MTB Core Skills Day

As you might be aware, I have recently bought myself a brand new shiny mountain bike, in a bid to get into a different sport which doesn’t involve the use of my decrepit feet as much as running.

I’m pretty useless at it though and am absolutely terrified when the terrain gets a bit rocky, especially when it’s also going downhill. 

Duncan suggested that I book myself onto a skills day so that I can try to build up some confidence and I decided to do a one to one day rather than a group day as I thought I’d get more out of it and, as always, I’m self-conscious so wanted as few people as possible observing my patheticness.

I booked a course in Otley run by Iain Johnson at MTB Cycle Yorkshire.  I decided against doing a local course for the above mentioned reason – my self-consciousness.  I can just imagine being at a crucial moment and then Josie & Co come running around the corner with Josie giggling away at me and stopping to watch. 

Duncan decided that he also wanted a skills day, but a more advanced one than mine so he booked himself one on the Sunday and we decided to make a weekend camping of it. 

We travelled to Otley on Friday evening in the van and drove to a campsite not far from Chevin Forest, where I was meeting Iain the next day for my course. 

We met Iain at the Cheerful Chilli Café and had a good natter before Iain and I left Duncan and Ruby and headed out into the forest to start the course. 

Firstly, I learned the ‘attack position’.  Duncan had already taught me this but had taught me the downhill position where you put your weight right back, whereas Iain showed me the general attack position.  He also told me to keep my heels down and it made quite a lot of difference when I was using the brakes as I felt much more in control. 

After that, he taught me how to keep the bike moving without pedalling but I can’t really explain this in writing.  You use this same technique to pull up the front wheel to go over obstacles, without having to pull with your arms and thus expend more energy than necessary. 

We then went through correct use of gears and I wasn’t too bad at this going into the granny ring at a good time, keeping the chain in a straight line, and not leaving it too late so the chain was at an angle. 

We then learned how to best to take corners and where to control the speed, etc. 

The last thing we went through before lunch was the aforementioned lifting of the front wheel.  I was pretty damn terrible at this and I think the most I got it off the floor was an inch, if that!  Iain but a branch (a very thin one) along the ground for me to try to jump the front wheel over but I kept jumping too early and not high enough.  I think I might have got over it once but I probably did still touch it with the front wheel. 

I forgot to mention earlier that Iain had five go-pros which he was using to film everything and he is going to create a DVD for me so that I can see where I was going wrong/right.   Should be interesting viewing!

We then went for lunch back at the café where Duncan and Ruby joined us as they had been sitting chilling out in the van. 

After lunch we headed back into the forest and moved onto some single track with tree roots.  Iain told me to stand up over the roots and not pedal as they would be slippery.  By the time I got to them (all of 30 seconds later) I had completely forgotten this and sat down pedalling over them.  Iain was quite surprised that I had managed to get over them so easily though when I had completely ignored my advice.  I think it was beginners luck.  He then made me go back over them a few times, picking out my line and standing up doing it properly.  After a few attempts I got the hang of it so we then moved on to something a bit trickier in that it was a hill with tree roots on it.  It wasn’t a terribly steep hill but some of the tree roots stuck out a lot and there were also a couple of protruding tree stumps to avoid riding into.  I was quite good at doing it uphill and managed fine but when it came to riding down it I was a nervous wreck.  Every time I got to a particularly protrusive root, I bottled out and slammed on my brakes. 

The forest was particularly busy today as, despite it being wet earlier on,  the weather was now really nice so every man and his dog (lots of dogs to be precise) were out.  The thing is, people kept stopping to watch me!  Nightmare!

Eventually, after about ten attempts, I finally managed to man up and get the job done.  It’s funny because once you actually do it, you then wonder what all the fuss was about. 

The final part of the day was learning drop offs. 

I had to ride down a slight hill and then drop down a step which looked to be about a foot high.  Only about a metre or so after this drop there was another one of a similar height and I had to go down this too.  When I looked at it I was terrified!  Iain said that I should roll down the hill, get into attack position and then when I was coming up to the first step I should stand tall to see over to where I was going and I should then put my weight back and roll down it, then do the same for the next one. 

I actually managed to do it no problem.  I couldn’t believe it as it looked so frightening I thought I’d end up bottling it at the last minute but I didn’t. 

I was so pleased with myself by the end and my confidence has definitely grown.  I just need to keep it up now so I don’t lose confidence again.  I also need to pay no attention to Duncan when he tries to make me go along stupid routes that no beginner should do, like descending from Two Lads!