BetterRide Mountain Bike School, Downhill Mountain Bike Coaching and Downhill Mountain Bike Camps
Learn the Skills to Get Faster Guaranteed!
With over 19 years of coaching experience including 12 years coaching downhill mountain biking Gene knows out to get you riding at your best. His coaching highlights include coaching many top pro racers (Chris Van Dine, Mitch Ropelato, Joey Schusler, Eli Krahenbuhl, Chris Canfield, Naish Ulmer…) as well as hundreds of riders and racers of all levels looking to reach their best. Gene is a pretty good racer too, in 13 seasons as a pro downhill racer he has won a Silver (2002) and two Bronze Medals (2006, 1999) at the UCI World Masters Championships. All mountain bike camps and private lessons are guaranteed to improve your riding or your money back.
Dirt Magazine to 2009 Pro 4x and Jr. Cat 1 Downhill US National Champion Mitch Ropelato in a interview in the Oct. 2009 issue: “You seem to be able to turn amazingly, what do you put that down to? Got any special tires on there?
Mitch Ropelato: “Ya, Gene Hamilton is to thank for that, I took is clinic last December in Bootleg Canyon and he was able to show me the correct technique I needed to pull them off.”
Downhill Mountain Bike Skills Coaching
These multi day coaching sessions cover all aspects of dh and mtn. x riding, racing, and dh training.
WHAT YOU WILL LEARN
The core, fundamental skills of downhill mountain bike racing (these core skills are not intuitive, unless someone taught you them it is unlikely that would know and understand them. Few US racers know the core skills and even fewer can do them well (which is the main reason we do poorly at the international level) (I didn’t learn many of these skills until my sixth through tenth seasons as a pro racer). I really get the rider to understand these techniques with drills (that you take home with you for further practice and improvement) and then on trail application of the skills.
- Bike set up
- Course inspection, it’s purpose and how to gain the most from it
- Practice runs, getting the most out of each run (training smarter)
- Body position, how to ride smooth and in balance
- Cornering skills, cornering in balance and getting more exit speed.
- Braking skills, how to use your brakes to go faster
- Handling obstacles, how and when to manual, speed jump, double up a section, pre-hop or bump jump course features
- Visual skills, what to focus on as you ride the course (how to actually look ahead)
- Mental Skills, how to perform at you peak on race day. Visualization techniques to improve your racing. How to quickly regain confidence after a poor run or a crash.
3 Day Downhill Mountain Bike Skills Coaching Fee, $649.00 (includes lifts or shuttles)
Downhill Mountain Bike Skills Coaching Dates
August 14-16 2009 Northstar, CA Downhill Coaching Session w/World Champion Greg Minnaar ($749) sold out email about waiting list
Dec. 27-29, 2009 Boulder City, NV Downhill Coaching Session sold out
January 2-4 Boulder City, NV Pro and Jr. Cat 1 Downhill Camp sold out
Feb. 19-21, 2010 Boulder City, NV Downhill Coaching Session sold out
Feb. 26-28, 2010 Boulder City, NV Women’s Downhill Camp
April 2-4, 2010 Boulder City, NV Downhill Coaching Session w/Greg Minnaar as guest coach 2 of 12 spots open
Downhill Mountain Bike Race Coaching Sessions
Already have the core skills dialed and want to race at your best?! Race weekend camps are designed to get you to perform at your peak. These camps focus on course inspection, finding the fast “pro” lines, memorizing the course and mental preparation. Head coach Gene Hamilton will go over race preparation and inspect the course and train with athletes.
3 Day Downhill Race Coaching Fee $499 (plus race fees and lifts)
1 Day Downhill Mountain Bike Clinic Fee $150 (plus race fees and lifts)
Downhill Mountain Bike Race Coaching Dates
How to Register for a coaching session
Each coaching session is limited to seven riders (12 with one assistant coach 18 with two assistant coaches) and you must reserve your place at least three days in advance. Please email or call for more information. To sign up for the camps click on the buy now button below (paypal will charge you a $18 fee) or pay by check by sending a check to BetterRide, 7529 S. Turkey Creek Rd, Morrison, CO 80465 and email your intention to betterride@gmail.com , call Gene at (970) 261-1869
PRIVATE LESSONS AND COACHING
The most effective way to improve your racing! Available year round to fit your schedule. Call or e-mail Gene at, betterride@gmail.com for more info.
When in Boulder City be sure to stop by All Mountain Cyclery for shuttles and all your bike needs.
