Beginners course 170312

Despite the forecast promising horrid rain all day the sun shone on John, Anthony and me pretty much the whole day apart from 10 minutes of rain and hail. It was lovely to show them our local trails as John who lives less than a kilometer away had up until now not discovered the fantastic bridleways and cheeky forest paths that forms such a fantastic network on this hillside. Anthony who is from nearby Manchester also hadn't been to the area before and was pleasantly surprised how beautiful the countryside is, coming out towards the Peak District.

The day progressed remarkably smoothly and we finished well before the scheduled time as both participants despite being very new to mountain biking mastered everything pretty much on their first attempt and with big grins on their faces! It is especially nice to see people suddenly realize that you can let your bike roll over just about any obstacle you find in your way by using the right technique. Today this revelation instantly resulted in higher speeds and more confidence in both riders. To make sure the higher speeds didn't result in more crashes we also put some time in practicing emergency stops as well as how to deal with skidding etc. Toward the end, as usual, I presented them with harder and harder terrain to allow them to try out their skills to increase their experience and confidence until it was clear that it was time to round the day up and finish on a high with a last descent back to the car park.

Hi Emmy

You may remember from last week that I was taking part in an adventure race up in Grizedale forest this weekend. 

It was a fun event (even if some of the run sections were a bit steep!) and the tips I picked up from my lesson last week were really useful on some of the tricky downhill single track stuff. I felt much more confident and relaxed. 

Thanks again for your helpful tips last week. 

John