Intermediate course 030811

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

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!

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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.

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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!

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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

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!

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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!