeking.

It was clear that pumping the bike was something quite new to Anthony as his front wheel lift were mainly based on just pumping the front of the bike not involving the legs. With some practise we managed to unlock the pumping action of the whole of the bike which in turn let him start lifting his back wheel as part of the bunny hop. While doing nice smooth bunny hops might take a little practise he managed to put both front wheel lift and back wheel lifts in place over obstacles by learning to shift his body weight at the right time.

The pumping was put to further use by starting to jump off stuff and nothing beats the smile of someone just having had some air of a jump! A great day made even better by the lovely and sunny weather by the end!

Beginners course 200511

2011-05-20T09:49:00.000-07:00

These days mountain bikes tend to come with really wide handlebars, shortish stems and beefy wide tyres compared to a few years ago, this to make handling as easy as possible. Ruth didn't need any of those features as she showed that by using the right technique and being able to relax and not tense up, even with the narrowest of bars and tyres she elegantly and skillfully rode everything I threw at her during the skills course. She had not been riding off road for many many years instead concentrating on road cycling for her triathlon training but quickly developed a really relaxed and controlled way of descending even the rockiest tracks. Everything was quickly learnt and put to good use and there wasn't a moment during the entire time that I felt nervous about Ruth's ability and basically all I had to do once the core skills were in place was to point her the way to harder and harder terrain, finishing with the nice big rooty drop which she rode extremely well. I was very happy to hear she has a trip planned to Sherwood pines tomorrow and I just hope she doesn't find it too easy there after having been thoroughly baptised on proper rocky Peak District terrain!

Private day 190511

2011-05-19T10:11:00.000-07:00

Alan and Andrew, two brothers, had been given a skills training day as a Christmas present and booked for today to get a tailor-made day to suit their skills levels. Alan immediately claimed to be rubbish at climbing and Andrew, who loved climbing said he didn't enjoy the descents. Working our way through the core skills I was very impressed by both of their climbing abilities as they used a mix of skills and sheer determination to make it up even the hardest and rockiest climbs! The descending and drop offs went really well too and together with lots of good questions throughout the day and some very much longed for sunshine it was a very enjoyable day!

Hi Emmy,

Thanks for your email with the pictures, and once again for your time on Thursday - both Andrew and I had a great time.
You'll be happy to know that I've already put your instruction to good use, knocking 15 mins off a climb that usually takes 1 hour and transitioning through berms with much more control.
I look forward to further instruction in the future.
Kind regards
Al

Intermediate course 180511

2011-05-19T08:49:00.000-07:00

Busy days! Another intermediate course today with Nigel and Steve, who both had previously done the beginners course. As expected the core skills were in place and it was easy to start adding new stuff as well as letting them have a go at technically harder challenges.

It was obvious after the first few descents that both Steve and Nigel were able to relax much more than on the previous occasion and because of this things felt easy. When revisiting some of the old drops and difficult sections they couldn't believe how easy they were.

The challenges on the intermediate course are more complex than on the beginners, so instead of being just a drop it will be a drop with a tight bend after it, or a very tricky run up to a steep section, all to encourage the participants to be able to control the bike and anticipate what is coming. Among all the other things such as jumping off drops etc, I added a rooty challenge to the course, especially challenging as they were all quite slippery in the rainy weather. Both Steve and Nigel rode the roots very well having previously in the day learnt to control the weight of the front and back wheels during bunny hopping practise. Wonderful day with wonderful people, what more could I ask for....(apart from that it would stop raining for once...)

Hi Emmy,

just wanted to say a big THANK YOU for today, I really enjoyed it and feel that my confidence has shot up again, although if you had told me at the start I would be going down that huge drop I would never have thought it possible. Spoke to Nigel tonight and the shop have replaced his back wheel foc, mine's off to my local shop tomorrow to see if it can be sorted out. Just been watching some Danny Macaskill stuff absolutely ****ing amazing. When are you going to teach us to do that??????
Probably bump into you sometime (not literally I hope) around Roman Lakes sometime, thanks once again.
Best Regards
Steve.

Intermediate course 160511

2011-05-17T07:22:00.000-07:00

Every so often I get a little nervous when someone come on the course that clearly has done so much more riding than myself. And yesterday was such a day when I met Andrew, who for the world of mountain biking and outdoor sports clothing is what Richard Branson is for everything else. Not only had he mountain biked since the sports was invented and cycled across the Sahara desert, but also organised the first Polaris race 20 years ago which then was the first mountain bike orienteering event in the world.

Although first quite worried why on earth he had decided to come for a course here, I relaxed quite quickly as it was clear that not only was he a really nice chap but also he was more than happy to listen and ask questions and work on the little things that could be improved on to make him an even better rider. Instead of just running through the standard intermediate course route, I decided to skip a lot of the easier stuff to concentrate mainly on two things, bunny hopping and scary stuff, although advise on power assisted front wheel lifts and trackstanding was also proved to be helpful and quickly absorbed. The advantage of learning to bunny hop is that you start using the movement of you body to tilt the bike in the air. This will make you able to relax when dealing with jumps as you feel you are still in control of the bike despite it being airborne. Andrew managed to involve his body more and did beautiful front and back wheel lifts, although some more practise will be needed for turning the movements into reliable bunny hops.

The other part of the day was spent on doing very technical challenges, such as rooty drops, really tight bends on steep steps and wet rooty turns. Many of them illustrated the need to force yourself to look where you want to go and to do it as early as you can to make the bike follow in time and Andrew didn't take long to put this into practise. Having a big Iron Man event coming up in Germany in six weeks time he opted out of the last couple of big drops as he was worried about getting injured and instead demonstrated how to take photos that actually make the terrain look as steep as it feels in reality instead of making it look flat. Below you can see he really knew what he was doing taking one of me doing the last drop of doom!

Beginners course 150511

2011-05-16T02:06:00.000-07:00

Apart from the rubbish weather everything about Sunday's beginners course went really well. Jenny and Keith were both fairly new to mountain biking although had enough experience of off-road riding to quickly learn to ride very technical terrain. The day was pretty much a long session of doing things in threes. First go at stuff they both managed ok but felt nervous and a little tense. On the second go the remaining little changes needed to perfect the technique were implemented and they felt able to relax more and the third go they rode the terrain comfortably and judging by their smiles with great enjoyment!

Despite things being a bit wet and slippery they both felt confident enough to do the last big drop over some wet roots. Obviously this being the hardest obstacle on the course, it took a couple of goes to get right, but should prove to the two off them how much their ability and confindence have improved just by knowing how to move their bodies on the bike and look in the right places.

Great day, great atmosphere and great participants --- just shame about the weather!

Private day 130511

2011-05-15T09:41:00.000-07:00

Husband and wife, Alan and Frankie, came to jointly learn new mountain bike skills, but on two different levels. Frankie being a complete beginner had to start from scratch putting in place all the core skills and getting used to the rocks etc, while Alan was already at a very good level. For him we concentrated mainly on either very technical climbs or scary looking drops and downhills. He was very quick at putting in place the tiny changes in body position and mental strategy required to be able to really push the limit of his riding. This was even more evident when he was learning to bunny hop as for each attempt he was just jumping higher and higher which forced me to improvise making higher and higher obstacles!

Frankie was slowly buiding her confidence in the bike and herself riding terrain rockier than stuff you would normally find at trail centres, but being still at the panic braking stage (a reflex to suddenly grab the brakes) she had a fall right at the end. Showing great attitude she despite being quite sore and shaken up she got back on the bike for the last rocky descent back to the cafe, which told me she has got a bright future on two wheels! Great effort from both of them and it was a pleasure spending a day with such a lovely couple.

Hi Emmy,
thank you for your e-mail and for the links to the photos and your

blog. If you could make the videos available to view that would be good.
We both had a fabulous day with you and learnt a great deal about core MTB
skills and for me some of the more intermediate skills of bunny hopping and
how to tackle those scary drop offs! I'm certainly mor confident about how
to tackle that sort of thing now and how important body position is.
Frankie was a bit sore on Friday night as she turned her ankle in the
morning and it didn't really flare up until teatime, but it came on very
quick and painful. She's much better now so no lasting damage to it (a bag
of ice looks to have done the trick!), although she still has a few big
bruises as a reminder of her tumbles! It hasn't put her off though and
she's already talking about a day out at Llandegla soon.

Thanks again for a great day out and for all your help and advice. It must
have been quite tricky for you to cope with the two of us and our different
skill levels/needs, but we both benefitted and learnt a lot. Thank you for
your patience!
Kind regards
Alan

Flat pedals or SPDs????

2011-05-09T04:21:00.000-07:00

In many clubs/groups the policy seem to be that as soon as you can ride a bike you should switch to being clipped in as it is so much better for you. It is one of the questions debated on the mountain biking chat forums on a regular basis: flat pedals versus SPD (clipless pedals). In my opinion it is very simple, get a good pair of big flat pedals with grippy shoes (not SPD shoes!) and first learn to ride so well that you very rarely have to put your foot down, then decide whether you would like to try SPDs or not. Personally I have SPD on my road bike but never found the need to be clipped in on a mountain bike where I much prefer the flexibility of flat pedals.

By learning to ride using flat pedals you will relax more and relaxing more makes you ride better. Being clipped in while still being nervous about technical riding will make your riding worse as you will be tense, but the consequence of this is masked by the fact that you are artificially stuck to your pedals so you won't bounce off them. With flat pedals on the other hand you HAVE TO be more relaxed as otherwise you risk bouncing off. Once you feel that you ride well enough to relax (or relax well enough to ride well!!) try using SPDs if you like the idea of getting slightly better pedalling efficiency. But don't get lazy! And don't forget how to ride your bike and not just be a passenger! And if you don't like the SPDs don't persevere with them for more than a couple of months and just invest in a pair of nice flat pedals and grippy shoes and have fun!

So for the courses then? Which pedals to use? If you normally ride using SPDs and you are not a nervous rider then stick to the SPDs. If you are using flat pedals then don't change to SPDs for the course it will not benefit you in any way. If you very recently have switched to SPDs or tend to unclip for obstacles when you are out riding because you get nervous then I would recommend using your flat pedals for the course.

Intermediate course 080511

2011-05-08T10:20:00.000-07:00

A big group is definitely a challenge but on the positive side there always seems to be a great atmosphere and lots and lots of fun! And today was no exception.

Philip and Rebecca had the most experience in the group having done quite a lot of riding before such as trail centres in Wales so it was no surprise that they both picked up skills fairly quickly. Jo and Michael had the advantage of having done the beginners course in the months before and both still remember everything they had learnt despite only having had the opportunity to practise on the odd occasion. Poor Will was unfortunately thrown in at the deep end as descending skills were concerned (no lack of fitness that was for sure!) but despite this made fantastic progress although at a slightly slower pace. I often find that it takes a little while to get experienced road riders to leave the comfort of the saddle and start moving their weight on the bike.

The first part of the morning was spent mostly going uphill which wasn't particularly popular with Jo from Lincolnshire even though she struggled far less than most people that come on the courses! But once we got up to the top the fun began with doing different types of descents, from loose rocky ones, to drops and steep narrow descents. After a nice lunch in the sunshine at the local pub we spent the afternoon introducing "pumping" the bike as part of doing bunny hopping and built on this to start jumping off drops instead of rolling them. I was witness initially to both severe front wheel landings as well as big back wheel landings but straight away they adopted the correct changes and soon there were some beautiful jumps to be had, with Michael in particular just smiling with joy at the wonderful feeling of having had "air".

Once this section was completed there were the final challenges of steep drops and very difficult rooty bits to clear. It was clear that the group had by now a very good idea of where and when to change their weight distribution on the bike although some extreme positions at times meant that Phil provided us with a beautiful endo (stopping with the back wheel up in the air!) and Rebecca with a manual (riding with the front wheel in the air!) that could have had a happier ending in respect of Rebecca's cycling shorts! But most importantly they proved to themselves that they could ride harder stuff than they normally would attempt.

Great day with plenty of laughs and smiles despite some bruises, cuts and nettle stings!

Beginner's course 070511

2011-05-07T09:51:00.000-07:00

It was a pleasure meeting Lynne who had ridden regularly for a long time but never found the courage to use the trial and error approach to riding technical terrain. It was a steep but very successful learning curve for Lynne who had previously not stood out of her saddle while descending. Showing her the right techniques and tweeking things like pedal position and weight distribution her confidence grew very quickly. It was a set pattern that evolved with me demostrating, her looking slightly terrified but having a go and then looking somewhat surprised at her achievement. By the second and third go the surprised look was replaced with a huge smile as she became more and more confident. She now knows the feeling of being balanced on the bike and what to think about while riding rocky and technical terrain and I'm sure she won't be doing much walking down hills (or up them, as her climbing also improved immensely, making especially good use of the technique I showed her for setting off on steep slopes!). Great day and good fun!

Beginner's course 050511

2011-05-05T08:37:00.000-07:00

After a nice Easter break (although the weather in the UK seems to have been a lot better than the Italian weather judging by everyone's suntan and the dusty trails!) it is nice to be back doing courses again. Today I met Steve who made my day very easy and enjoyable indeed. He had done a lot of road cycling and was a sky diving instructor which seems to be an excellent base on which to build some mountain biking skills. Everything was picked up very quickly and confidently and rocks, drops and climbs were easily managed. Even his puncture half way around was conveniently placed just outside the pub where refreshments were had as the weather was getting rather warm and sunny! At the end he had a sneak preview of some intermediate course stuff which didn't put him off in the slightest so I look forward to him coming back for more skills in the near future!

Beginner's course 130411

2011-04-14T10:52:00.000-07:00

I am sure that some people when booking a midweek day would anticipate a very small group, but as luck would have it 4 people booked the beginner's course this Wednesday. I'm saying luck as it turned out that everyone got on exceptionally well together, sharing crash stories and encouraging each other in all the events of the day. Some were more crash prone than others but everyone were very quick to put all the techniques into pracise, even simple ones as setting off on a climb! Lovely group to teach where everyone had their own personality but being equally wonderful to spend a day with!

Saf had a great attitude and boundless enthusiasm and literally threw himself down some of the slopes, his development of skills only just keeping pace with his ambitions! Speed didn't frighten Saf so once we fine tuned his descending position making him put his weight a bit further back there was no stopping him!

James and Nigel both took things slightly more cautiously and increased their speed and confidence as the day progressed, finding out that with the right techniques and body positions even quite difficult terrain feels easy to ride. Especially James had only limited experience of riding technical terrain, did very well even on the last big rooty drop off which he rode beautifully and in complete control, despite me being a little hesitant to let him have a go at first.

Mark had done quite a bit of riding before and used the beginners course to brush up on the basics and confirm what he had been doing was correct and learn the theory behind these things. Mark had added on a private day the following day which we used for intermediate skills such as jumping off stuff, bunny hoping etc as well as doing a 33 km loop with nearly 1000m of climbing around the rockiest and ruttiest (hope that is the correct word for it!) terrain the Peak District has got to offer (and it is very rocky and rutty!!), this possible due to Mark's good fitness levels. By the end I think he had become immune to both rocks and ruts and nothing the Peak District could offer would make him bat an eyelid! Another great day with some great riding too.

Intermediate course 090411

2011-04-11T02:17:00.000-07:00

How could you beat beautiful blue skies, warm temperature, dusty trails, two exceptional participants and no technical hiccups? I'm not sure but I think it's going to be hard to beat Saturdays intermediate course in terms of enjoyment and pleasure! Mike and Craig had both been riding for about a year and their core skills were quite good combined with good fitness. They managed to do some nice power assisted front wheel lifts on the first climb, a technique that was new to both of them, but it was when we moved on the wheelies I realized that these two were increadibly quick to learn new things. Within 5 minutes they were both wheeliing better than me! I'm gutted! And they both swore that they had never tried wheelies before.

After lunch we started the bunny hopping practise and here again they excelled. Mike had to remove his seatpost all togheter as due to the frame design he couldn't lower the seat at all to be able to get the most out of "pumping" the bike. After doing nice front and back wheel lifts separately he had a go at combining the two into a bunny hop and couldn't quite get the timing right. I then told him not to worry as most people really need to go home and practise for at least half an hour or more to start getting the timing and body movements right to reliably do nice bunny hops. I had hardly finished talking before he suddenly set off and bounced like a rabbit on steroids over the obstacles! I'm sure he would have cleared the neighbours jack russell had it remained standing in our way for long enough! Craig also progressed nicely on the bunny hops and found that he needed to practise the "pumps" a bit more as initially he was concentrating too much on the "up" bit and not enough on the compression of the bike.

The rest of the afternoon was spent thrill seeking as we did jumps off a ledge, and some proper steep slops and drops. Right at the end we took a little detour to practise tight turns in combination with obstacles as both Mike and Craig needed to look a bit further ahead to be able to take a good line down some steep steps.

A thoroughly enjoyable day that would be hard to improve (except for possibly a strategically placed ice cream van on the route!)

Cheers Emmy; a thoroughly enjoyable day; cracking weather and expert tuition :)

I put all of the tips to good use yesterday up at Rivington Pike and rode a lot of stuff I'd have winced at before. You've given me bags of confidence!
Like I said on the day, the way in which you delivered the training was exceptional and I'll certainly be recommending you to friends and family alike.
Thanks for the pics and the great blog. And the tea and cake :)
And just out of interest, what make/size were the tyres on your bike? I may invest in a pair myself :)
Thanks once again; you're a star! Will hopefully see you sometime in May :)
Kind Regards,
Mike.

Beginner's course 030411

2011-04-03T11:21:00.000-07:00

I absolutely love proper beginners! Today I met Neil who had ridden for about 3 months and Michael who was off road for the first time on his brand new bike! Thankfully both knew how to ride a bike very well but also were completely open minded to learning all the core skills from scratch.

Michael's only experience came from watching videos on Youtube and with similar go-for-it attitude he showed no fear and rode everything without a moment of hesitation. When trying things for the first time and using the right techniques things seem very easy, it was therefore quite a good thing that Michael experienced a few crashes, not to put him off, but more to illustrate that it is quite a common occurrence to fall off when starting to ride off road and that is happens to all of us in the beginning. Thankfully he suffered no ill-effects and quickly got back on his bike for more action, even riding the big rooty drop in the end!

Neil on the other hand had already done his fair share of falling off in the months before the course and showed a slight tendency to want to use his brakes slightly too much. This improved for each time he rode an obstacle. First time slowly and cautiously and the second and third time allowing himself to gain more speed, building on his confidence each time until he was descending fast but in complete control. He also quickly mastered the power assisted front wheel lifts, a technique he hadn't been aware of until today, and with it managed climb best part of the slabby climb more aimed for the intermediate riders. He also rode the rooty drop, pushing the boundaries of what he would consider ridable further.

For both Michael and Neil knowing where to focus while riding proved possibly to be one of the most important skills they learnt on the course as it is crucial not only for turning but for descending, drops and singletrack too and absolutely essential if you want to be able to ride faster!

I'm very pleased with the progress of both these riders today having mastered everything on the course (and it is quite extensive!) and already look forward to seeing Neil in June for the intermediate course and hopefully Michael too in the future!

Beginners course 270311

2011-03-27T12:49:00.000-07:00

Teaching mountain bike skills is always interesting and often gives you an insight into people's fears, attitudes and previous experiences. Today was very interesting as Kathryn came to improve on her core skills. She struck me as a very confident, fit and able cyclist having years of road cycling experience. She got on very well with adapting all the core skills, applying both climbing and descending techniques well on the easier descents, but after a while it was obvious that there was an underlying fear preventing her from relaxing and increasing the difficulty in the terrain. It turned out that Kathryn suffered from a pronounced fear of heights, also present in her day-to-day life, as well as other sports such as fell running etc. Not being a psycologist, but still aware of the physical responses to do with severe phobias (show me a bit spider and I'll run a mile , not kidding!!) I decided not to push Kathryn too hard as the phobia was not specifically related to the mountain biking but instead something that should be addressed separately. We still managed to do most of the skills on the course, such as manual front wheel lifts, narrow singletrack and smaller drop offs, proving that she had picked up the techniques well and will be able to ride most of the terrain she will encounter. I often try and push people to ride as much of the technical stuff as possible, but sometimes there is a limit to what people should be pushed into doing and today was one of those days. Despite not proving herself on the most technical terrain Kathryn can now at least be assured that once heights won't bother her psycologically then her core skills will be more than sufficient for anything nature might throw at her!

Intermediate course 200311

2011-03-21T07:42:00.000-07:00

What do you get if you combine 5 crashes, one lost bike computer, rain, one snapped chain and a near plunge in the canal? The answer is: A surprisingly nice day! Mark, Andy, Martin, Steve and another Steve is part of a local group who normally go out riding together so were used to technical and rocky terrain and lots of climbing. During the long climb in the morning we dealt with power assisted front wheel lifts and wheelies and track stands before moving onto the steep sharp slopes near Mellor Cross to exemplify some common techniques for different kind of descents.

We stopped for lunch at my place to try and dry out before starting on the afternoons main activities which were bunny hopping and jumping. Despite some kind walkers trying to remove our obstacles everyone in the group managed to lift both front and back wheels without using SPDs, illustrating the need to use their body weight to maneuver the bike. A few of them managed to put the sequence together in one jump to perform the very useful bunny hop. Martin (who was thoroughly unlucky throughout the entire day!) managed to implement the back wheel lift (by unintentionally touching his front brake) to the extent that he flew over the bars a couple of times to the horror of everyone watching which led to a somewhat cautious approach to the remaining bunny hopping session.

With the basics in place we then did some jumping off a 1 foot high drop to not only try and get the timing right for the pump but also try and control the landing. Both Steves were in their element at this point extending their time in the air with each attempt. Following the jumping it was a matter of exposing the group to increasingly scary looking terrain to push the boundaries of what they would normally consider ridable. We started with the big rooty drop which everyone who weren't chronically unlucky rode very well , which was followed by a stretch of muddy and very slippy singletrack which saw me coming off my bike! At the bottom there were a few more challenges, including a sheer looking drop that the Steves couldn't resist having a go at and I'll never forget the verbal exclamations from one of them as he rode past the point of no return and seemed to fear for his life as he quite elegantly made it down.

A combined wish of wanting more challenges and finishing the day in the pub saw us heading up for some interesting terrain near the canal in Strines to practise the importance of looking in the right place while riding down big steps on a sharp bend. After a couple of more crashes and one moment of terror as one of the Steves looked like he was going to end up in the canal we wrapped the day up and the group went for a very well deserved pint!

Beginners course 130311

2011-03-14T04:43:00.000-07:00

A group of friends, Andy, Mel, Dave, Mary and Kath had booked together to come and learn some core skills. A drizzly and grey start to the day was soon replaced by glorious sunshine and blue skies. Lot of skills were learnt of which the power assisted front wheel lifts seemed to be the most popular one and climbing all the steep hills the least popular one! Lovely group atmosphere and the course proved a challange to even the most experienced in the group. I hope the day will have helped them riding stuff that normally they would have walked before.

Intermediate course 120311

2011-03-12T11:12:00.000-08:00

Milly and Jo came on the intermediate course having had quite a lot of experience of riding trail centers including black trails. Their skill level was pretty good but they had certain things they struggled with such as lifting the front wheel over obstacles while climbing, bunny hopping and just in need of a little confidence boost to be able to tackle even harder obstacles.

We set off with a big technical climb which gave us immediate opportunity to practise the front wheel lifts over some rock steps as well as some wheelies and trackstanding practise on the road leading us to the little disused quarry for various different types of descents. Quickly and efficiently they absorbed all the instructions and quickly mastered the available challenges. After lunch we started on bunny hopping practise which was put into good use on some smaller jumps and well as jumping over a drop. Both girls really enjoyed being in the air and while Jo's ability to "pump" her bike really paid off for the bunny hopping, Milly managed some very high and long jumps off the drop. To finish the day off they rode some scary looking big drops and slopes to finish tired but boosted in the confidence department and ready to move on in their riding!

Hi Emmy

Thanks very much for putting the pictures up, and so quickly!
We both really enjoyed the day, and we definitely felt some immediate improvements the next day when we went to Lee Quarry. Stuff like the bunny hops we'll obviously need to practice to get right, but we both felt that the course gave us an immediate confidence boost - for me I felt a lot happier doing steep downhills, I was more aware of my positioning and felt a lot more in control.
You're a really good teacher, patient and supportive and it's great to be taught by someone who knows what they're doing and can also explain it well too!
Thanks again,
Milly

Beginners course 090311

2011-03-10T02:50:00.000-08:00

Despite a number of punctures and an initial hale storm the day turned out very well, helped by the delightful and positive people on the course, as well as Annie's toffee eclairs!

Graham and Peter both had done quite a lot of mountain biking in the past and quickly absorbed new tips and skills, finding especially useful to look further ahead and moving their weights more on the bikes. Discovering that to lift the front wheels you use your legs rather than your arms was also a new thing to them but was quickly mastered and especially Peter did a very good job of riding a very rocky and technical climb normally reserved for the intermediate course. Annie had less experience but quickly got to grips with steep climbs and smaller drops and steps, while tight turns proved to be a nemesis which she continued practising on during the day. A wonderful group to work with and best of luck to Annie for her up and coming mountain biking adventure doing 140 miles of the Pennine Bridleway, which she is now very well prepared for!

Dear Emmy
many thanks for yesterday what a great day it was and what a great teacher you are. I will definitely be back for more coaching as you developed my riding skills and confidence more in one day than I have acheived in the last few years of tootling around on my bike and so a massive thank you from me. I will definitely be practicing all of the things that we did and will be in touch soon.

Once again many thanks and look forward to seeing you soon,

Best wishes

Graham

Intermediate course 200211

2011-02-21T01:49:00.000-08:00

Adrian, Sam and Nick, all fairly local and familiar with the area, came to progress their riding further, both in learning new skills and also increase their confidence on technical terrain.

Both Adrian and Sam had ridden for many years and their core skills were very already very good, which showed when we did technical climbing and descending rocky loose slopes. After doing wheelies, track standing and cornering we moved on to bunny hops in the afternoon.

Neither had done bunny hopping before and in a remarkably short time Adrian was able to jump nearly a foot high in true beautiful bunny hop style using flat pedals. Sam, who uses SPDs, did well in resisting the temptation of doing speed hops and was able to brake the movement up and lift the wheels separately of the ground despite an initial aversion to lifting the front wheel of the ground. Nick with many years experience of road cycling also did very well with the bunny hops.

After the bunny hoping we moved on to doing some jumps and judging by the smiles and how many goes they all had (apart from Nick whose brake levers sadly snapped after just two jumps when sliding into the bank and not being able to release his foot from the SPD in time) I got the feeling they liked being in the air!

To finish the day we rode a big drop off to further build their confidence up and slid through the mud down to the bottom of the valley as a nice end to the day.

Beginners course 190211

2011-02-20T00:10:00.000-08:00

Woke up to sleety showers and a forecast of huge amounts of rain and to say I was looking forward to spending the day outside would have been hugely exaggerated. I couldn't have been more wrong as not only did the weather improve but also the participants on the course, Paul and Martin, made the day very enjoyable. You could tell they got great satisfaction when they started to ride harder and harder terrain and discovering how easy it was using the right technique. "I would never have ridden that before today" or " I can't believe how easy that was" were commonly heard phrases. Even the two very big drops towards the end were ridden very confidently.

Nature had decided to provide a few new obstacle for this course, such as very sticky, thick and uneven mud, plenty of new rocks on the eroded climbs and descents as well as eroding the top layer on the new steps that the council had recently put in. However that didn't seem to bother Martin and Paul who seemed to relish in new challenges and seemed to learn everything more or less straight away.

Private session 110211

2011-02-12T07:40:00.000-08:00

Another returning customer today! Amanda came for a one-to-one session in the spring of last year being a very nervous and cautious rider, hating any form of off-road descending. It was nice to see that she had improved a lot in her riding since but still descending, particularly on loose rocks, was something she really struggled to master enough confidence to do. This time she had brought husband Rod along with her, who was ready for some intermediate skills.

We started with some technical climbing as well as spending a bit of time on power assisted front wheel lifts over obstacles before Rod had a go at learning to wheelie. Rod had very good balance as he was already able to track stand, something which I showed Amanda how to do to allow her to feel more in control of the bike especially when setting off on rougher terrain. I tried to encourage Amanda to ride some smaller drops but she hadn't built up enough confidence to allow herself to have a go, mainly due to fear of rocks. When we broke up for lunch I was slightly worried that Amanda wouldn't feel that the course had given her anything, especially since Rod was going from strength to strength having a go a increasingly difficult terrain.

Things changed dramatically after lunch! Re-fuelled and rested I thought this was the time to tackle Amanda's fear of rocks and I used the simplest method ever. By putting as few smallish rocks (1-2 inches high) on the path I asked her to rde over them which she did without hesitation. After riding over these rocks repeatedly she seemed to be able to relax more and actually seemed to enjoy it! We then moved on to lifting the front wheel as the first step to bunny hopping something Rod had struggled to learn on flat pedals. Amanda's confidence seemed to grow by the minute as she turned out to be excellent at front wheel lifts and built on this skill to even do a bit of jumping! Rod added back wheel lifts to his list of skills and also manged to put the two together to bunny hop over some obstacles. On the way back to the starting point Amanda rode one of the rockiest descent in the area and Rod practised jumping off a drop. Nice end to a lovely day!

Thanks for the email and links to the photos (I love the one of Amanda popping off the jump:)). It was nice to see you again aswell and we both really enjoyed - had some great fun! We went out yesterday to practice some things, and Amanda amazed me by just riding straight down a long rocky descent that she's previously always walked - we then pushed back up and rode it 2 or 3 times over! She looked very composed (and dare I say, even quite relaxed) on the bike. I found a nice ramp at the bottom of the descent and managed to get the 'pop' to get airbourne for a couple of metres:) Amanda was also been trying to pop her wheels off little jumps and rocks all over the place - I think she's developing a taste for getting her wheels airbourne! She also practiced trackstanding, and is so close to getting it, I think she'll be able to do it quite soon. I think we did more than we realised yesterday, because we can both hardly walk up the stairs today!

Best wishes,

Amanda & Rod
p.s. Amanda reckons the reason it took her some time to get going in the morning, was that she was so stressed out from getting us lost twice, then stuck in roadworks on the journey over (I'll 'borrow' the sat-nav out of her car next time we come over ;)

Intermediate course 090211

2011-02-10T01:34:00.000-08:00

It was lovely to see Emma again as she returned for more skills training after having completed the beginner's course in September and I have to say I was amazed at how confident and technically proficient she had become in just over 5 months! She had also invested in a quality full-suspension bike, another sign that she was properly hooked on mountain biking (always nice to see a fellow addict!) She had been very cautious on the beginners course as she only had started to ride a bike shortly before, but it really looked like she had been doing it for years looking at her on the intermediate course. She was definately ready to add some more skills to make riding even more fun! Technical climbing was quickly mastered as well as power assisted front wheel lifts. Her slow speed balance was identified as being one of the things she needed to work more on. By practising trackstanding for a few minutes she managed to improve her balance just enough to tackle some of the really slow and technical descents that were available later in the day.

Part of the afternoon was spent practising front and back wheel lifts to beginning to move your body about on the bike, something which will be a useful skill for jumping. Emma managed both lifts over the obstacles showing that she was able to pump the bike as well as move her weight at the right times. Some practise will be needed to fully master the bunny hops and I'm certain she will get there. The progress was sufficient to start jumping off smaller drops and there was not hesitation or fear of being in the air as we worked on the priciples of jumping. Thoroughly enjoyable day!

Hi Emmy,

I had a fantastic day topped off by some unexpectedly lovely weather as well. The beginners course gave me the initial skills and confidence to get out onto the hills and tackle some decent routes. Having now done the intermediate course I really feel that I've learnt some valuable, more advanced skills which I'm sure will not just help with technical rides but also really add to the enjoyment - I'm looking forward to getting into a few jumps.
I can't thank you enough for giving me chance to experience some real mountain biking because if I hadn't come on the first course then I doubt I would have got out too much at all. I always recommend you if I get the chance and I've just given the website details to a colleague at work.
The shoelaces, by the way, were http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B003HLLN8C/ref=oss_product
Maybe we'll meet on the trails one day!
Take care
Emma

Intermediate course 040211

2011-02-07T03:13:00.000-08:00

Richard had done a lot of cycling both road and mountain biking but not really spent time thinking about skills and technique. He had been given the course as a present from his wife and it was the ideal opportunity for him to both learn new things as well as getting an overview of his existing skills. His trial and error approach had taken him quite far as demonstrated by being excellent at track standing although he needed more encouragement to move about more on the bike, something that was made a little harder by the fact that he couldn't lower his seat post very much. The intermediate course is very much centered around "pumping" the bike to make it come off the ground for various applications and a few times he borrowed my bike to just to see how much easier it was once the seat post was out of the way. It convinced him that he needed to cut his own down a bit, something he had been meaning to do for a long time.

Once jumping and bunny hopping was out of the way we spent time working on tight and technical corners to demonstrate the importance of where you are looking as well as staying balanced on the bike. We also did a some rocky and technical climbing something Richard was already very good at due to excellent power to weight ratio, all that was needed was to encourage him to lean more forward and tuck in his elbows as the ground became more rocky and he flew up the technical climb with out a single dab.

The day was very gloomy and dark but thankfully the rain held off and the temperature was a balmy 13 degrees so can't complain about that, especially considering the horrendous floods and awful winds that were to come for the weekend!

Beginners course 290111

2011-01-30T05:46:00.000-08:00

Lovely sunny day, but very very cold! That didn't put Jo off coming from Lincolnshire to attend the beginners course. It was immediately obvious that sport and the outdoors were Jo's big interests and she was completely fearless. Made my job quite easy as I could just point her the right direction and off she went! Most things were mastered at first attempt, even the power assisted front wheel lifts that sometimes can take a little while to master she immediately got the grasp of.

She confessed to being prone to brake a lot but it didn't take long for her to gain sufficient confidence to pick up more speed which in turn made the descending easier and a habit of braking too much was overcome. She had recently fitted her SPD pedals and at times struggled to clip in and unclip so to encourage her to stick with the pedals I taught her to do speed hops to take advantage of being clipped in.

Right at the end we took a lovely singletrack short cut which finishes with a very daunting series of drops which was the final challenge. Not many people have the courage to try it straight away but Jo decided to use the skills and confidence she picked up during the day and rode them very successfully. Despite the freezing conditions it was a very enjoyable day.

Beginners course 090111

2011-01-10T01:40:00.000-08:00

Arriving at Roman Lakes, the starting point for the course, I immediately recognized Jennifer and Neil! We must have met at least 2-3 times on the trails in the last year and it was an absolute pleasure to spend a day with this lovely pair. It was immediately obvious that climbing wasn't a problem for either of them although Jennifer found it helpful leaning forwards more to be able to use her lowest gear better. We also spent some time learning how to do power assisted front wheel lifts to further enhance their climbing abilities.

When it came to descending it was a matter of making them more relaxed and able to move their weight around on the bike. Steps and drops were quickly mastered by both of them. Neil had to concentrate on keeping his cranks level (common for people who also ride a lot on the road) while Jennifer was doing everything right but needed to build her confidence up on rocky descents. She gradually got there and managed to ride some particularly rocky trails very smoothly.

It was clear from the start that they enjoyed talking about skills and thinking about the benefits of small adjustments to where you look and bodypositioning, which made for a very interesting day with lots of good discussions about the physics of riding a bike!

Beginners course 060111

2011-01-06T09:34:00.000-08:00

After a cold and snowy Christmas and New Year the ice had just left the trails in time for the first beginners course of the year. Gary had owned a really nice bike for the best part of two years but never got around to using it until now. And use it he did! We started gently with the basics and Gary's old skills were resurrected and new ones quickly aquired. As usual the downhill bits were more appealing than the climbs and Gary certainly did the most of the descending and seemed to fly down most of the hills, rocky or not! The bike got a bit of a hammering losing both lights and mudguard but thankfully Gary himself made it through ok and can already call himself a proper mountain biker, mud and all!

Beginners course 141210

2010-12-14T07:46:00.000-08:00

Some people might have thought that taking up mountain biking at nearly 67 years of age wouldn't be possible but today Jim certainly proved them wrong! With 50 years of motorbiking experience and some road cycling experience Jim had the benefit of being comfortable on two wheels. That said, he was more or less a complete beginner when it came to riding off road. We began by first establishing the basics, such as standing on the pedals, level cranks etc and very quickly Jim began to feel more comfortable descending. We spent quite a long time moving around on the bike to loosen up Jim's riding position to make it possible for him to relax on the bike and ride both steps, drops and rocky and loose descents. He did exceptionally well and "bombed" down one of the last rocky descents at great speed! As fate would have it there was one last surprise at the end (surprised both me and him equally!) when he did a head first over the handlebars on the last descent. Thankfully he bounced very well and was able to figure out what had caused the crash which makes me certain he will have a great time on his bike for many years to come!

Beginner's course 171110

2010-11-17T07:25:00.000-08:00

If it wasn't for Dominic's cheerful attitude and enthusiasm, today wouldn't have been half as pleasant as the weather was to say the least grim! Cold northerly winds, drizzle and soggy trails that put off most of the usual trail users. More space for us I suppose! Dominic was another very fit road cyclist that had decided to try off-road riding and found it quite different from being on the road. He quickly adapted his riding to the new instructions, adding one piece of advise to each attempt at riding drop-offs, rocky descents and steep climbs until most things seemed very easy. Thanks to him being the only one on the course, it left us free to explore some new obstacles, some of them made a lot harder by the abundance of slippery wet leaves! Apart from two very obnoxious jack russells that seemed to want to eat one of my shoes, the day went extremely well despite the horrid conditions!

Beginner's course 131110

2010-11-14T04:17:00.000-08:00

What a perfect day! Not only was the weather stunningly nice but with three superb participants and two extra instructors the day was very pleasant indeed! Phil and his twelve year old son Mason, had done quite a lot of mountain biking already and came to make sure that what they were doing was correct and to increase their confidence on particularly hard obstacles. Franck had not been off road that much but had huge experience (and fitness!) from years of road cycling. Also joining us on the day was Steve who also is an instructor for Mountain Bike Skills Courses and Danny who is studying outdoor pursuits at Manchester University. We quickly found out that the participants were already very confident on their bikes and they found it very easy to adopt the small changes needed to further improve on their riding, and with three instructors there to watch and give feedback they really were scrutinized to the full! Once all the techniques were in place we spent the last hour riding a mix of terrain and obstacles which also included one or two from the intermediate course whilst enjoying the final long descent back down to the cafe. It was nice to share experiences with both Steve and Danny although I would be surprised if they find many groups as good and easy to teach as we had on that day! A big thanks to Danny for being in charge of the camera.

Intermediate course 091110

2010-11-09T10:57:00.000-08:00

Stephen came all the way from Essex to be sure to get some practise in on rocky descending. We also got some proper northern weather to go with the rocks as it was drizzling most of the day with a few minutes here and there of sunshine together with a biting cold wind.

A quick change of the route and we managed to have lunch at my house to warm up a bit as the cafe down at Roman Lakes hasn't got any indoor seating area yet.

The morning was spent mainly practising moving the weight back and forwards on the bike to do some steep descending but also practise turning on a rocky and tight bend. This was followed by bunny hop and speed hop practise. At this point we lowered Stephen's saddle and he found a new freedom of movement on his bike that really showed in his riding. After lunch we went up to the little quarry on the hill and rode a mix of descents, some rocky, some narrow and some steep and some all of the above. Gradually Stephen relaxed and together with a lower more laid back riding position he found that he didn't have to use his brakes constantly and his speed increased a lot. This was clearly evident towards the end when we practised jumping off some drops and he literally flew down the hill!

Beginner course 041110

2010-11-04T11:32:00.000-07:00

Perfect timing weather wise today as we managed to sandwich a beginners course between the torrential rain weather fronts! Trails were very wet and full of slippery leaves making it more of a challange than usual for Keith and Mike, todays participants.

Keith had phoned me the day before asking about how much fitness was required for the course and I reassured him that we would take it at a slow pace and that there would be frequent stops anyway. As it turned out I was the one struggling to keep up with him at times! As well as being way above normal fitness level for a pensioner, he also did very well on the technical aspects of the course and had a great attitude to having a go at stuff! He had a slight mishap at the very end of the day when the tyres gave way on some slippery leaves and he landed heavily on his shoulder but I'm sure he will be back on his bike soon.

Mike warned me in the carpark that he had a very cautious approach to technical stuff, preferring to get off and walk it rather than ride it and that despite a previous skills course had failed to progress on the technical riding front. I like a challenge and was expecting to have to spend a long time trying to convince Mike to ride stuff. But I was wrong! Often Mike and Keith were looking at each other smiling in "Does she really mean we should be able to ride that???"-kind of way when I demonstated stuff. However when they had a go using the techniques I showed them, they found themselves in full control and not being scared. By taking them on harder and harder terrain and making them repeat everything several times, especially Mike seemed to find a confidence that had been lacking previously in his riding. Being very local to Cannock Chase I'm sure he will be out soon riding all the things on the Monkey Trail he previously prefered to walk!

Beginner course 011110

2010-11-01T13:55:00.000-07:00

Richard was quite new to mountain biking and had mainly done easy paths rather than technical terrain before coming on the course. Initially he was quite reluctant to start moving his body weight around while on the bike but as the day progressed he became more and more relaxed and started to read the signals from the bike and feel more comfortable standing up on the pedals. We gradually moved on to harder terrain, some of it very rocky both for climbing and descending and I'm sure Richard will enjoy some of the challenging Peak District terrain next time he goes out on his bike.

Private session 291010

2010-10-30T09:04:00.000-07:00

Tony and Kathy had started mountain biking this spring to have a sport to do outside of skiing season. Living in Sheffield they had already encountered rocky terrain while riding in the Peak District and also had experience of trail centers. We started the day putting all the basics in place and both of them found it a bit of a revelation just how much of a difference adjusting your weight on the bike can make. We also went through braking technique, tight turns and other core skills before moving on to some of the very challenging terrain available to practise on around here. They both managed to ride the rocky drops very well and were set for a faultless score card when poor Tony encountered deep wet mud as his front wheel dug in and threw him right over the bars! Apart from being covered in mud (with at least a kilo of it stuck to his helmet!) we finished the course with the last descent and returned to the car park mostly in one piece!

Beginner course 241010

2010-10-26T04:02:00.000-07:00

On this gloriously sunny but cold day I had the pleasure of meeting Jen and Tim who came to get more confident on technical terrain. Jen had done quite a lot of riding before which showed as she was very comfortable on the bike and despite some initial hesitation at some obstacles did really well on everything! By making her aware of when and where to adjust your weight on the bike and where to be looking while riding her confidence grew throughout the day while the terrain became harder and harder. We also added useful techniques to her toolbox such as power assisted front wheel lifts and tight turning skills. Unfortunately we only had the pleasure of Tim's company for about an hour in the morning as a freak SPD releasing incident left his lower back in painful spasms as an old back problem flared up. He was hugely disappointed to have to cut the course short (as were both Jen and I) at this point but I'm very much looking forward to seeing him again on a different day when his back has recovered sufficiently.

Beginners course 181010

2010-10-19T02:17:00.001-07:00

Husband and wife, Phil and Sarah, came to do a course to improve their off road riding. Phil had ridden road bikes for years and also some off-road riding, while Sarah was relatively new to riding off road (although very good at negotiating potholes on her daily bike commute). Her confidence grew as the day went along as she found it quite easy to put the techniques in place (apart from turning left!). Phil did really well on the technical and steep climbs and apart from not remembering to have level cranks (bad habit which is easily picked up if you ride on the road a lot), he quickly mastered things such as front wheel lifts and rocky descending. It was a wonderful day despite a couple of mechanical problems that thankfully could be worked around and my continuously streaming nose that necessitated frequent stops to get the tissues out. I can only thank them for their patience!

Beginner course 121010

2010-10-13T09:53:00.000-07:00

Robert and Chris were blessed with beautiful sunshine all day long making it extra nice to pick up some new mountain biking skills. They weren't complete beginners but had very little positive experience of technical terrain. Skills were quickly absorbed and their confidence grew while the terrain became harder and harder. Despite Robert claiming that he wasn't very fit, it didn't stop him blasting up some properly technical climbs! Chris was at first quite hesitant about one of the harder and very technical descents at the end. We had plenty of time for him to have many attempts and steadily he cleared more and more of the tricky bits and rode it excellently at the end. Both guys also did really well on the last drop off, with Robert unintentionally taking the most complicated route down I've ever seen but doing it in great style!

Hi Emmy
Thanks for a great course yesterday. I went around Bakewell today and the first challenge was 5 big steps and 2 walkers watching. I went down them looking like I knew what I was doing. The rest of the day went well doing about 17 miles mostly off road. I would recommend this course to anyone.
Thanks again
Rob

beginners course 071010

2010-10-08T02:11:00.001-07:00

Peter's bike looked amazingly clean and the reason for this was that it had never even touched the ground, being completely brand new! Peter had never been off road before but thankfully had plenty of experience of being on two wheels (roadbike and motorbike). He was a completely blank canvas and found adopting the techniques and applying them on harder and harder terrain very easy. I don't think he actually realized how well he had done as he doesn't have anything else to compare it with!

John on the other hand had a lot of experience, but found that he lacked confidence going over large rocky drop-offs after a bad crash up in Scotland. Even though his technique was already very good he found the beginners course useful as it went back to basics and allowed him to rebuild his confidence back up to his normal standard during the day. Towards the end of the day he was flying down the tricky descents braking the speed records!

Hi Emmy,
I'm loving the Chase. Only completed Follow The Dog so far, but your course gave me he confidence to tackle the 'Weirwolf Drops' first time out. The people I ride with, who have been riding for years, were very impressed. As even some of them haven't done them yet!
Changed my pedals straight away when I got back from your course as well, what an ubelievable difference they make! Just changed my tyres yesterday as well, but haven't ridden them yet.
Really enjoying it!
Peter

1 to 1 course 061010

2010-10-06T10:24:00.000-07:00

Glynn booked a one to one skills day as his riding skills were already very well developed from years of riding in the Peak District. He came to work on specific things of which very steep descents was one. His desire to have a go at harder and harder stuff pushed the boundaries of what I normally would throw in on a skills course but it was needed to satisfy Glynns ambitions. Apart from a local grumpy farmer calling us "stupid" (he obviously couldn't see that we were in complete control of our descents!) it was a pleasure to work our way through the increasingly steep slopes. Glynn also wanted to know more about how to jump stuff so I introduced wheelies to practise holding the bars straight while in the air and bunny hopping to get him to use his body to shift the bikes position while in the air. Being very good at speed hops (he jumped at least a foot high) starting to bunny hop felt quite alien to Glynn but we managed to put the basics in place, enough for him to go off and practise on his own. It is a shame we haven't got any tabletops or man-made jumps around here but since the courses focus on mountain biking in natural terrain we made do with a one foot drop to jump off, trying out two different techniques. And finally I have to thank Glynn for making me do an endo, something I'd never thought of trying before and it was quite cool and not as difficult as I thought it could be!

Two days with Neil and Matthew

2010-10-05T04:19:00.000-07:00

Neil and his son Matthew had come for a two day session (beginner and intermediate) and couldn't have picked two more opposite days in as far as weather goes. Sunday was even wetter than Friday and it didn't stop raining, mostly really heavy rain, for the entire day turning every path to a river and making every surface slippery. Thankfully they both had done a bit of off road riding previously and we were able to do all the core skills as well as some jumping practice during the Sunday. Mostly it was about getting them to look in the right place and get moving about on the bikes more as well as riding very rocky terrain. Monday was as sunny and glorious as any summer day, complete opposite of the Sunday so I took advantage of Neil and Matthew's skill level and fitness and took them out for a proper Peak District ride, taking in massive climbs as well as very steep, rutted and rocky descents to push their skills to the limit. Matthew showed incredible determination during the climbs and got used to riding over rocks and ended up going faster and faster as the day progressed with a larger and larger smile on his face. Neil also pushed the limit and rode stuff he normally not would have considered riding. The trails were very flooded in places and traction was difficult on some of the climbs but it was more than compensated for by the beautiful view and warmth from the autumn sunshine!

Beginners course 011010

2010-10-02T05:25:00.000-07:00

It wasn't the coldest day or the windiest but it certainly was the rainiest! Unbelievable amounts of rain fell and my backpack slowly filled up with water as the zip had decided to finally break! Gayle and Russell were wonderfully enthusiastic and thankfully very fit so we managed to complete everything on the beginners course as well as a few intermediate course things despite the horrendous rain. They did have to deal with very slippery conditions and paths that had turned into streams but still enjoyed themselves which bodes well for their future in mountain biking, but not only that, they also managed to apply all the right skills to ride very difficult terrain while making it look really easy. Despite the roots looking really slippery on the last drop off, they didn't hesitate for a second and rode off it with ease and in control. Great day despite the weather!

Beginnner course 280910

2010-09-28T23:46:00.000-07:00

Today I was joined by two very cautious women, Emma who only got a bike in July after 20 years of not cycling and Sarah who had fallen off her bike twice, both times resulting in fractures. The key was to gradually build their confidence up, sort out body positioning and other core skills. Sarah confessed to always going very slowly but found that with the right technique increasing her speed wasn't difficult. We progressed on rockier and harder terrain and steeper slopes and at the end she tackled the drop-offs and even enjoyed it! Emma had to get used to her saddle being higher and a new way of getting on and off the bike, something that sounds trivial but off road can be quite hard work. She had no problems with riding steps and drop 0ffs and also got faster and more confident as the day progressed. I was so proud when they both rode down the last descent which has plenty of scary features such as rocks, boulders, drop offs, mud and water. They looked really relaxed!

Hi Emmy,
Thank you so much for the couse today. I've learnt so much about controlling the bike by weight distribution and I feel so much more confident tackling tricky downhills using the techniques you taught us. I only bought my bike 3 months ago after just over 20 years without one, so you must be a good teacher! I'd recommend the course to anyone wanting to build their confidence and learn some key skills.
Emma

Your blog post is a very accurate account of the day! I found it really challenging, but you were so patient and encouraging. I managed to do stuff that I would never have imagined myself doing, and what's more, it was fun!

A great day, in a great location, with a great teacher - thanks!

Sarah

Intermediate course 250910

2010-09-26T01:09:00.000-07:00

Peter and Michael, both in their 60s showed that age isn't relevant when it comes to riding off road. Both were very experienced and attended the course to check whether their self-taught skills were correct and hopefull add new riding techniques. Being quite local, loose and rocky descents as well as big drop-offs weren't an issue for either of them. By showing them how to "pump" the bike, and play around with weighting and unweighting the bike at the right times, they were bunny hopping and jumping off drops by the end of afternoon.

Stephen had a lot of experience of road cycling and had recently started mountain biking in Cumbria where he is based. To prepare himself for the very technical terrain up there he had opted for the intermediate course. Despite injuring his coccyx during the wheelie practise he bravely carried on and did the biggest rear wheel lift I've ever seen! Sean made us all laugh with his extreme enthusiasm for everything and everybody and did really well through out the day. Having done quite a bit of riding ever since he was a kid starting off on a BMX, it was just a question of putting in place the rules that determines the optimal body position on the bike as well as finding out how much difference looking in the right place will make.

Beginners course 220910

2010-09-22T09:06:00.000-07:00

John took the opportunity of a quiet mid-week session and lovely sunny weather to pick up some off-road riding skills. He had a lot of experience of cycling in general and very quickly absorbed and put into practise all the different techniques used for technical terrain. We spent long enough on each thing for John to perfect them, which didn't take long and it was interesting to hear his thoughts on things as he analysed each technique and how he thought he had done on them. He was often more critical than I was! He also happily threw himself down a few extra things that I was trying out for the first time on a course. The only blood shed was from my own leg as I got tangled in brambles trying to get some good photos, since John didn't provide a single unplanned dismount during the whole day!

Beginners course 190910

2010-09-20T03:22:00.000-07:00

There was only a brief moment of sunshine in between the hours of constant drizzle! Thankfully the poor weather did not put off the enthusiastic group that attended the course. Louise, Victoria, Diane, Andy and Phil were all wet and covered in mud by the end of the day and had experienced the terrain at its slippiest and muddiest. A gentle start in the morning to put the core skill in place on easy terrain was followed by a large chunk of climbing practise to get up to the loose and rocky areas for the afternoon. The group managed to both climb and descend over slabs and loose rocks and had a go at most of the very hard and rocky descent which is next to my house with the occasional dive into the grass on the side! At the end the big drop off was made even harder by Louise and Phil as they unintentionally took a novel route and added an extra drop off to the existing one just to show off! Next time I take a group photo I'll try and make sure we aren't obscured by a saddle!

Beginners course 080910

2010-09-08T13:45:00.001-07:00

If punctures come in threes then Chris shouldn't have any for a long time. Thankfully he had brought enough innertubes! Apart from getting very fast at fixing punctures, he also get very good at riding off-road. He went from, as he described it in the morning, relying of a good set of brakes; to blasting down drop-offs in the afternoon. He had done quite a lot of cycling through his life which made it easy for him to adopt the small changes that makes a big difference to off road riding, which paid off in increased confidence and hopefully lots of fun mountain biking in the future!

Intermediate course 290810

2010-08-31T06:47:00.000-07:00

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

2010-08-30T10:00:00.000-07:00

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

2010-08-02T13:09:00.000-07:00

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!

Intermediate course 250710

2010-07-26T08:56:00.000-07:00

Quite unusual to have a group as large as 5 on an intermediate course but as expected Anthony, Christine, John, Caroline and Mark got on very well which made for a nice atmosphere to learn new skills in. Each person had their own little issues that we could iron out as the day progressed. It was wonderful to see that despite dreading certain obstacles they all made an effort to conquer their fears and have a go. The day was a mix of easy to learn techniques such as big drop offs mixed with stuff such as wheelies and bunny hops that takes more time to master. While some managed to jump over some obstacles, all of the participants managed elegant front and rear wheel lifts by the end, with Caroline doing some of the biggest front wheel lifts I've ever seen!

Beginner course 240710

2010-07-24T08:53:00.000-07:00

Lovely dry trails and wonderful participants, what more can you ask for! Garry had ridden for a while but felt he needed to add some skills to be more confident with technical terrain and Nicola was more or less a complete beginner having only got her own bike very recently. Both of them did really well and were able to progress quickly to harder and harder terrain. I was tempting fate though by saying to Nicola when hearing that she had never ever had a crash that maybe now would be a good time to crash! And she promptly did! And nice big crash as well! She picked herself up and really showed her potential as a mountain biker by immediately getting back on the bike and if anything riding even better than she did before the crash.

I cannot thankyou enough for the tuition on saturday, I feel so much more confident riding now and just need to stay of the brakes a bit more and go a bit quicker. After nailing that technical rocky section near your property my confidence grew and felt happy tackling that rooty steep drop off before heading back to the car park. I would never have attempted that before saturdays course. I even enjoyed the climbs !
I will definately visit the peaks again and will no doubt visit Roman Lakes again to clear that rocky climb ,without touching down, and then practise that technical section again. Don't be surprised if you see someone slightly familiar dashing up that path next to your property ( if thats OK of course).

I shall work on my fitness and will no doubt book again for the intermediate course.

Thanks again,

Garry

Intermediate course 150710

2010-07-15T13:16:00.000-07:00

Steve arrived on his bike since lives only 3 minutes away from the start of the course and knows the area really well. He was already a very accomplished rider but wanted to increase his confidence on very steep descents and drop offs. He did very well on both and quickly was able to move onto increasingly harder slopes. All it took were some minor adjustments to body position and where he was looking! Progress was also made on bunny hops, trackstands and wheelies. I was pleased to be able to show him some hidden little paths that he'll now will be able to include in his normal weekly route.

"A great day on the bike. It turned out to be one on one tuition so got to practice loads with lots of very helpful comments and instructions from Emmy. With only slight alterations to my riding style Emmy managed to improve both my climbing and descending greatly. Also learnt some new bike control skills which I now need to practise. Emmy lets you control the day doing as little or as much as you want. I would recommend doing a day course to gain confidence, skills and make those little changes to riding posture that seem to make all the difference"
Thanks again,
Steve Brocklehurst

Beginners course 03/07/10

2010-07-06T01:53:00.000-07:00

Having done a lot of 1 to 1 sessions it was nice to again have a group for the day. Mandy, Jim, Alison, Jason and Rob came to build on their skills to be more comfortable riding on technically challenging terrain. Some having visited trail centres had found some stuff quite intimidating and ended up walking a lot of it.

They were all very quick learners and we quickly progressed everyone's riding while having a great laugh about Jason getting to grips with his brand new SPD pedals. Thankfully he bounced well and by the end of the day had only a minor scratch despite numerous comedy crashes! At the end of the day the entire group managed to ride the big drop safely and found themselves instead of dreading technical obstacles quite enjoying them, because now they knew the techniques to ride them. I know this bunch of people won't have to do much walking anymore!

Hi Emmy,

Just a quick note to say thank you once again for a great day last Saturday, both Mandy and I really enjoyed it. We both learnt lots of new skills and the confidence you have instilled already has made a world of difference. We can’t wait to get back out and ride now, tow paths I feel will be a thing of the past…
Your friendly, professional and patient approach helped the day to be interesting, challenging and most of all fun…
We look forward to seeing you again when we come back for the intermediate course in the near future.

Thanks

Jim & Mandy

Skills days 31-01/07/2010

2010-07-06T01:40:00.000-07:00

As a complete beginner Tariq came for two days to learn how to safely ride off road. The first day we spent working on the core skills, such as positioning on the bike, climbing, descending, braking etc as well as drop offs and steps. The second day we went for a ride in the local Peak district area to put the skills into practise. Having learnt to ride on some of the most technically challenging terrain I think Tariq will find most stuff very easy once he is on home ground near Oxford.

Intermediate course 250610

2010-06-25T13:46:00.000-07:00

The warm and dry weather continues and it was baking hot today as I had Stephen come from the incredibly flat Lincolnshire for an intermediate course. Despite the lack of rocks and steep hills in Lincolnshire Stephen took great pleasure in tackling typical Peak District terrain and did very well too! He was like a sponge for knowledge and soaked up the theory behind each technique and was soon enough diagnosing his own performance and working on every little detail to perfect his riding. Very pleasant day indeed.

Beginners course 160610

2010-06-17T06:51:00.000-07:00

It was an interesting day with Nick who turned out wasn't a beginner at all. He is shortly off to Canada to be in charge of mountain biking at a kids' summer camp for 10 weeks and wanted to do attend a course himself to get an idea of what to teach the kids as well as making sure he was doing things correctly. Due to the rocky terrain around here there were still a few techniques that I could pass on to him as well as lots of tips on how to deal with the kids in regards to mountain biking. Lovely day made even better by the fantastic weather!

Intermediate course 140610

2010-06-15T09:24:00.000-07:00

Gavin came to do the course to get an insight in how to teach mountain bike skills to the kids at his school where he works as well as for personal improvement. After some superb climbing (didn't need any tuition on that front!) it was time for descending. After getting the positioning right on the bike as well as where to look etc, Kevin practised on a few different descents all with varying features and I'm safe to say he hated them all! (Great news, as I then know what we are going to spend a lot of time practising!) I repeatedly made him go down the same slope again and again, just to try and take the fear away as technically he was doing everything right, he just needed to try and relax and not tense up. Only right at the end of the morning did he slowly start enjoying things and didn't need too much persuasion to go down the biggest drop-off three times. The rest of the day went really well and by the end he got some serious speed on the downhills!

Intermediate course 120610

2010-06-12T08:06:00.000-07:00

Ah, lovely weather again....just the kind I like! That and the easy to teach Delwyn made the one-to-one training day a wonderful day indeed! Delwyn has the unfortunate pleasure of regularly going out riding with a very skilled, completely fearless and highly experienced group of mountain bikers. Thanks to lots of training he has found it easy to keep up with them going uphills (since he has cleared Jacobs Ladder going up it I'm not surprised!!) But he found that he couldn't keep up with them as well on the downhills. We identified a couple of issues during the day and spent quite a while perfecting especially the corning technique to be able increase the speed. I was most impressed though with the beautiful rear wheel lifts on the bunny hopping section! Not bad for someone who claims never to have been able to lift his rear wheel!

Beginners course 080610

2010-06-09T02:02:00.000-07:00

Is this the end of summer (like last year)? The dry weather is over and the rain has arrived yet again, thankfully it didn't spoil the day as despite slightly more slippery trails Angela, Sean, Lindsay and Melissa all did really well. Melissa showed the same appetite for technical riding as her mum had done previously finishing the day by going down the tricky zig-zag at a scary speed! After the course Sean continued his journey from down south up to the Lake District to try his new skills on the trails up there!

Beginners course 250510

2010-05-25T14:32:00.001-07:00

Today I met a lady with the most sensible brain in the world! And what a rewarding day it was indeed. Amanda had mountain biked for a couple of years and never felt comfortable going downhill when the terrain was ever so slightly rocky, preferring to walk rather than risking having a crash. Today was all about doing things very gradually to slowly build up the confidence to tackle the downhills armed with the correct descending techniques. The terrain got increasingly rocky as the day went on and Amanda made herself proud by mobilising all the courage she had to be able to ride down things she normally never would have considered riding before! And she didn't even fall off once!

Beginners course 240510

2010-05-25T12:44:00.001-07:00

Wow! Just wait until Rachel hits the trails!!! She did say she was a thrill seeker and wanting an adventure and she definitely wasn't exaggerating! After trying climbing, booking in for sky jumping and coming on a mountain bike beginners course all in one week she certainly doesn't hang about and neither did she hang about on the trails. Completely fearless she moved to harder and harder stuff and rode it all without a moments hesitation! My job was very easy, just point Rachel in the right direction and off she went! With a hugely competitive nature she just wouldn't accept being beaten by any obstacle and even managed the last rocky bit on the very long climb after refusing to give up! Wouldn't be surprised to find Rachel on the racing circuit soon!

Beginners course 210510

2010-05-23T11:19:00.001-07:00

Ah, summer is here! In scorching temperature Christine, Paul and Heinrich attended the beginners course. The day went really well and by the end everyone was able to tackle scary drop-offs and steep descents which made for an enjoyable day. Although I'll strongly recommend not to exclaim "we have never had any punctures" before the course as poor Christine got two! And discovered she didn't even need the tyre levers to fix it!

Really enjoyed the day and thought your instruction gave me both the skills and confidence to try some of the challenges - especially the rocky bit above your house and the drop-off by the roots at the end I would never in a million years have attempted before Friday. I went out in Macc Forest for a few hours yesterday morning to put my new found skills and confidence into practice and for the first time ever managed to ride all the way down Charity Lane which was fantastic - and now seems not too bad at all...!
Would recommend the course to anybody.
Cheers
Heinrich

Beginners course 050510

2010-05-06T02:59:00.000-07:00

Tom turned up on a quiet Wednesday and got a day packed with beginner stuff as well as the odd intermediate skill as we were making fast progress! He quickly got the hang of difficult obstacles despite not having attempted any technical riding previously. Great day yet again!

Beginners course 020510

2010-05-03T11:46:00.000-07:00

Great day again with a nice mix of ages and abilities! For a few the course was a way of getting confidence back after bad crashes, for others a way of fine polishing their technique and at the same time getting the next generation hooked on the sport! 12 year old Max beat us all up the hills and didn't even end the climbing there (look at photo!).

Beginners course 270410

2010-04-27T10:00:00.000-07:00

I could get used to this weather! Lovely day yet again and a quiet mid-week session for Mark who already had some mountain biking experience but wished to improve on his core skills to be able to ride more techincal terrain. And very well he rode too, climbing like a mountain goat up the slabby climb using a mix of skills and sheer determination! Very impressive performance both uphill and downhill!

Beginners course 25/04/10

2010-04-26T02:26:00.001-07:00

After a few weeks of holiday over Easter it was great getting back to coaching, especially with such a nice and pleasant group as this Saturday's. Beckie, Andy and Lindsay all were like sponges soaking up every piece of advice and putting it into practise. No course is ever the same as new experiences makes me tweak little things here and there and this time I put in the exercise called "tummy on the saddle, thighs on handlebars" (not both at the same time though!) to get them moving around on the bike early on in the day. The exercises paid off as they all managed to do even the most daunting drop-off the beginners course ever take in. We almost had to forcibly drag Lindsay away from it as she enjoyed practising on it so much! Beckie pulled out all the bravery she could master and did herself proud by believing in herself and her skills to go down quite terrifying slopes. Andy, who rode off-road for the first time only a month and a half ago, quickly developed his core skills to become a very proficient rider!

I just wanted to thank you so much for a great day yesterday. I feel like my confidence with handling my bike has improved massively & I can't wait to get out & about around the hills & obstables(!) of Hertfordshire to put it into practice.

The location is absolutely stunning & I wish you all the success in the world for future courses & your lovely B&B! I hope to visit again sometime & stay a bit longer & maybe try my hand at the intermediate course.....?!?

Best regards
Beckie

Beginners course that turned into intermediate course!

2010-03-31T09:18:00.000-07:00

James had booked in for the beginners course but with a lot of experience of mountain biking already, I suggested we would do the intermediate course but with extra emphasis on core skills. The luxury of being the only person booked on the course is of course that it can be tailor made to suit the individual! He happily agreed. Once we got up on the hill he quickly got the hang of difficult descending, timing drop-offs and smooth speed control, which was good since the weather yet again was against us. Today it was even snowing! After lunch James cleared the boardwalk of doom, thanks to his nice drag braking technique and good balance! Not surprisingly he had a BMX background which really showed in the bunny hopping and jumping and his overall very good perception of what he was doing on the bike and what slight changes might be needed to achieve perfection!

Intermediate course 29/03/10

2010-03-30T02:25:00.000-07:00

It is about time to have some before after photos of a group!

Before: clean, happy, energetic with slight nervousness in the air but ready to go!

After: Muddy, wet, tired, relaxed, even happier and thoroughly bonded as a group!

Lots of skills learnt and even more to go home and practise on! Martin, Angela and James showed that even despite the horrible cold, wet and windy weather, fun can be had on bikes!

Beginners course 28/03/10

2010-03-30T01:55:00.000-07:00

Ross, Paul and Peter came and together created a great group for skills training, in the nicer than forecasted weather. (Although it didn't feel quite as warm as the picture seem to be saying looking at Ross's bare arms and legs! Brrrr!) They all quickly soaked up every technical detail and we had the opportunity to add on some of the intermediate stuff to keep pushing the boundaries. No crashes, but Paul after having easily rolled off the largest drop-off decided seconds later due to an "SPD moment" to take a dip in the wettest and muddiest puddle just minutes before the end of the course finish, just to make sure he didn't return back clean!

Boardwalk success!

2010-03-22T03:13:00.001-07:00

For the first time since starting the intermediate courses a participant finally managed to ride the boardwalk! The boardwalk is in my back garden and was built to my specification to be a bit difficult......understatement! It is very difficult but thankfully not scary as it is only just above ground level. I have been wondering for a while now whether to try and make it easier, but thankfully Brian showed yesterday that it can be done! No photos of it which is a shame!

Got a photo of him riding the largest drop-off on the course. It is quite amusing seeing peoples faces when they first have a look at the drop. I can see it in their eyes that they are seriously in doubt whether they want to have a go or not. Brian was no exception! Once they realise that the technique is the same as for the smaller drops and they try it out, this one doesn't feel much harder and the enthusiasm is written all over their faces!

Getting quite busy!

2010-03-13T09:51:00.000-08:00

Today was the fourth day in a week I was doing a skills day! Despite not covering miles and miles during the courses I can actually feel my fitness improve!

Earlier this week I had the oldest participant so far who was 72 years young! A rugged and experienced mountaineer, he was adding off-road riding to the numerous adventure activities he has experience of and very well he did too. Despite having to use one of my bikes as it turned out his had two broken spokes he did both steps and drops and some climbs in between! And didn't fall off once!

Today I had the pleasure of having Martin on the course (pictured) who is later doing the mountain bike leader training at Mountain Bike Instruction. His aim was to make sure there were no gaps in his skills knowledge before doing the leadership course and I'm glad to say he did very well through out the whole day and hopefully will have good use out of his newly aquired skill of lifting his front wheel over the most evil looking obstacles on the climbs!

Dry trails!

2010-03-08T07:04:00.000-08:00

A week without rain and plenty of sunshine made for a glorious day with in some places even dusty trails! Dave came to brush up on skills lost during a long time of not mountain biking while Dean & Greg came up from the south to learn to ride some more technical terrain having started to ride off-road six months ago.
Greg showed that with the right technique you can use a rigid bike (no suspension) for even the most challenging obstacles! To sample the regions rocks we went up and then down one of the characteristic slabby hill climbs of the Peak District and I got the distinct feeling it was more popular going down it rather than up it! Dean and Greg stayed for an extra day to take in more of the regions mountain biking and practise their newly acquired skills and I'm sure they'll miss the rocks when they return home!

Finally things are back to normal!

2010-01-22T05:04:00.000-08:00

The snow has gone and the first course of the year was a huge amount of fun. Charlotte and Tom came with very little experience of technical off-road mountain biking but were quick learners with great attitudes and achieved a very good skill level by the end of the day. Tom especially liked the drop-offs and finished the day by riding one of the biggest! And look at Charlotte's level pedals! No problem going down steep hills at all!

Hurrah!

2009-12-17T10:59:00.000-08:00

Finally some nice weather! Cold with snowflakes slowly falling but wonderfully sunny at the same time. Never thought sunshine would coincide with a skills session!

Anyway, here is Will attacking a nice little drop-off on the way down the hillside. An experienced road cyclist, he was keen to get more mountain biking experience despite living in the very flat area of Hertfordshire!

Mud!

2009-11-30T03:18:00.000-08:00

Well, unfortunately no new photos. The persistent heavy rains on the skills days have been a challenge to say the least (even considering buying an underwater camera!) I'm impressed by people's positive attitude despite the horizontal rain, deep sticky mud and flooded paths. Maybe the great attitude comes from being mountain bikers! Mud is as we know a year round phenomenon nowadays! So authentic conditions to learn in to cope with real riding is definitely on offer here! Just don't expect to be clean at the end of the day!

Mountain bike playground

2009-10-30T09:56:00.000-07:00