
Biggest Bang for Your Buck:
You've invested a lot of time and money into this sport of mountain biking, right? And also into coaching with me. These ideas will get you the greatest return on those time/money investments in the shortest amount of time. So how do you improve your skills/abilities/confidence the fastest? Read on...
Identify Which Skills You Want To Improve (and Why)
What are you good at? What do you struggle with? Make your list (and prioritize it) so that you can build on your strengths while working on your weaknesses.
Ask yourself why you want to improve each specific skill. For example, if there’s a trail you enjoy riding, but it has a small section of technical climbing you aren’t able to clear (maybe the rock garden climb half way around Brim Trail at Powder Mountain), stay focused on that goal to motivate you to put the work in to build your technical climbing skills so you can clear that section.
Each time you add a new skill, you add to the fun factor and the self-satisfaction of getting better at something you love doing.
Create a Plan to Improve Each Skill
How are you going to improve on this skill? Be sure to utilize all the tools I’ve given you:
Personal/customized coaching session.
Summary emails I’ve sent to you after each coaching session which includes (for every skill we worked on): Key points to focus on, cues to look for in your own riding so you can self-coach.
Create a timeline for when you’re going to go out and ride to work on each skill. You don’t need to dedicate an entire ride to working on skills. Small sections at a time while on any ride will do wonders to improve your skills.
Take time to "session" small sections of trail which have the features and characteristics needed to improve the skill you've decided to work on to improve for this ride. Sessioning means riding the same section multiple times. Per one of my clients: "I find it very helpful to break away a little from the fun of 'just riding' and session certain sections that either will challenge or improve my current skills".
When you have specific skills in mind that you want to improve, you’re more likely to focus your riding to make the most of every opportunity.
Do Your Homework
After each mountain bike lesson, you get a summary email from me which includes your “Homework”. If you want to improve, do your homework. Allow yourself time to put the miles/hours in between each mountain bike lesson too. This is extra important if you’re part of my Season of Proficiency Program (at 15% off). Like all skills in life, mountain bike skills only get better when you practice them. Please don’t expect to get better if you’re not working on these skills.
Ask for my feedback between lessons (call, text, email, send me videos of you working on skills and ask for feedback to improve). I’m here for you and all of this extra time is completely free.
Important: Focus on Improving only 1-2 Skills at a Time
But always focus on the basics of position/balance and braking (including “selective braking”). All mountain bike skills are based on these important foundations.
Don’t try to work on more than 1-2 skills at once or you’ll likely not make any progress with any of them (it’s just too overwhelming).
Just a Few Examples
While waiting for my family to get ready to ride, at the trail head, I’m going to practice:
Rock dodges and track stands.
See how quickly I can stop on gravel from going at full speed (could be a fun game to challenge your spouse or kids to also).
During this non-technical climb, I’m going to look for small rocks and roots that I can practice wheel lifts on.
During this set of small s-turns (too small to consider a corner), I’m going to work on the four steps of the cornering techniques to create the right habits for all cornering.
How Do You Know When You're "Good" at a Skill?
When you’re able to perform it with the “3 C’s”: Correctly, Consistently and Comfortably.
Correctly: Review the summary emails, the cues and your notes. If you’re not sure, ask me.
Consistently: You’re nailing it 80-90% of the time under all sorts of different trail situations.
Comfortably: You’re so good, doing it is actually getting boring.
Thanks for Riding with Me / Wrap Up
Mountain biking is a challenging, fun, and rewarding sport. It’s also very technical in nature and requires a lot of different skills. Riding with intention will allow you to improve those skills the fastest (and most economically).
**Bonus** Get Coached
A shameless plug? Maybe, but I believe that skills coaching is the fastest way to reach your full riding potential. Nothing beats having a qualified coach giving you real-time feedback regardless of your riding ability. If want to ride more safely, have more fun, go a little faster and/or just feel less fear on your bike, let me help you get there. Mountain biking doesn’t need to be extreme or dangerous: learn the fundamentals of safe, confident and fun riding.
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About the author: Joel Zieve is a Certified PMBI Mountain Bike Skills Coach in the Ogden Utah (Northern Utah) area. He specializes in helping beginner, novice and intermediate riders ride more safely, have more fun, go a little faster and feel less fear on their bikes. He is also the host of the Podcast "Aging on Dirt". Click here for more information about his coaching programs.