You are hereForums / By Discipline / Mountain (off road) / By Location / Australia / NSW / Sydney (North) / MTB training course
MTB training course
I had a quick search but the terms Training and Course are too generic.
Can anyone recomend a training group or company that do skills days? I have been riding for about 18 months but want to do a skills workshop to improve my technique and give me some pointers.
- Login to post comments
- Bookmark & share
Tags
I have done the trailbreakers course with these guys at Manly Dam.
It was good value for money. I think they have done other courses for the more advanced riders on here.
http://www.ambc.com.au/courses.asp
Also in the Southern Highlands there is Wild Horizons that do courses down there.
AMBC - Have heard good reports about them. They also throw a fine BBQ after the trail days at Manly Dam.......
A lot of us here have BEEN on AMBC courses. They are good and worth the money to go on at least one. I did their one at Ourimbah not so long ago and learnt a lot. Not sure about doing more than one though as I have heard people comment that there is a bit of cross-over info between courses (i.e you'll learn basically the same stuff on the different levels of the courses). I've only done one myself so maybe others who have done multiple could tell you better if it's worthwhile.
Colt
he went on one recently
I can also recommend the AMBC guys too. I did the 'Learning to Fly' introductory DH clinic and loved it and learned a fair bit too. Experienced/Semi Pro instruction is worth every penny.
Yep, I did the Trailbreakers one yesterday. Nothing but praise. Helped (or will do when I can now get out and practice!) immensely.
I was previously trying to get round the dam in faster and faster times and didn't really have the skills, technique etc. Now at least I have many of the techniques I require for it to happen anyway. I will have to remember them all to practice of course though!
We spent most of the time at the Manly Vale PS oval learning techniques for most of the obstacles you come up against then went round the dam doing a few of the trickier bits a few times to get the hang of it. Am now confidently rolling down all the rocks I wasn't that comfortable with previously but still have to work out the step ups at the end of the boardwalk near Wakehurst Parkway.
Highly recommended!
that step-up is a tough one. Good strength and balance needed. Haven't succeeded in nailing it yet.
What skills did they teach? My main gaps are manuals and bunny hops, and cornering in sketchy traction.
The clinic was great for me as there was only two of us and we were of similar level so it was tailored to our needs.
I think the biggest thing was that at least 3/4 of it was done on the playground of the school. I have previously just tried to get round the dam as quick as I could and to go faster each time, which from a fitness point of view is great, but from a finess point of view wasn't perhaps so pretty.
What the clinic did was make us look at the techniques required to tackle each obstacle on a flat bit of ground. Practicing over and over again to at least understand what is required.
In no particular order we looked at the following
How the bikes work
Riding postion, feet/pedal placement
Braking techniques
Slow speed slalom, how to balance etc
Cornering at speed
Intro to Manuals (didn't even know what it was!!)
Bunny hops (at least the idea of how to do it for me, need some practice!)
Picking lines
Rolling off rocks, body position, where to look
Demo of what to do when a rock is too big to roll off (that was pretty cool, just makes it look easy!)
We then went out and practiced on the short but steepish hill just after the Primary school and carried on to the two trickier bits leading up to the Wakehust Parkway for a few attempts. This was after about 4 hours on the bike and I was knackered so couldn't really give it a decent shot, but am looking forward to the next visit.
Again, I can't say enough good things about this. I have written the things I remember, but there were a couple of other things, what was good though was the fact he looked at what we were doing and would tell us the things we needed to do to make it happen, that was the most valuable part.