Scott rides the south downs and during an event at the isle of wight found himself walking descents as he had no confidence in his own riding ability.
The skills check revealed what was present and missing within the skill set and I set to work.
I changed his set up which enhanced his overall riding position and placed him in control.
We began with drops and Scott rolled the first one as he hadn't the confidence to apply his new skill set yet. 2nd go he flew off landing perfectly and the smile that appeared on his face never left all session!
I worked on his body position and looking in this technique as he applied his natural push to the drops.
We moved onto the trail and applied the skill set to pumping. This came as a surprise to Scott how easy it is to generate speed from a trail. We then linked the rest of the 14 sections present on the trail together.
I worked very hard on his cornering where a great body position habit appeared once his looking and footwork were corrected.
A confidence appeared in his overall riding as he applied his mental skill set to each section before adding it to the preceding ones.
Flat, bermed, off camber and switchback corners were linked to steps, drops,fly outs and rock gardens. By the time we got to the end of the trail, Scott was visibly a new rider. No longer was he unsure and held back, he now showed commitment in each section and a fluidity came into his riding.
After a few complete runs of the trail Scott became mentally drained so the session came to a close and I did a riding demonstration of the same skill set he now has being used in my own riding.
Thanks for being part of a great session Scott.
I had this session about 15 months ago.
ReplyDeleteWhen I turned up I was apprehensive about the session and even more nervous in my riding. Tony quickly put me at ease with his easy and approachable style. He's known as Jedi for a reason - without doing anything appreciable (or so I thought at the time) he had me riding obstacles and features that would've terrified me and within a few hours had completely transformed by riding. Softly spoken, straightforward and disarming I have no idea how he managed to get his lessons into my head and out through my riding so quickly, but he did.
Now, some 15 months later, my riding is worlds apart from before I met Tony. You'll see from above that before my session I had to walk some descents - now I've ridden distance off-road sportives (London to Paris off-road is the lengthiest) and have just completed my first off-road duathlon. I was definitely the only person whooping and giggling on the biking downhills - thanks Tony! - and I'm still learning from our session each time I ride.
Sometimes I can't believe that one session, 15 months ago, could still be paying dividends in my riding today. But it is. Cheers Tony!