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!
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