On the weekend of 20th/21st May MTB Instruction ran two of their women’s MTB skills courses sponsored by Flow MTB. Both courses took place at Woburn/Aspley woods starting with an intro/intermediate course on the Saturday and an advanced course on the Sunday.
All of the courses start with a skills loop that Mark, the instructor, has put together to allow him to assess rider skills and take things back to basics before heading off into the woods to put the skills into practice.
MTB Instruction core skills loop practicing foot placement, body position and brake modulation
The core skills loop starts with a basic but much needed skill of finding your center of balance on the bike. We do this with track standing and the fun element of slow races.
This moves onto a slalom course and round-a-bout session. This offers the rider a chance to practice slow control, balance characteristics, body/foot position, brake modulation techniques and rolling speeds. These basic techniques are at the core of any poised confident rider but are seldom practiced.
We gradually push the riders by introducing balance boards, these are raised boards about four to six inches from the floor and scaffold plank wide. This forces the rider to use the attack position, reinforces the use of balance and body position so it’s not static on the bike. This also enhances confidence approaching obstacles and breaking techniques. The boards can then be adapted to offer step up & step down scenarios and angled boards to test the rider’s skills, the emphasis always being on “You being in control of the bike”.