Brightonmtb.org

'What it says on the tin'

As a thank you for posting a link to Astounding Adventures I was recently invited to a day of skills tuition at Leith Hill. Joining us was Richard and some guys from Diary of a Mountainbiker as well as a couple from Muddy Moles. In total there were eleven of us which is larger than their preferred group size but this didn’t hinder the day by any means.

Danielle and Jessica from Astounding Adventures rolled up and dished out coffee and tea from the back of their van as we made ourselves ready in the cold still air. Jessica took everyone’s name, riding experience, what we wanted from the day and details of the bike they were on (encouraging to know the professionals use bikes as an identifier!). A quick bike check and we were off. The plan was to spend the morning on ‘Core Skills’ followed by a pub lunch and the afternoon on ‘Basic Singletrack Skills’. Everyone on the course had been riding for at least 5 years and we were all familier with the Surrey Hills, we thought we were at home - first mistake.

Core Skills

Can you ride down a fire-road with your chin touching the saddle? We can. Next came chin on saddle with controlled braking to stop where we were told to not where we would just end up. Cornering was broken down to first principles as we weaved in and out of a series of cones which is a little harder than you might think. Manuals (using the correct technique)  over a series of increasingly bigger logs and more cornering. The group conversation could be summarized as ‘this is hard’. It looked easy but the correct technique was difficult to do well at low speed over a small obstacle.

Basic Singletrack Skills

Putting into practice on the trail what we had covered during the Core Skill session. A section of ‘Telegraph Road’ was used to practice ‘manualling’ off the small steps and using the outer ridge of the trail to lean the bike against during cornering, gear selection, energy management and pumping the trail for ‘free speed’. Basically implementing everything we had covered but in the real world. We also learnt the term ‘Gorilla Hop’!

More advanced courses would be more fun and all of us could learn to improve our drop-off’s but that will have to wait for another day.

Conclusion

Would I Recommend these courses? Yes.

Without fail everyone on the course said they rode Telegraph Road like me, fast, hooning down it and jumping off the roots and without fail everyone said that 3/4 of the way down they were beaten up. It was interesting to watch other riders hammering down the trail all of them using our ’old’ methods. Using the correct techniques the trail seemed smoother and easier as we just floated down  and felt fresh at the bottom. I believe that the key to success on a coaching day is to listen and push yourself to try something new. We are all experts at practicing bad habits if that is what we have grown up with, it takes concentration and determination to try something new. None of us who attended the course will become trail-gods overnight but everyone was chatting about how they would be making  an effort to include the new techniques when riding.

There was also much talk of returning for advanced skills coaching in 6 months – the best recommendation.

Danielle and Jessica had good communication skills and repeatedly demonstrated everything  with great patience and a gentle manner. Nobody was derided and everyone was encouraged. Throughout the day they gave constant individual feedback and no-one escaped their critical eyes, although they were equally quick to praise when on the rare occasions one of us got everything right!

Is skills training worth the cost? If you have spent a few hundred or more on a mtb then the cost of learning to ride it properly is insignificant you will also have a great social day on your bike – a winner all round.

If you are an intermediate rider who would like to improve your core skills or move up a level then this may be a way forward. These courses would be a safe and easy introduction to riding in the Surrey Hills. We are talking with Danielle and Jessica about them leading a sessioning our local trails and demonstrating the correct technique for the sections on our doorstep – details will be circulated.

We have some discount vouchers so even if you are not a regular rider with BrightonMTB and fancy it get in touch with us at the usual address. brightonmtb@hotmail.com