Start Riding To Your Full
Potential With The Most Experienced Coach
In The Sport,
Gene Hamilton

Types of CoursesDates and Locations

Gene is an absolute master of a coach. I have done multiple camps with him and it definitely helped improve my fundamentals as a rider. Highly recommend!

- Luca Cometti

2-Time Dual Slalom National Champ

The latest from Gene Hamilton 

I love Gene and his BetterRide course! I took the MTB Skills course in Sedona in March 2022 and I have not stopped telling all of my friends about how much I learned in his class.

His teaching philosophy is focused on mastering the basic skills to ultimately become a more confident and overall safer (maybe even faster) mountain bike rider.

I’ve been riding about 3 years now and have been looking to introduce more predictability into my riding especially while attempting technical features or trails. Gene provides an excellent breakdown of MTB fundamentals and is able to differentiate his teaching to accommodate any level of rider.

He is full of stoke, enthusiasm and logic– a true teacher and overall great human. He made the course so fun and inspires you to continue your own learning beyond the class.

Seriously, taking the BetterRide course with Gene is one of the best decisions I’ve made in my mountain biking journey thus far. I have never felt more confident and more secure in my riding after applying the fundamentals I learned in Gene’s class. Thank you, Gene and BetterRide!

- Kelly Kaban

March 2022, Sedona AZ course

Why Gene wants to coach YOU!

 

 

Gene wants to teach you the skills to ride at your best!

You don’t need more nerve or more experience; you need to learn the correct techniques and practice them. MTB skills aren’t reserved for special people.

You can learn the skills and drills to master those skills by spending 3 days in his proven and structured skills course.

Gene will teach you the physical and mental skills on how to ride balanced, efficiently, fast and smooth. He also teaches drills for each skill so you can practice after the course and master these skills and get you riding to your full potential.

He’s had the pleasure of coaching this Skills Course to thousands of riders just like you. From advanced beginners like 80-year-old Leadville 100-belt-buckle earner Fred Schmid, to quite a few National and World Champions. Now it’s your turn!

24 Years of coaching experience has given him an Effective, Proven, Guaranteed, Structured and Drill based curriculum.

This is an intense learning experience.

If you truly want to get better & put in the work, no-one cares more about your progress than Gene does!

Gene Hamilton of BetterRide

Gene Hamilton,
Coach and Founder of BetterRide

Types of Courses

3-Day Mountain Bike
Skills Course

In a BetterRide Mountain Bike Skills Course/Camp/Clinic you will be taught the core skills as well as drills that you can take home to help you master those skills and get you riding to your full potential.
When you take an MTB Skills Course from BetterRide it is not uncommon to find yourself with a diverse group ranging from Pros to enthusiastic riders looking to take their riding to the next level.

3-Day Enduro
Skills Coaching

With BetterRide’s Enduro Skills Coaching you will learn the skills to get faster. Guaranteed. Do you want to corner like Mitch Ropelato? Gene can help you!
Have you ever felt a bit sketched out on wet roots or in the rain? Ever slid out in a corner? Wish you could corner faster? I’ve had the pleasure of coaching this exact Enduro course to Champions like Cody Kelly, Mitch Ropelato and Shawn Neer. Now it’s your turn!

3-Day Women’s MTB
Skills Course

SHARE A GREAT MOUNTAIN BIKE RIDING EXPERIENCE WITH OTHER WOMEN!
BetterRide’s Women’s MTB Skills Course/Clinic covers the same core skills as the co-ed camps in a SUPPORTIVE, NON-JUDGEMENTAL atmosphere.
This can be very beneficial as it invites students to push their limits without feeling intimidated.

3-Day Cross Country
Race Course

Ready to race FASTER, ride with more CONFIDENCE, ride more EFFICIENTLY, and SHAVE MINUTES off your race times? The best athletes in the world across all sports disciplines spend less than 20% of their training time actually doing the sport, the other 80% of their time is spent on structured drills to master the core, fundamental skills of the sport.

3-Day Trail Domination MTB Course

Learn to apply your skills on trail, learn a few subtle skills that pay off massively, learn how to look at the trail and see the faster and more efficient pro lines, and how to work with the trail. Plus, how to pump, pump corners and bump jump!

E-bike MTB
Skills Course

The increased weight and added power of an e-bike make them a different beast than an analog MTB. Some skills on an e-bike, such as cornering, are nearly the same as on a normal MTB.
Other skills, especially climbing, require a few tweaks to do them in balance and in control on an e-Bike.

Private MTB
Skills Coaching

BetterRide’s Individual Lessons have been designed to teach you how to ride FASTER, more EFFICIENT, BALANCED, in CONTROL and of course how to have more FUN! The skills covered in each lesson will be based on your strengths and weaknesses and your goals.

You don’t need more nerve or more experience; you need to learn the correct techniques and practice them. MTB skills aren’t reserved for special people.

 

– Gene Hamilton

The BetterRide Story

Latest Skills Articles

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Course Dates & Locations
-2024-

Reviews from our Riders

Tracey & Matt

“Hi Gene,

Thank you for creating what has been one of the best learning experiences of our lives.  We traveled all the way from Australia to attend your camp in Golden, Colorado and it was worth every penny!

It is refreshing to find someone who understands their field well enough to be able to deconstruct difficult and often hard to pinpoint concepts. This is a rare talent. We appreciate all of the careful thought that you  have put into creating the mountain bike skills curriculum.

The content was well-organized into different sections, and logically progressed from foundational skills (like body position and braking) to more difficult skills (like cornering). It is obvious that you have spent a lot of time not only thinking about how to mountain bike, but also how to teach it to others.

Learning these mountain biking skills has truly made us “betterriders”.  Thank you for the opportunity to attend your camp and we look forward to attending a core skills camp #2 !”

– Tracy and Matt
from Canberra, Australia,

Wendy J Skean

“I took your course in San Diego way back when I was mid 60’s.  I am now 77 and still riding. I just won the  F 75-79 Masters XC National Championship in Winter Park.

Your course was the most valuable help I had ever received in improving my mtn biking.  I appreciate the emails you send out on improving riding.  I try to do what you suggest.”

– Wendy J Skean

Go-ride team
“We have just gotten back from an awesome trip of downhill riding in Boulder City, Nevada. As a team, we had been talking about heading out there to do a skills camp with Gene Hamilton (www.betterride.net) for quite some time: over the New Year we got the chance to do just that. We arranged to meet up with Gene in Boulder on the 29th for a one-on-one, three-day, Go-Ride team coaching session… boy were we in for a surprise. In the past, when we had talked about doing this camp, we had no idea what to expect. It was a “Gene is a very smart guy and a damn good rider, but most of us already beat him at every race… what does he know that we don’t?” type thing.  And to tell the truth, he knows a lot that we don’t. The guy is genius; in just that one camp he completely revised all of our racing skills. From pumping to cornering, vision to breathing, course inspection to eating right… he didn’t miss a beat. Never have we learned so many applicable techniques to mountain biking than riding with Gene for that one three-day span. We here at Go-Ride would like to give Gene a big thank you; you don’t know how much you have helped us.” – Go-Ride Team Go-Ride.com
Ross Schnell
“I learned more today than in the last 10-11 years of just riding” (in a rushed lesson, BetterRide camps are 19-22 hours over 3 days!) – Ross Schnell January 23, 2010, Singlespeed World Champion, 2008 Downieville Classic Winner, Team Trek
Gretchen Wavro

Thanks Coach Gene for your time the last 2 days! Your coaching is spot on! I’m so lucky to have had the chance to spend this time learning from the most passionate mountain biker out there – one who cares about the sport and all the techniques that go into it! Total respect! That’s all I have to say! If anyone is questioning or “thinking” about signing up for his camp- DON’T , just do! Thank you Gene!!!!

– Gretchen Wavro

Don Leet

Gene, The first thing I did was buy some cones. My drive way is pretty steep so can do switch backs there. My pedal wheelies are coming along. Yesterday I had a bit of a breakthrough ride with my vision. On a ride with some small drop offs I realized by using the vision technique I was more balanced, more comfortable and jumped further without trying.

That was the best clinic I have ever done. Thanks for the reading list. I’ve read a number of those books but I now have more to read.

– Don Leet

Rachael Schiebler

Phenomenal coaching: obviously technical aspects of riding your bike but also holding each student accountable for their own success!
Gene is a tell it like it is kind of person with a very positive view on sports and life.
I did drills tonight after a crappy day at work and it helped center me and improve my track stand.

– Rachael Schiebler

Jami Bailey
A couple of years ago, I took a Mountain Bike Camp with Gene at my husband’s urging. I had some reservations about going because I was a very new rider and did not even know the correct terminology for things. I was worried I wouldn’t be able to get the full benefit of the program, or would get pushed into things I was not ready for. I did not want to be the slow person holding everyone back either. I am happy to say that that was not my experience. Gene did a wonderful job teaching foundational riding skills in a way that was accessible to everyone. I am so impressed with Gene’s coaching because I’ve had bad experiences before and this one was amazingly positive. My riding has improved greatly because I am no longer trying to follow a series of mysterious cues with no understanding of the principles behind them. My confidence is higher, and I actually enjoy riding more!I would recommend Gene’s camps to anyone! – Jami Bailey
Tim Tran

Gene is a Legend… if you have the chance to be one of his students I highly recommend it.. safe and FAST riding everyone!

Tim Tran

Tim Gagnon

Best MTB skills camp ever!! Great instruction, drills and on trail practice. This camp lasts much longer than the three days you attend!!

Tim Gagnon

Gabrielle

I could not have been more pleased.

The camps are skills-progression by design — which makes all the sense in the world. There is no sink-or-swim goin on here. No attainment by luck. No pushing to your point of failure.
It’s about learning/re-learning core skills that really really help. SOME of the skills were opposed to what I’d been taught or had habituated on my own. NONE of the skills were out reach. ALL the skills resulted in immediate improvement and greater enjoyment of my riding. ALL the skills will require continued practice.

For me, this was an excellent and absolutely worth-my-time mtb camp. Highly recommended.

– Gabrielle

Dave McKnight

Thanks again for putting on the camp in Asheville last weekend.  I definitely have more confidence now and finally know what and how to practice to continue improving.

I went and rode some of my favorite trails today.  Funny thing happened, after going through the camp, those trails are now BORING !!  I can already see I’ll be taking on more challenging trails and enjoying the ride even more.

Dave McKnight
Aug 2020

John Dyer

I found your site by Googling mountain bike body position.  Your mountain bike skill articles, emails, and videos are the best skills coaching that I have found online. Mountain biking is now my favorite hobby and the skills that I have learned from your website and Youtube are part of the reason why it’s my favorite hobby.

– John Dyer
August 2020

Stephen Fullerton

Just completed an incredible weekend in Moab Utah attending a mountain biking skills course led by Gene Hamilton, founder of #betterride.

I can’t say enough great things about this experience. Gene’s way of imparting knowledge is with the heart of a teacher and takes a step by step approach so that you’re not being hooked up to a fire hose of information.

Each set of instruction was broken down and then taught incrementally with practice sessions in between.

Now it’s up to me and the other students to practice and improve.

Hard coming back to reality when you get to hike and bike in a place that looks like a never ending postcard. Thanks again Gene!

Stephen Fullerton

Natalie Hernandes

“Can’t thank you enough for the opportunity to learn from such a carefully put-together curriculum and your depth of experience.
I am so excited to incubate these skills for the next few weeks and emerge from this cocoon a more capable butterfly!
I felt like I was stuck as a rider, but now feel very empowered to know what I can practice for life-long improvement.
Thank you for this restored sense of discovery and play! I can’t wait.”

– Natalie Hernandes

Blanton Unger

They (the engineers) were also quite impressed with the improvements.  On memorized sections of trail that have super limited pedaling, I’m consistently over 20% faster and far more confident. Pretty awesome.

– Blanton Unger
Kenda Tires

- Hank Schiffman

“You are the master communicator, dissecting the concept all the way to the how and why of practical application. I got so much out of taking one of your clinics; you raised my riding from poor to competent. Thanks so much.”

– Hank Schiffman

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