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Maybe I should just let our certified coaches do all the coaching! I did my best to only invite riders who I felt were friendly, patient and good communicators to go through our certification process but they all continue to impress me with comments from their students. Checkout these two comments on facebook from Andy's camp last weekend: ... The camp far exceeded my expectations. Learned so much. Time to practice. ... Andy, thanks so much! Me, my dad, Cole, and Chase had so much fun! I'm so much more ready to tackle the race season and put all my new techniques to use on the courses up here! Defiantly the best coach I've ever had in any sport and the most I've ever learned in 3 days.
Here's to the passionate ones! Those of you like Jackie and Dante Harmony who gladly live out of a van and occasional hotel room for half the year so you can challenge yourself and chase you dreams of World Cup glory. Whether you are a surfer chasing good swells around the world, a snowboarder living on ramen noodles and caffeine as you chase your dream of making the US Team, a climber living down by the river in your Subaru wagon so you can wake up and scale a tougher wall or a parent (also a lawyer/ and volunteer soccer coach) who still sleeps in a tent on non-soccer weekends so you can ride one more day in Moab you are a friend of mine. Life is so much better with passion and challenge than simply trying to get by. We (mountain bikers) are fortunate to have found something that we love so much that we will give up the “necessities” that so many people can’t do without to chase our passion. Next to spending quality time with my family and loved ones the happiest, most rewarding and most fun times of my life have been spent out there, often on the edge, not in front of a TV set.
In 12 years of coaching mtb skills I still cannot get over how closed minded mountain bikers can be! "Oh, he is a single speeder, they always...", "damn downhiller's with 8" of travel, of course they can ride that section, no skill, the bike does all the work, bet he can't climb to save his life", "look at that idiot on that fully rigid bike doesn't he know...", etc. Well, we are doing the exact same spot! Riding bicycles off road and guess what? The Core, Fundamental Skills are All The Same no matter what kind of mtb you are riding! Why is this important to you? Because if you want to improve you can learn a lot from riders that are different from you. The skill it takes for Greg Minnaar and Mitch Ropelato to corner so well is the exact same skill all mountain bikers need, regardless of the bike they are on or the label they give themselves. So open your mind and stop labeling people/riders/things. You can learn from our examples/videos/coaching even if the example we us is on a much different bike that yours. We are fortunate enough to coach many of the best races in the world in all disciplines of mtb racing and we teach them all the same core skills (although in our downhill camps we don't teach climbing skills as climbing on a 40lb bike isn't much fun!). Yes, we taught singlespeed World Champions Ross Schnell and Sue Haywood the exact same cornering skills we taught World Cup downhill racers Mitch Ropelato and Jackie Harmony.
I am so fortunate to coach such a diverse group of riders. From eager, passionate riders just getting into the sport to World Champions like Ross Schnell they all need to master the same core skills that 20 years of riding will not help you stumble upon. Notice how he is staying centered on his bike (weight on the pedals) and in a neutral position so we be smooth, maintain his momentum and keep his wheels on the ground. Ross is balanced, using counter pressure to lean the bike, looking through the turn and back on the gas before he exits the second corner! Here the corners are steeper and tighter but Ross is still managing to stay low, centered and neutral. In this one he should of slowed down a bit more and finished his braking before the left hand turn to generate more exit speed.
