irieness said:
don't wanna hijack this thread, but do you know of any good west coast camps...yours are all too far east for my broke arse...
although the freeride camp looks interesting...care to give any more details on it??
The Freeride camp should be a lot of fun. Lance Canfield and friends are putting the Rampage Freeride Fest on the weekend of Oct 1 & 2 and this camp will go on during the fest. Lance will be my assistant coach and the camp is a structured 3 day camp. The camp will focus on core riding skills, descending skills, steeps and drops.
Here is some more information on the camp and a little about my coaching philosophy.
I start with the basic, fundamental skills of mountain biking and really get the rider to master these techniques with drills and then on trail riding.
Many mountain bike racers feel that all they need to go faster is bigger balls and that the only thing keeping them from turning pro is letting off the brakes more.
Years ago as a snowboard coach I learned that to win at the world cup level and for even a recreational rider to improve the rider must master the fundamentals of the sport to continue to improve. This concept was really driven home as a downhill mountain bike racer when I first turned pro. I was really fit and fearless but was consistently getting beat by what I felt were lesser athletes (in fitness and fearlessness). What did these athletes have that I didn't have? They had a better skills foundation than me.
What this means is, athletic ability can only take an athlete so far. If an athlete doesn't have the basics wired they will stop progressing well before they reach their potential. This can often be seen in the expert and in the semi-pro downhill class. Riders that seem to have no fear and haul butt on the straights and medium sized hits but never even make it into the top 5 because they don�t have the basic skills mastered. As these riders move up in class they start to realize that all of the top pros have great athletic ability so their athletic ability is no longer an advantage. In ski and snowboard racing the competencies are so important that the US SKI and Snowboard development team chooses their athletes purely on their mastery of the competencies (a set of drills that if you can complete show that you have the basics wired), not their racing results. I know many athletes who can mountain bike, ski and/or snowboard and get down the mountain quickly but, they have bad habits and are surviving on athletic ability and daring. These riders will (or already have) reach their plateau and stop progressing. Once you master the fundamentals your potential for growth will be unlimited.
Dan Milkman (World Champion Gymnast, coach and author of "The Inner athlete",
"Body Mind Mastery" and The "Peaceful Warrior Series") states, "Athletes'
problems with learning or improving their skills are tied to weak fundamentals.
To raise athletes' potential you need to rebuild their foundation for success".
With this in mind I work on what I consider to be the key competencies (fundamentals) of mountain bike riding. These are the core skills that many riders from beginners to quite a few pros have not mastered.
Each day will start with 3 hours of skills instruction and drills followed by 2-3 hours of on trail practice and riding.
I hope this has been a help to you, if you have anymore questions feel free
to ask.
Thank you,
Gene
