Coaching the coaches

Last weekend I rocked a lecture and some drills with a group of future high school mountain bike coaches.

This was a fun time and a huge step in the mission to create a standard mountain bike curriculum.

Rock!

Balanced on the feet, straight torso, etc. Kate Rau thinks this is funny.

Goal: Lay out my kung fu approach to bike skills. Give these coaches a foundation for future learning.

Who it’s for: The national high school mountain bike racing league, most specifically the new Colorado league. Colorado high schools will be ripping this fall. They’re already racing in California.

Who attended: Current and future coaches and league administrators from Colorado, NorCal, SoCal, Texas and Wyoming. Standout attendees included Olympian, coach and author Ann Trombley.

What we covered: Position, range of motion, braking, cornering, bumps, all the essential stuff. When I teach clinics, I focus on the specific skills. In this class I described how everything fits together. Once a coach (or rider) understands the overall model, there’s no end to the braaap.

Format: We wanted to ride, but the weather was terrible. We did almost three hours in the classroom (crazy: lecturing about how to rip), then got in a few minutes of drills.

Outcome: Everyone seemed really stoked. People who know a lot about riding, people I respect, said I brought a whole new understanding to their riding. Which is cool.

Next: As the skills guru for the national organization NICA, I will develop the curriculum to teach mountain bike skills at high schools throughout the nation.

The Mission: I started this whole coaching adventure to create a standardized curriculum for bike skills.

It’s taking some time, but it’s happening!