We have been cycling for years and yet we are still bailing out at the drop that is a bit too high or the slope that is a bit too steep. We don’t bail out very gracefully either. If you are familiar with our You Tube Adventures you will know Mary falls off all the time.
It was time we did something about our lack of off road bike handling skills and so along with Tina, Sarah and Emma, Mary & I booked Adam from Skills Loop for a full day Introduction to Mountain Biking Course.

A course designed for riders who are either new to Mountain Biking or someone who is used to flatter & smoother tracks and looking for those extra skills for rougher terrain.
Adam Coxon
Introduction to Mountain Biking
Bike Check: We will ensure your bike is set up for maximum performance and advise where necessary for repair or replacement. This will aid in your confidence and progression during your course sessions.
Body Check
A breakdown on the “How’s & Why’s” of Body Positioning, times have changed and so have the bikes!
We will also cover the importance of flexibility, core strength and focus.
Balance
Once you and your bike are set up and ready we will move to Balance. Using our techniques and fun Balance Games you will soon get to grips with how much you can move on your bike. Finding balance points on all axes allowing you the ability to explore your bike’s potential.
Braking
Before we can go fast we need to learn to stop! Here we will teach you braking techniques that will increase your confidence and actually allow you to ride faster.
Pumping
Learn the art of “weighting” and “unweighting” and you will soon be on your way to getting air between your tyres and the ground. That’s not all, Pumping is one of the Core Skills used in other techniques. Master this technique now and progression will flow quickly.
Cornering
In this part of the course we focus on “finding the curve”.
Cornering, when done properly, looks and sounds incredible. We will focus on: Body Position, Braking, Maintaining Traction/Speed and Flow.
Just What We Needed
It was exactly what we were looking for and so on a very wet and windy morning 5 slightly nervous Bicycle Adventure Clubbers rode out on to Cannock Chase with Adam to learn how to Mountain Bike properly.
Adam was clear with his instructions and patient with us correcting our techniques where needed so we could master the core skills. Always encouraging and praising, Adam filled us with confidence and made it fun.
By the end of the day, using the core skills Adam had given us, we all managed to get our bikes off the ground and were confident enough to take on some drops and jumps on the local trails.
It was a very relaxed day. We had a great laugh and came away eager to get out on the local trails to practice our new skills.
Mary & I love an off road adventure and really wanted to increase our off road abilities to be able to take on wilder trails on our bikes. After doing the Skills Loop Introduction course we feel like we are well on our way to planning those wild adventures.
If you would like to improve your Mountain Biking skills, we highly reccomend Adam. A thoroughly lovely chap with some serious Mountain Biking chops.
You can book directly through the skills loop website:
Thank you for reading
See you out there
Sarah & Mary

A cup of tea for Mary & me
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