Anna made her way up from Kent for her session and I could tell she was nervous. We had a coffee and chatted about her past year of riding and I explained what I look for in a skills session. I began and Found that I needed to work on Anna's footwork, looking and body positioning in all areas of her riding. I knew that I would have to work on her mental skills too as she lacked confidence after a series of crashes.
To her surprise, we began with drops and it didn't take Anna long to land perfectly and the smile grew on her face.
Before moving onto the skills trail, I worked on Anna's body position in corners by using an excersise to develop the feel of grip and soon we were on the trail itself. Pumping, rock gardens, steps, drop offs and fly out jumps were linked to flat, bermed, off camber and switchback turns. We worked our way down the trail methodically, always linking the previous sections to the last.
Anna was surprised how easy it was to get up into the air from the fly out jump and she soon linked that in with no worries at all as she no used her mental skills questions that I teach to positive effect.
Finally, it was time to ride the whole trail and link the 14 sections together and Anna flowed with greater control than ever before. Our session ended after a couple more runs as mental fatigue hit home.
I can't wait to hear your riding updates Anna!
High5!
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