Beginners course 190612

What a lovely day! Fiona was what I would describe as a proper beginner without any kind of off road riding experience having just bought herself a mountain bike. It is always interesting to have people without any experience as it is impossible to tell in advance how well they will do on the course. Not only do they have to get to grips with being on a new bike, but also simple things such as setting off and stopping still demands concentration and combined with being on very unfamiliar ground makes for a very steep learning curve. The reward is massive though, as they suddenly realize they can actually ride quite difficult stuff and slowly (or quite quickly in Fiona's case who mastered power-assisted front wheel lifts pretty much straight away!) getting to grips with the different techniques that are required for different situations.

We started with the very basics and made sure the positioning was right from top to toe and (while Fiona tried to keep it all in her head!) added more and more stuff as we went along! At one point in the afternoon Fiona let me know there was no more room for new things so we began the route back towards the cafe making full use of her new skills and confidence. I am absolutely certain it won't take Fiona many rides to absorb and perfect the things we practiced and for her to confidently ride all the superb trails near her home in Hayfield!

Intermediate course 100612

We were so lucky with the weather! It was sunny and warm and despite 3 days of solid rain even the state of the trails wasn't too bad! It was a pleasure to meet Anna again who came for the beginners course before Christmas and also to meet Ian. Both were keen bikers wanting to put the little extra touches to their mountain biking skills and give themselves a confidence boost.

As always the intemediate course started with a steady long climb, interspersed with power assisted front wheel lifts training, wheelies and trackstanding to break it up a little. Once up at the top we had a play around in the quarry which is ideal for demonstrating the need to look in the right places as well as having to cope with very narrow and steep descents.

Just before lunch we started breaching the topic of "pumping" the bike and to demonstrate the extra boost (and to force them to stay away from the breaks) they rode a 500 m undulating section without breaking or pedaling and found the advantage (and fun!) of pumping the bike instead.

After a lovely pub lunch in the sunshine it was back on the bike (and I'd be lying if I didn't say my legs felt somewhat tired on the first climb!) and off to do bunny hopping and jumping as further illustration of what you can do by pumping the bike and both participants were very quick learners. As usual we finished with the Vertical Drop of Doom where Ian decided to give a complete demonstration of the different body positions that can be used (two of which didn't work very well but didn't put him off in the slightest!)

Thanks Emmy. I'm so pleased I went on the course. With a lot of practice I'll hopefully master some of my nemis' of riding! Whilst the prospect of some obstacles was scary you had a way that made it seem possible. You're very clear at explaining things and bring great fun into the course as well. I'll be recommending you to my friends again!

Ian's big crash at the end still has me laughing... ;)

Thanks and all the best, Anna

Beginners course 180512

It was lovely to see a group of quite different people all enjoying the same course and all progressing exceptionally well with learning new skills and increasing their confidence. Tony was a complete beginner only having been mountain biking for a few weeks, while Rebecca had a few months of experience but still had never ventured on to difficult terrain. Shirley on the other hand had mountain biked quite a lot in the past but only recently taken the sport up again.

As usual we started with easy terrain putting into place concepts such as gear changes and body positioning but within about an hour we had moved on to riding steps and drops starting off small and gradually making it harder through out the day. My job was easy as all the participants not only were delightful, but  trusted me and not at least themselves enough to feel they could  ride things well and they didn't disappoint. There were only minor tweaks here and there to make them find the optimal techniques.

After a lunch at the local pub where we were lucky enough to be able to sit outside despite the threatening rain, we finished off the curriculum with technical climbing, manual front-wheel lifts and singletrack before the day ended with exposing the riders to some properly technical terrain. Again they did remarkably well with Rebecca and Tony even riding the Devils Drop!

Hi Emmy,
Thank you for the photos, they look great!

I really enjoyed the whole day, even my crashes!!! I learned so much, and feel really confident now, as we did lot of stuff I would of never attempted before the course. I cant wait to get back out, although I will have to wait until I get my back wheel back from the LBS as it has a slight buckle and bent spoke now. Never mind the day was worth it, I think once I build my fitness and lose some weight I will improve and enjoy things even more!

I'll see you in a few months on the intermediate course.

Thanks and God bless,
Tony.

Beginners course 100512

The key to building up confidence is to gradually ride harder and harder things and doing a skills course is a way of fast tracking the whole process and this is exactly what this group demonstrated. From being quite a nervous looking bunch in the morning freely admitting that anything pointing downhill was not on the top of the list of their preferences to turning into very competent riders with far better skills than the average biker in just a day!

Emma announced in the car park that she detested any size of drop off and it was difficult to believe that this was the same lady who relished at having a go at the "Devil's Drop" just hours later. Same with Phil and Ben who several times said they would never have thought they would ride the stuff they now rode with confidence.

The key change they all made was to look further ahead, which not only made them anticipate what was coming but most of all allowed them to relax so they could move with the bike instead of being rigid. Once being able to move around on the bike we explored shifting the weight around for different situations. As usual we added special tricks such as power assisted front wheel lifts, tight turns, setting off on a hill etc.

A really great day apart from the fact I managed to completely and utterly mangle my rear derailleur, but that is a suppose an occupational hazard and a small price to pay to see the happy and excited participants while they proved to themselves that they were far better riders than they had ever imagined!

Hi Emmy,
Thanks for the photos its great to see what we achieved!!
Phil and I thoroughly enjoyed the day.
Your tuition is very clear and easy to understand and your riding tips are invaluable.
It is amazing how even the smallest of changes in thinking and riding can make such a big difference to ability and confidence.
We will keep practicing I promise ;0)
Thanks again for a great day
Emma & Phil

Beginners course 040512

Another quite nice day where we pretty much managed to escape the rain! Mark had booked on the course after seeing  a feature article about it in a magazine and thought it ticked all the boxes. He basically wished to make sure that he knew the techniques for riding technical terrain instead of just guessing especially since it was a few years since he regularly rode trails off road.

As usual we made sure every core skill was in place and Mark was very quick to pick up the little tweaks that were required to make sure he stayed balanced and was looking far enough ahead. We quickly progressed on to harder terrain and also since it was only him on the course managed to put in place a few extra things as a base for the techniques that are covered on the intermediate course. It was great to see him pick up some speed and confidently riding some of the tricky sections at the end and also riding the big rooty drop!

Beginners course 280412

We were lucky despite the several weeks of daily rain and hale to finally have a day with some sunshine! Phil, Helen and Sarah came on the course to learn to ride more technical terrain and it was apparent very quickly that we had three people with very different approaches. Sarah would throw herself off anything in an instant (particularly impressive since she had just recovered from an accident where she broke both her knees!), Phil would take it slowly while being in complete control at all times while Helen had over a couple of years built up a lot of hesitation and nervousness when it came to technical descents and had to overcome her fear for each new obstacle. She made me really proud by riding the set of steps beautifully.

The morning was delayed slightly by Phil's chain snapping 3 (!!) times in different places due to some mystery cause that thankfully went away by the afternoon. Tight turns, rutted muddy descents, steps, climbing techniques were all dealt with before returning to the cafe for bacon butties and toasties in the sunshine.

The afternoon consisted of drops and emergency braking techniques before we tackled the most complicated technique on the beginners course which is the power assisted front wheel lift! Phil showed his strength here by instantly doing a 180 degree wheelie! By reining in his power he put the technique in place and rode really smoothly over the obstacles.

Once we were at the top of the hill we had a very rocky descent to tackle. As predicted this wasn't problem for Sarah who hammered down the descent with a permanent smile on her face, but by this stage Helen had reached the limit of what she wanted to put herself through and took it very easy. She felt that there were a lot of stuff to do with the core skills from the morning that she wanted to practice before she progressed on to harder things which was fair enough.

We worked our way down the hillside tackling all kinds of obstacles finishing with the big rooty drop. Both Sarah and Phil got a big adrenalin buzz tackling something that really doesn't look too nice but by the second and third time they were riding it with out any kind of hesitation.

Intermediate course 210412

It was great to be back out on my bike and do another course after almost a month of no mountain biking. I was unfortunate to have a spontaneous collapsed lung before Easter (just from sleeping believe it or not, absolutely no mountain biking involved!) and had to have a few weeks recuperation which coincided with the Easter break. Healed up nicely now but I can still use it as an excuse to not race up the climbs! And today the excuse was needed as both Chris and Brian who came to the course were incredibly fit!

The day was remarkably non-eventful (which is always good!) but nevertheless full of fun! Techniques and fears were conquered as we progressed up the hill to the tiny quarry behind Mellor cross. It is a great area as it has examples of pretty much everything you can  think of. Drops, narrow steep singletrack, tight turns and tricky ascents were some of the things we explored. Brian, who had ridden in the area before, rode loads of things he previously had only walked and Chris rode like a professional all day having very quickly got to grips with proper bunny hops. The most surreal moment was when a fellow mountain biker came down the hill with a Tesco bag over his helmet (presumably to keep the rain off) followed 30 seconds later by another bloke also wearing a bag! Must be the latest craze! Great day even though we got covered in plenty of mud because of the soggy trails, but then who has ever come back from a good ride completely spotless?!