Month: November 2020

Information overload!

~ reluctantroadie ~ 1 Comment

Now that I’ve had a few days to mull over all the information I received, if not learned, from the Slaydies bike clinic I just completed, I want to jot some thoughts down for posterity (and my unreliable memory). 😉

My overall conclusion is this: taking a bike clinic is a great thing to do, if you’re looking to improve your skills in a safe environment!

The clinic was spread out over 4 weeks (we met each Tuesday afternoon for about 2 hours), so there was time in between classes to practice what we learned. Each class was focused on a few specific fundamental skills. For example, the first class was devoted to the proper position when descending technical trails and braking (very important skill!!). We spent most of the second class on cornering. During the third class, we worked on our front wheel lift, which is crucial to technical climbing, i.e. getting over bigger rocks/obstacles when going uphill. For the last class, we broke down a specific “challenging” trail into sections and “sessioned” those sections, which just means that we worked on specific sections multiple times….i.e., practicing!

After each class, Stef, our coach, emailed us personalized feedback and “homework.” For instance, after the second class, Stef advised me to work on thinking where my body weight is when cornering and where I’m looking as I’m entering and exiting a corner. She even sent me “before and after” pictures of me cornering:

(Left: trying too hard to show that I’m cornering. My right leg should be extended. Right: better cornering position.)

Although I can ride a bike, I’ve never intentionally practiced anything, so my technical ability is pretty much zero. I found it a little overwhelming to think about all the stuff I had to do to corner, descend, climb, etc., which was to be expected. No one was going to magically master all the skills in one day! However, I learned a lot over the past 4 weeks and am inspired to apply my head knowledge to actual riding. In fact, during my last two rides, I tried riding a couple of trails that I still consider “challenging” and successfully rode most of them. So, that’s improvement.

Apart from all the skills I need to work on, I think my biggest challenge will be to curtail my SAT’s (self-appointed trainer, i.e. my husband) expectations and enthusiasm for my “renewed interest in biking” (his words). Based on my previous experience (for example, this ride or this ride or that ride), my SAT has a talent for pushing people to do things they may not want to do. Dear readers, any tips on how to lovingly ignore my SAT? 😉

Left: me with Stef, our clinic coach. Right: taking a photo break during the last class.

How low can you go?

~ reluctantroadie ~ 1 Comment

I’m doing a new thing! I’m shifting my focus to mountain biking, now that my “rim to rim” hike is done and to that end, I registered for a mountain bike clinic! I’ve never taken a mountain bike clinic before and it seemed like a good time to do one, given what little there is to do this past year (thanks for nothing, global pandemic).

The clinic I’m taking is part of the “Slaydies” series through Adrenaline Coaching. Each series includes 4 classes; my series is the November one and meets each Tuesday afternoon for 2 hours at South Mountain. Class sizes are limited to 5 ladies. The first session was on Election Day and I was very glad to have the distraction! We focused on the correct position for descending (i.e. “active stance,” or “get as low as you can on the bike”) as well as braking on descents.

One of the best things about taking a clinic is getting feedback from a totally objective third-party, i.e. someone other than my SAT (self-appointed trainer/husband). For whatever reason, hearing my SAT tell me to “get lower” when I go down descents doesn’t seem to resonate as much with me compared to when Stefanie (clinic coach) tells me the same thing (maybe because Stefanie doesn’t live with me?).

In addition to verbal feedback, Stefanie assigned us “homework” based on her observations of our current skill level. My takeaways from week 1 are to practice getting as low as I can on the bike while going downhill. Here’s a picture showing what my body position looked like during my first attempt going down a chunky descent vs. the last attempt (we had 4-5 attempts):

(My goal is to match the red line on the right as much as possible when descending.)

I have a ways to go before I would consider my active stance “low enough.” 😉

(Stefanie showing Lauren the video of her descent.)

At the end of the class, we had a quick debriefing session over sparkling water (thanks, Stefanie!) and mini banana muffins (thanks, Lauren!) during which we all shared what we learned.

Before writing this blog post, I went for a ride to practice my active descending stance. I can tell that I was much more aware of my body position and could tell when I wasn’t as low in my stance vs. when I was low (or, what I consider “low” for now because I’m still trying to make the low stance second nature). Hooray for getting out of my comfort zone and trying new things!