Why my Basecamp Course Isn’t a Beginner MTB Course
Most riders who attend the Basecamp MTB Skills Course have been riding for years. They’re comfortable riding most grades of trails. They can get around trail centres without any problems. They already enjoy mountain biking and have built up plenty of experience. What they haven’t had is professional coaching.
That’s exactly who Basecamp is designed for.
“I thought I was a pretty good rider until today, ive been riding for years and can get down most stuff…I didnt know how much difference improving basics helps…I feel so much better riding down the trails after the session”
This is pretty much what most riders say after joining the Basecamp course.
What Is My Basecamp Course?
Basecamp Course is the foundation course within the Rideabout coaching pathway. Foundation sounds like basic or easy. But even when coaching relatively advanced Downhill & Enduro riders requires a really good grasp of some fundamentals skills or concepts.
I have been coaching for most of my adult life (>13 years). What I have discovered over that time is that:
- learning to ride a mountain bike can be tricky
- learning to ride a mountain bike fast (or to a high skill level) is even harder
- Simple and consistent coaching messages yield the fastest improvement
- what hold most riders back are relatively simple skills
The Basecamp course focuses on the fundamental riding skills that underpin everything else in mountain biking. Rather than teaching riders on advanced features & trails (i.e. big gap jumps or steep rock gardens), we focus on the things that holding you back from progressing onto those advanced features confidently.
These fundamentals include:
- Stance & Contact Points – getting a solid grounding on the pedals where you feel balanced.
- Pressure Control – pumping, absorbing (this is the most important MTB fundamental!)
- Cornering – (the second most important MTB fundamental)
- Weight Shift & Rotation – i.e. drops rolls & steep features
- Effective braking (momentum)
These things might sound simple, but most of the riders who join my courses overestimate their ability on these fundamentals and it stops them from progressing.
They’re the building blocks behind confident descending, smooth flow, technical trail riding and jumping.
Experience Doesn’t Always Equal Ability
Mountain biking is unusual because many riders are largely self-taught.
You buy a bike, ride with friends, watch a few YouTube videos and gradually figure things out as you go. Over time you become capable enough to ride increasingly difficult trails, but often without ever learning the fundamental techniques that make riding easier, safer and more efficient.
The problem with this is, the fundamentals are not intuitive for most people.
In fact learning bad habits is really easy:
- Riding too far back on the bike
- Gripping the bike with hands &/or feet
- Not being grounded on the pedals (pedals not staying level)
- Collapsing into bike or see-sawing on the bike when pumping and absorbing
- Not applying pressure into the bike when needed (results in pulling up on the bike)
All these things are interlinked and affect how you feel on the bike. This means they often reinforce the same bad habits.
You are unlikely to get out of these habits unless you FEEL what good fundamentals feel like.
Taught Where It Matters: On The Trail
Another misconception is that skills coaching takes place in a field or a car park.
I do use some flat ground exercises to teach basics of pressure control and weight shift. But the bulk of courses are delivered on trails (generally red graded).
One aim of my coaching is teach riders how to practice well. Many riders when trying to improve will just go for the normal trails they ride at normal pace. This is usually too complex and too fast.
To improve you need to tune into how good feels and that usually requires going a bit slower and on trails that you feel very comfortable with.
Who Is Basecamp For?
Basecamp is ideal for riders who:
- Regularly ride blue & red -graded trails.
- Have a reasonable level of off road cycling experience.
- Feel they’ve reached a plateau in their progression.
- Want more confidence on technical terrain.
- Have never had structured coaching before.
- Want to learn to jump
If you’re already riding but feel there’s a gap between where you are and where you’d like to be, Basecamp is likely the right place to start.
I want to learn to jump
This is by far the most common enquiry I get.”I can do tabletops but not gap jumps…. ” Here’s some news (you might not like it).
Jumping is a simple and fundamental skill – it is the most obvious application of Pressure Control on the trail…
Pressure control is the most important fundamental MTB skill. Without a good feel for pressure control. You wont have a good rhythm down the trail and you wont get the lift on a jump when you need it.
Most riders I come across are trying to bypass learning how to jump properly with YouTube videos or mates advice that say:
- pull up
- give it more pop
- or go faster
This is less like, trying to run before trying to walk and more like, trying to run before being able to stand up.
There is a simpler and quicker process which i use to teach clients how to jump.
- get your stance and balance sorted – i.e. a solid grounding on the pedals
- Learn to apply pressure into both wheels equally on flat ground – Flat Hop (not a bunnyhop)
- Learn to feel the difference between absorbing and applying pressure (pumping) – and use this to get rhythm and flow down the trail. Particularly over small tabletops.
- Learn to jump – i.e. apply pressure into the take off of a jump.