Helen Powell founded Get Mountain Biking to help support women coming into the sport and those looking to further develop their technical skills. The aim of the beginners course is for the rider to develop the basic skills required to ride confidently and fast.
I had the privilege of attending a women's mountain bike Skills day for beginners, run by Helen, on the 27th of October. ('Beginners' meaning you can ride a bike but you don't necessarily have the skills to handle it safely off-road).
I have been riding for years, on the road, so my skills do not lie in the realm of MTB. Thus, I was pleased to meet Helen and the others in the beautiful setting of Woburn Sands not far from Milton Keynes, to get started on my mountain bike career.
The very generous and kind gentlemen at Pitsford Cycles supplied me with the lite and responsive Specialized Safire Expert to use for my MTB experience. Pitsford Cycles supply Get Mountain Biking with well maintained, high quality women's specific Specialized hardtail Mountain bikes. So if you don't yet have a bike, or can't get it there, hiring is very handy and easy.
Each beginners' course starts off with a brief but through check over the bikes, followed by bike set up. Helen gives plenty of hints and tips for ways to remember what to look for to prevent mechanical troubles and how to be comfortable on the bike.
Then onto the bikes, we proceeded through some single track and into some downhill shenanigans, the ultimate test of body position. Thoughts were reverted to bum back, pedals level, feather fingers (and for the roadie in me - back brake only), at every downhill section we came across. The "descending" fear in most of the group was well and truly combated and a new found confidence swept over us.
The hard part came next, uphill with arms tucked down, elbows at right angles to the bars, weight slightly over the front wheel and pedal, pedal, pedal! We tackled every uphill we attempted, with some slight wavers, but it all soon became second nature.
Helen's technique for teaching us is very encouraging and "suggestive" rather than "dictating" and the trust that we developed in her was very positive towards our learning.
We combated the basics! Now for the real stuff.
Firstly, the dreaded drop off, nothing too severe but just enough to raise your adrenalin, riding at a pace through the woods and then a gentle couple of steps down. It was made all the easier with Helen showing us how to, and then supporting each other as we each took turns, and trying to smile for the camera. We loved them so much we proceeded to a great step that from above looked scary, but once we all had a go, there was no stopping us.
Next up was the twig jumping… okay it was a bit bigger than a twig but the whole idea of this exercise was to practice the art of lifting your front wheel to clear an obstacle. Something, believe it or not, a lot of people don't realize how to do. Being able to lift your front wheel when the need arises is a valuable skill. As is the manuals and the classic wheelies. So much fun was had with these little beauties. I felt like Nicole Kidman in BMX bandits lifting my front wheel up whilst riding along (even if it was for only for a couple of seconds).
With this technique mastered we plodded along a bit of single track, jumped over a fence or two (with our bikes on our backs) and practiced our new found wheelie skills over EVERY root and log we found. We arrived at our new destination for cornering practice, in anticipation to test them out on the burns. Remembering to scrub the speed off first, put our outside foot down and weight in, we managed to corner smoothly.
Now was the time for some serious stuff, maintenance. Helen showed us how to change and repair an inner tube and gave us some great tips for on route mechanics.
The course ended with some burns that were tackled with enthusiasm and a little bit of adrenalin in the "play ground". Finally pedalling back to the cars pumped to get out on the tracks soon. We did have lunch in there somewhere, so don't worry, Helen doesn't make you starve.
Every challenge we encountered was designed to increase our awareness and confidence, of which it did. Our overall confidence increased ten fold and we are all very keen to step up to any challenge any off road tracks may throw at us (skills permitted). There is also some interest from the girls to attend the intermediate course, of which shecycles.com will be participating in, on November 17.
This course is definitely worth it! Despite knowing how to ride a bike and having done so for a while, it's not always the case that you know everything there is to know about riding off road. The chance to get out amongst beautiful surroundings and good company along with picking up new skills and increasing my confidence was invaluable.
But hey, don't take my word for it, this is what the other girls on the course had to say...
Miyako said "To be honest, I didn't know what to expect before the course as I never did a MTB skills course. Cycling seems easy as you begin as a kid or use a bike as a means of transport. Nevertheless, the course somehow confirmed what I did right and corrected what I was doing wrong so far.
Rode in North Wales last week end and it was very satisfying to regain confident and control on technical sections. It was physically hard but enjoyed seeing the progress between my riding before and after the course."
Nina said "'The relaxed atmosphere and competent instructions made this an enjoyable and successful training course'.
Emma said "I really enjoyed the course, I thought it was friendly and un-intimidating. The atmosphere was really relaxed and I think it was at just the right level for me. I would do another course in the future and I would recommend it to my friends. The location is good too, even though I had to drive quite a long way it is easy to get to and I liked Woburn Sands. Also I thought that the website was useful to find out everything that I needed to know."
So whether you're a rusty expert, out of shape beginner or just want to ride some new trails without the hassle of figuring out where you are, Get MountainBiking prides itself on providing a flexible package that should just about suit everyone. For more details visit www.getmountainbiking.co.uk Plus Helen gave us each a "goodie bag" containing some great freebies and handy product ideas for future purchases!
Up coming dates
More women only sessions include 17th November, visit www.getmountainbiking.co.uk for more details.
Maria David
