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:

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? 😉

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