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Building my skills
Hi
I have just joined up and thought that this might be the place for some advice. A few months back I went on a beginner skills clinic run by a company in the Northern Beaches called Sydney Bike Skills. It gave me quite a bit of confidence and I have been having a great time mountain biking on various tracks, suck as Manly Dam, Duck Holes etc.
Recently I noticed that the owner of Sydney Bike Skills, Lisa McHarg, is running another two skills clinics at both intermediate and beginner levels in March on the 10th and 17th. I thought that it was really professionally run and I had a great time as well.
The intermediate clinic looks like it focuses more on the technical aspect of mountain biking and even mentions mastering a see saw! I am not fully confident as to whether I am ready for this standard yet and was wondering if anybody else has done one of these courses and can let me know what it actually entails so that I can make some kind of judgement as to whether to do the beginners again or try the intermediate level.
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Rachael.... just go for it! Although I have not done one of Lisa's clinics, she is a good friend/trail buddy of mine who is an absolute delight in terms of her professional manner, patience, and empathy for new riders. For sure, besides us here online, she would be more than happy to answer your questions above by herself, and even tailor the clinic curriculum to what the individual riders want to do that day. That is generally how they work. These kinds of clinics will teach you skills at the upper edge of what you are comfortable in doing. My recommendation would be to leave the beginner class out, because if you can ride around Manly Dam okay, then you have already progressed past the standard of what a beginner will be taught - plus you are in a way wasting your money. Instead, I would do the intermediate, have a good look at what skills are being taught that day and decide what specific skill/activities you will attempt. You don't have to do it all. If you don't want to do a see-saw then you don't have to. This is the beauty of it. Plus there will be heaps of female riders there to meet and get trail riding buddies. I say: "just do it!"
Hi Rachdave,
Like you I did the beginners course with Sydney bike skills last year and I found that my confidence and skill level really improved from what I learnt and practiced on the course. I also benefited from meeting some other girls on the course who were a similar level to me and we have continued to ride and practice our skills together. I figure if you've already done the beginners course and have continued to ride since then and if you feel confident riding around Duck holes and Manly Dam then you will most likely be ready for the intermediate level. My experience with the instructor Lisa was that she was a great technical instructor and very encouraging but also would not push you to do something you said you were not comfortable doing, so if you don't feel confident doing a see-saw then she will either talk you through it and spot you so you don't hurt yourself or you can choose not to do it. If I weren't working that weekend I'd definitely be doing the intermediate level.
Thanks very much for your endorsement.
Lisa-Sydney Bike Skills 0414 517 756
Thanks for the lovely comments Liam. Much appreciated.
Cheers,
Lisa-Sydney Bike Skills
0414 517 756