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Great video sent in from a fan. I think the helmet cam is showing under the racers vision a bit (not where he is really looking) great exercise in how looking down tenses you up and elevates the sense of speed. Notice how much more relaxed you feel when you can see what will happen in 2-4 seconds instead of just 15-20 feet ahead.
As you pay know I am obsessed with learning and teaching. How do we learn? What is the best way to learn a new skill? How can I best coach this skill? How can improve on my methods? These questions are constantly running through my head which is what makes coaching such a great passion for me. Well about 5 months ago I hit the Jackpot! What both of these books explain is Slow, “Deep” or “Deliberate” practice is the best and fastest way to master anything, whether it is playing an instrument, mastering a martial art or becoming a better mountain biker. How does this effect you and your mountain bike riding? If you are like me and all of my students so far, when you first started riding your either had no instruction or improper instruction and started doing somethings incorrectly (which for me meant, getting my weight back on descents, riding to upright with straight arms, braking in corners, etc. a ton of bad habits). Unfortunately the Myelin Sheath doesn’t know what is correct or not so the more you ride incorrectly the more you build up that insulation around that wire. Which means the more and more powerful that bad habit becomes. You may be saying, “What does this mean to me? I ride bikes!” Well for you it means we need to first learn the correct, in balance and in control techniques and then practice them at a very slow pace with an eye on perfection and stopping and correcting our mistakes. If you want to reach your personal best as quickly as possible, slow down and practice deliberately!
What a rewarding weekend! While I was busy coaching a downhill camp (with a healthy mix of pro racers, Cat 1 racers and advanced beginners) I received three emails from stoked students conquering their on trail nemesis's and BetterRide athletes made to xc race podiums! Congratulations to these BetterRiders on sweeping the pro women's podium! In 3rd Erica Knight Tingey, in 2nd Sarah Kaufmann, on top of the box Lynda Wallenfels! Wanted to thank you for all of you time an patience this last week in Phoenix, I do appreciate all of your effort. I really did not expect to be e-mailing you so soon about some of the skills that I apparently acquired in Phoenix, but I am. Remembering back on the Sunday drills, I focused on not getting impatient and watching my body position and balance and again, probably one of the smoothest runs on the switchbacks I have ever had. I also had the opportunity to work on the various wheelies and bump jumps and like the other techniques felt that they were enhancing my riding. I plan on going back out again today to work on more of the same.
Video clip of Gene Hamilton coaching Bryson Martin at Bootleg Canyon. Gene is excited to coach such a faster racer with a poor skills foundation! He took third two weeks ago behind winner, BetterRide coached Mitch Ropelato and 2nd place finisher Mikey Sylvestry yet he can't corner (and found out today is vision skills needed some work as well as body position and vision!). With his dedication to learning, doing drills to master those skills and training hard he will be a threat this year. Notice he carries enough speed to clear the step up after the rollers! The only racers I have coached that have cleared that are Mitch Ropelato and Andrew Pierce (and my asst. coach Greg Minnaar. Once Bryson added his legs into to the pump and got is vision dialed he was flying!
