Beginners course 290111

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.