Coaching

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May 24, 2012, 11:53:45 AM

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[Mark W]

I realised not long ago that having been riding for over 6 years I hadn't once been on any courses. Basically over the years I've been happy to spend 000's on bikes and kit, but too tight to learn how to use them properly!

What I'd noticed in particular was that despite what I've read and tried to practice over the years, on any given trail you can bet one day I'd nail it and another day I'd be all over the place, without me being able to pin-point why.

So I took the plunge with some riding mates and we did a day's riding with UK Bike Skills. Tell you what, it opened my eyes a lot. With the fundamentals, I wasn't doing them right all the time and in some cases I just wasn't doing them at all. Having someone pointing out when I did something right or wrong was what I really needed, plus suggestions on trying things I wouldn't have normally.

Even on the one ride I've done since I've noticed things I wasn't aware of before in terms of how I ride, or how I should really be tackling a trail. I think it will really, really make a difference.

I'm not sure if I'm just sharing my personal revelation, or recommending that everyone goes out and gets some coaching immediately... make you're own choice on that one :-)

[mc]

Having somebody else tell you what you're doing right and wrong, is what will make the biggest difference to your riding.

[iain1775]

UK Bike Skills - Is that Jedi?
Only heard good things about him, was thinking the same. Fancy posting a quick review of the course you did?

[Mark W]

Yes it was Jedi, and I recommend him 100%.

If you can wait a few hours until I've finished work, I'll do a quick write up of how the day went :-)

[Mark W]

Jedi wrote our day up in his blog:

http://ukbikeskills.blogspot.com/2011/03/private-session-with-jo-tim-andy-and.html

Have a wander round the other blogs- all his days are structured similarly.

So additionals...

First off, I believe they offer coaching on pretty much all riding you can think of - they have purpose-built trails, features and "stunts" as yanks would say. My day there with 3 mates was focussed on what I guess you'd call "essential" riding skills, so geared towards singletrack in general and the features you're likely to find at trail centres.

My reason for going was that while I can pretty much ride any not-bonkers trail, I don't ride them well, and when doing the same trail a number of times sometimes I'll nail it and sometimes I'll totally cock it up with no idea why.

Jedi's write-up kind of sums up how our day unfolded i.e. you go from basic handling to tackling typical trail features. And the photos and video clips on his blog don't really do it justice...

What doesn't come across is the way he coaches you to ride. Jedi (Tony) can spot what's good and bad about how you ride, then the important bit- tell you what you need to hear to ride it better. And he'll adapt his encouragement method for each person. It was like having 4 1-to-1 sessions simultaneously.

So he'll watch you ride first, spot what needs to be improved, then whether it's a thought process, physical position, bike set-up issue, or combinations of all those he'll weed out the things that are getting in the way of doing things "right". So there's some deconstruction to get you out of bad habits, then gradual build-up to get things flowing nicely, all the while recognising what you're doing well :-)

We went from tackling specific features in isolation through to linking the whole lot of them in the one trail, then chucked in some Alpine switchback coaching at the end.

Then to cap it off, if you ask and he's in a good mood, it's dry and not too windy, he'll demonstrate his real skills on woodwork. Along with the teenage prodigy that he's training up, that was pretty humbling!

So a thoroughly enjoyable day, and no doubt something of an investment- I totally recommend them for a course, what-ever riding it is you want to be better at.

Mark