I found the course very good and learnt lots, now all I have to do is practice! Norm explained what he wanted us to do in a way that was easy to understand. We all had as many runs through each section as we needed without any pressure to move on until we were ready. If you want to pick up new skills or improve those you have I think the course is well worth doing.

Ride report MTB Skills 16 Feb. 2008

Everyone arrived in time just!

Course started with intros, bike safety check and tyre pressure discussion.

We headed out for a group ride, 10 plus Jess and Norm around the dam.

This was a warm up and allowed Jess and Norm to split us into groups.

My group went with Norm, 1 girl and 4 guys.

First skill was braking and cornering.

We all improved here even if we did use a bit of extra track width.

To practice what we had learned we did a ride through some twisty single track which sneakily had a rock drop off in it. Norm said “glad you mentioned that rock” (Our next skill lesson)

Cornering was improved and I could feel the difference between a good and bad corner, both in speed and comfort level.

Back to the rock drop off.

Again how and when to use brakes and moving your body around on the bike to prevent going over the bars. We were luck to have some how not to do it examples from other riders.

Next was getting up/over obstacles while climbing (using the least amount of energy)

A climb was next with instruction on riding position for maximum traction and control.

This led us to a rock garden where Norm told and showed us how climb up this section. The best way is not always what you do naturally... several runs were had by all at this.

Next we went down through the rock garden and the twisty climb we came up, again the cornering lesson was practiced here with good success. We then linked up with the first twisty single track including the rock and headed back towards the carpark for a question and answer session. We had the chance for one on one assistance here if needed, whilst the rest of the group practiced track stands (not so easy as some make it look)

I found the course very good and learnt lots, now all I have to do is practice!

Norm explained what he wanted us to do in a way that was easy to understand.

We all had as many runs through each section as we needed without any pressure to move on until we were ready.

If you want to pick up new skills or improve those you have I think the course is well worth doing. The next two courses are booked out or very close to it, so there is plenty of interest.

Well done Jess and Norm.