I’ve been around long enough to see a real change in the way most

riders think about Skills Training. When I first started riding mountain

bikes almost 15 years ago Skills Training wasn’t something I had ever

heard of, much less considered an important thing for me to do.

Fast

forward to the end of 2014 and Skills Training has become extremely

popular. Thousands of riders every year are attending some sort of

skills training class or camp. Hundreds of thousands more are watching

free Skills Training videos online.

Almost every serious mountain

biker now recognized the importance that improving their skills on the

trail can play in improving their fun and safety on the trail.

But

this also means that a lot of riders are pretty frustrated with their

lack of progress in that department as well. It seems that despite more

riders than ever knowing “what” to do most riders I talk with still

struggle to apply it consistently.

The problem is that these

riders are trying to build their skills on a weak foundation. By not

addressing the physical qualities needed to improve their skills they

can’t get much further.

In the last part of my 5 Fundamental

Elements of a Mountain Bike Training Program podcast series I explain

how you can avoid this problem and avoid the frustration that comes with

not being able to consistently improve your skills on the trail.

Here are the notes from this episode:

- Improving your skills can increase your speed, endurance, safety and “flow” on the trail.

- Skills Training works on being able to apply good movement while on the bike to maintain good balance on the trail.

- It ultimately boils down to a relationship between your center of gravity and your bikes center of gravity.

-

If you can’t move well (Flexibility), you can’t produce adequate

tension (Strength), you can’t easily do it with speed and power (Speed)

and you can’t fuel it (Endurance) then you won’t see much progression

with your Skills Training.

- Trouble with executing a skill is

usually because you lack a fundamental movement or prerequisite skill,

not because you don’t know what to do. Trying to learn how to corner

before you really own your Body Position is a good example.

-

Beware of “quick fixes” or advice based on a symptom of good technique

instead of focusing on the cause of good technique. “Elbows Out” and

“Outside Foot Down” are good examples of focusing on symptoms instead of

causes.

- Learning how to make the mental connection between how

you move in the gym and how you move on the bike is important to getting

the most out of your program. This doesn’t mean that exercises have to

look like what you do on the bike, though.

- There are 5 basic trail skills you need to work on.

1

– Body Position: This is your ability to achieve and maintain a strong,

balanced body position on the bike with either foot forward (regular

and switch-foot). It relates to your Horizontal Push and Hip Hinge

movement pattern.

2 – Standing Pedaling: This is your ability to

stand up and achieve a strong, balanced standing pedaling position. It

is related to you Squat movement pattern.

3 – Seated Pedaling:

This is your ability to achieve and maintain optimal position while

sitting down to pedal. It is related to your Horizontal Push and Hip

Hinge movement pattern.

4 – Manualing: This is your ability to use

your hips to shift your weight back and lift from the end of your bike.

It is the cornerstone skill for other skills like Bunny Hopping and

Jumping. It is related to your explosive Hip Hinge movement pattern and

requires excellent B