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Spent a day at UKbikeskills today, once again my year of MTBing was set as being 'getting bigger and better' at riding, doing harder stuff and pushing my comfort zones.
The day started with learning basic but essential generic skills which we'd us throughout the whole day to acomplish main goals. Jedi noticed things early on in both our riding skills that needed addresing and sorting out, after working on them we did cornering drills and skills, which involved increasing speed and lean angle on the side of a very wet and slippy hill, doing very off camber turns on this ctuff resulted in both me spending time lying in the mud, but also me learning that in the right conditions and techniques i can massively increase my speed on corners. I was holding drifts of the back end for 10m of hill, switching to the opposite turn and holding the drift on them front wheel gripping but the rear right on (or slightly over) traction levels. This was in some ways the best part and the best skill i picked up today.
We then moved onto 'drops' which involved a bit of a rock garden, into a left hand berm then down to either a 12" drop or a 4' drop. Instantly i decided i had balls of steel and went for the 4' drop....First was a roll-over, which TBH was epically scary the first time, but like everything, the more you do, the more it becomes 2nd nature. Within 3 goes i asked permission to jump off it, and then did. 4' equates to carrying air over about 8-10' of distance, your front wheel i think must land 10' after the inital ledge.. this again was a bit bloody scary, but over time, became just fairly simple and effortless.
Next was tabletops... starting with babysteps and getting bigger. Apparently it's a 6' from face to face, you're landing on the back side of the jump... 20-30 mins later and we were jumping happily. For me, this again was brilliant, not because i was jumping, any fool can do that, just pedal and hang on. But i was jumping accurately, i was controlling the jump, the height, the distance, how i was landing and how i was taking off, i was playing about with body position to see how that affected flight and how to land with the best landing... The left hand side of the tabletop has been carved out into a 6' gap jump. Once again, balls took over and i soon went for it.... EEEK !!!! first time was all in my head and i just about landed it... but it wasn't pretty. It got prettier and prettier though and i was soon clearing the gap with ease and confidence.
It was then getting on in the afternoon and we took on a session of trails with jumps, but also learning other techniques. This on has a 9' long tabletop, which is preceeded by 2 other jumps/absorbs... but it's where you gain or lose the speed necessary to clear the larger tabletop. This is where i got VERY frustrated with myself, despite trying and trying i was only getting to about 8' distance and not quite getting the back edge !! time and time again !!!! However after this tabletop there's another 5 small 'sections' with a last big berm to finish... after 8-10 goes on this i was feeling the pace and breathing hard.
I had spotted a larger gap jump next to this, a man-made jobbie, with again a 6' distance between the two pointy bits.. however it had was was to me a larger and steeper leading face and landing zone... this was WAY out of my comfort zone earlier in the day, but you know what... i was taking it on. Quick discussion with JEDI and i had permission. Crust was standing looking at me as though to say "REALLY ?" but yeah, really... i wanted it.... I took a roll up to it from entry, just working out what line and position etc, looped round and then went for it.... got about 6' from the leading face and bottled it.. ARGGHHHHHHH totally bottled it and veered right and skipped it.... However, i looped round and decided it wasn't beating me and went for it again. This time i nailed it, well almost, a fraction too little speed, or arugably a little too small a technique and i just about nailed it, landed it and almost jumped out of my shorts.... my heart was pounding like a lunatic... the adrenaline was flying through me and i'd just jumped what i percieve to be a big boys jump.. it's all relative of course, added to the fact the pics don't look 10% as hard as the jump was to me.. but i cleared it. I then had a walk a relax and went for it again... However too slow an entry speed and sitting back a little meant i made a proper pigs ear of it, sort of landed and then crashed. I fell about laughing and called it a day.
It's hard to put into words just how much i picked up on the day,both in technique and confidence.. in simple terms it was exceptional.
Tired and happy.
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Excellent 8)
Tony put some pictures up during the day so we saw you'd done the gap. Always good to hear how people got on.
Love looking at those pics, really enjoyed my sessions there.
Glad you did too and dont forget to book another one!
Great review and all that.... But.... Seriously..... Is this Jedi bloke a ducking mind duck or are you just blinkered as you have spent hundreds of pounds for a days coaching.
Seems the Jedi man has loads of good reviews which is great but does he finish you guys off or Is he really that good?
Well, when I turned up at 10am, I couldn't jump or drop. Now I can.
In simple terms, I felt it was a bargain.
Cool 🙂 sorry I did not mean to come across as a dick. But I just cannot get my head around this whole Jedi thing... What does he do that is so amazing (or do I need to spend £££ to find out)
Thanks for your kind words weeksy
Ha 🙂 how about you jump in Tony....
Doncorleoni, Tony is a natural teacher, he instinctively works out how people learn and exploits it, it helps that he is an exceptionally talented rider, but able to explain. I went on a public course 6 people all very different in many ways, with different learning styles, we built up confidence in measured steps progressing at our own pace.
You wont get it until you have been jedi'd then you too will recommend ukbikeskills.co.uk, as far as I recall there was no brainwashing, some great teacake though!
And he doesnt need to blow his own trumpet with others lining up.
Well, when I turned up at 10am, I couldn't jump or drop. Now I can.In simple terms, I felt it was a bargain.
same with me, 10 o clock i couldnt gap jump, ride the 3-4ft boards and do 4ft drop offs and pump track.
at 16:00 i could.(oh and im 62)
Awesome
I went to Tony last year or the year before- I forget. I am a reasonably experienced and competent (and now old) rider but wanted some help with one aspect in particular, especially how to think about it rationally and what I learnt was very very useful and not something that I had picked up in 20 years riding. very glad I went and think of the day often when the circumstances crop up. The rest of it was ok of course but very glad I went and may go again with a friend who is keen to try.
Good write up that. Sounds similar to my jeday.
Doncorlioni i didn't jump in. Just saying thanks.
Obviously this is a Jedi love-in thread, but is it worth the trip down from Fife?
Had a skills day at Glentress which helped me no end as far as mental preparedness for general trail riding goes, but I'm still a big girl's blouse when it comes to bigger drop-offs and jumps.
Saw the Facebook pics just after I'd read the earlier post
Chuffed for you fella. I'd love to have had that experience and hope to do it meself at some point
Looks great!!
Weeksy sounds like you had as fun a day as we did (went on Tuesday with a few mates). I've been riding for years without learning the proper techniques, but by the end of the day I was doing things I wouldn't have dared try at the start. I now have loads more confidence and know what to do and also what not to do!
I've not had any other Mtb coaching so can't say if/why Tony and Nathan are better than anyone else, but for me (and my mates) it just worked. We were all different with different skill/faults/learning styles, yet they made a huge difference to our riding. You couldn't by a bike upgrade that would improve your riding for 10x the cost of a coaching day. Wish I'd done it years ago, it would have meant less crashes and a lot more smiles out on the trails!
Its like anything in life some people can work it out there self and teach there self others need it to be shown to get the best out of there self.
Alot depends on your skills level to start with if you would gain by going there or not.
Many riders today are new to MTbiking so want to get better quick so these places are a safer environment to do it.
it does all seem a little like witchcraft to me! But unless Jedi has dozens of logins it clearly works.
if he wasn't based the other end of the country id be booking a course for sure
Dobie, why don't you try a session there and see if you knew it anyway?
ie, was it worthwhile for you and if you gained anymore skills? I'd be very surprised if you said you hadn't.
@dobiie - no it doesn't depend on your skill level, if you are a very good rider he will make you better. I know some very good riders who've been a few times to keep improving. As for why UK Bike Skills is so good, firstly the facility is unique (and a very special place) secondly Tony's natural teaching ability and approach is excellent - in my many years I've done lots of different sports coaching and he's the best, simple. I would say by a country mile it's the best £200 I've spent on mountain biking in terms of value for money.
@Flying Ox - that's a toughie, if it where part of another trip/riding holiday yes for sure. Otherwise the cost / time is significant vs what you could do more locally.
You only have to look at Jedi's blog of all his past coaching days (every single one is up there going back at least a couple of years) to see the variety of riders he coaches - from almost complete beginners to some seriously skilled and brave riders hitting big drops and gaps, manualling through rollers and riding the northshore skinnies. He has a gift for understanding how to improve anyone's riding.
You both have fair points.I am not saying i would not improve.But if your happy with your level of skill and enjoy your riding then why bother???.I taught my self to jump a mountain bike about 7 years ago and improve abit every year.
I have raced XC for 16 years in all conditions in the past when tracks were very gnarly and not alot of suspension on bikes.
I am not having ago at people who go to these places its just my opinion.
Re- Dobbiejessmo
Maybe some people aren't happy with their level of skill and realise improving will help them enjoy their riding even more... duh!
I'm not trolling when I ask this... what size wheels was he using?
I'm going back and I'm a cheapskate, its worth every penny...
And of course there is the coffee 🙂
Everybody to there own.