After [...]]]> Patrick got in touch, he was looking for a bit of extra flow on the trails and also to sort out his hops and drops too. The weather was looking a bit dodgy, but fortunately cleared on the way to Stanmer and we were treated to some sun, even though it was extremely windy.

After a quick chat we headed off onto the trail and climbed up onto the Big Dog side of Stanmer. We started with a quick adjustment to Patrick’s brake lever position and let a bit of air out of his tyres too as they were a little hard for the conditions. We started in the singletrack for a skills assessment, then moved on to discussing body position and worked on the various aspects of cornering technique.

Cornering

Stanmer Park looked absolutely stunning today, the bluebells are all out and look incredible at the moment, get up there quickly…

Stanmer Park bluebells

After a few runs down “wide out” we moved on to “rail the roots” adding in the various aspects of cornering technique. Then we moved on to the steeper still “derelict downhill” which is a great test for looking and braking. That done we headed over to the university side to tackle “community coppicing” further cementing the cornering techniques we had covered.

We spent a bit of time looking at manualling and rear wheel lifts, putting it together into the bunnyhop, then we moved on to pumping the trail for a bit of free speed. Then we rode “buzz lightyear” putting it all together.

We moved on to the “witches table” and Patrick used the manualling technique to tackle a small drop before moving on to one of the medium sized ones.

Manualling the small drop

Going up one size...

A really fun session,

Jim

From next month we will be guiding fortnightly shop rides for Prestige Cycles in Hove. These are the dates we have over the summer:

June 2nd June 16th June 30th July 14th August 11th August 25th Sep 8th Oct 20th

If you need any further information call the shop for details: 01273 960194

FitBitch group coaching

He was fantastic, managing to provide calm coaching guidance and fantastic routes to a group of women of varying skills levels, which is no mean [...]]]> We hired Jim to coach our teams competing in an adventure race, during which he lead skills sessions and guided rides throughout a bitterly cold winter.

FitBitch group coaching

He was fantastic, managing to provide calm coaching guidance and fantastic routes to a group of women of varying skills levels, which is no mean feat. Despite the cold, wintry early mornings and handling a group of women who at some points sang show tunes while whizzing down the single track Jim took it all in his pedal cycle.

Good coaching is never just about your skill set, but about one’s ability to get on with people and motivate each person according to their personality trait and Jim was great. Plus, he likes cake which always went down well with us post ride.

At Fitbitch Performance, we will definitely be using Jim’s services again.

Rachael Woolston, founder of Fitbitch Boot Camps, Performancing Training and Running Club

Facebook event here, Sky Ride page here. Please call Quest Adventure with any queries you may have (01903 573700).

Jim

After 3 hours with Jimbo I felt confident to tackle [...]]]> The idea was to build my confidence and ability to help me get the best from my bike. Jim had a good ability to watch and point out little things to improve my riding without labouring his point making the session all the more enjoyable.

After 3 hours with Jimbo I felt confident to tackle some downhill tracks I would never have tried by myself. As a teacher Jim is great and teaches practical skills step by step moving on quickly as soon as you pick something up.

He is good at building confidence and putting you at ease with both himself and the bike you are riding. Confidence inspiring to note that he started off the session by checking over my bike set up.

I would recommend booking a lesson for any beginner or intermediate rider as it gives you so much more confidence and therefore enjoyment than you would get just trying to pick up the skills by yourself.

I would also imagine that more seasoned riders would be able to benefit from Jim’s considerable experience as well, all put across in his very able, laid back manner.

Very highly recommended, feel much more confident and have a realistic view of my ability and what I could safely tackle.

Great man, great day. thank you Jim.

As we rode up to the first singletrack we discussed what he wanted to get out of the session and when [...]]]> Piotr got in touch, he’s only been riding since last year and he’d had an ‘incident’ on one of the local singletracks which had dented his confidence and spoilt his flow on the trails.

As we rode up to the first singletrack we discussed what he wanted to get out of the session and when we got up top we started with bike set up. After making some adjustments to his brake lever position we then talked about tyre pressures, Piotr has had a lot of trouble with punctures and was running his tyres really hard to try and compensate, obviously this also has a really negative effect on grip and comfort too though, so we let some air out.

We moved on to body position on the bike and then started adding in all the various elements for cornering, gradually moving on to slightly more complicated trails as we went. After getting the basics down we then rode round to the university side to continue on some slightly more difficult singletracks.

Manualling skills

Then we worked on unweighting the front wheel and manualling over obstacles before doing the Buzz Lightyear trail several times, each time adding in more of the elements we had worked on. Piotr began to feel the flow a bit more and we had a couple of good runs.

Pumping the trail

Then we went down to Roller Coaster and Roller Coaster II and worked on pumping the bike over trail obstacles for a bit of extra speed.

A really fun session,

Jimbo

This weekend I’ve been lucky enough to get my hands on a DMR Bolt demo bike from Quest Adventure. Pop over to the reviews section to read all about it…..

We headed out onto the singletrack for the skills [...]]]>

Simon and Jordan got in touch, as newcomers to mountainbiking they’ve decided to kick it off by riding the South Downs Way over a three day period. So they were keen to get off on the right foot by getting started with a skills session.

We headed out onto the singletrack for the skills check and after a few short sections we stopped to discuss body positioning. They had hired bikes for the day and the tyres were pumped up way too hard, so we talked about the effects of tyre pressure and made a few adjustments to help in the slippery conditions. Body position sorted we tried the same piece of trail again and they both felt the increase in confidence and control immediately.

We moved onto cornering technique working through the various aspects, then on to climbing too, before heading over to the university side to tackle some of the more interesting trails.

We recapped the cornering techniques and rode “community coppicing” a great trail for practice, slightly more downhill so you can really concentrate on the techniques rather than pedalling. Then we tackled unweighting the front wheel and manualling, after a few good goes we finished off by riding “Buzz Lightyear”, again recapping everything we had done.

A really fun session, Happy Birthday Jordan!

Jimbo

This Saturday (6th April) is the next Quest Adventure mixed mountainbike ride. This is a free event, the only stipulation being helmets *must* be worn. The weather forecast is for more of the same, in other words cold! So please dress accordingly and make sure you have a spare inner tube too.

Facebook [...]]]>

This Saturday (6th April) is the next Quest Adventure mixed mountainbike ride. This is a free event, the only stipulation being helmets *must* be worn. The weather forecast is for more of the same, in other words cold! So please dress accordingly and make sure you have a spare inner tube too.

Facebook event here, Sky Ride page here. Please call Quest Adventure with any queries you may have (01903 573700).

Jim