Tuesday 20 May 2014

57 years old and flying


























Chris came to me 2 years ago to get what he called the basics sorted in his riding and today he returned for more. The skills check showed me that I needed to develop Chris's body positioning and also I knew he needed work on the mental skills also. We began with drops up to 3ft and soon moved on to cornering and making him more fluid and smooth on singletrack. The skills trail was where we began and it wasn't long before Chris was linking the 14 sections on the trail together. Every run was smoother but also, Chris was self diagnosing any errors now too and was getting more confident as a result. Flat, bermed, off camber and switchback turns were linked to jumps, drops, rock gardens, steps and pumping.
We took a break and resumed with linking 2 berms together and working on control areas to carry speed through turns. His new body positioning was paying off as he grew faster with more control.
We then added the sections above the berms and work on absorbing and pumping multiple sections on the trail to carry speed before moving to the one thing Chris had hoped he'd do one day, jump and clear a tabletop. I used a 6ft tabletop for this and in a few short moves, Chris sailed over the tabletop a good few times. The surprise and smile on his face was a picture!
I could see he was tiring but we still had some time left in him so we moved back to the trail above the berms and this time Chris was choosing which section to jump or pump. Our session ended soon after as Chris himself declared himself knackered but happy and we parted ways with a handshake.
Great riding Chris and I told you it was simple :)

High5!

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