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We finished our 2 part clinic practicing more dynamic movements on the bike. Learning how to get the tires off the ground with wheel lifts and small drops. Next we took these new skills to the Pulp Friction trail and worked on maintaining dynamic balance over large rock gardens and rocky switchbacks. Meaghan and Carrie were very coachable to and are off to a really great start to enjoying all Park City has to offer now that they live here! Coaching: @wedgeshelly
We love working with visitors! These two came from Ohio to ride the beautiful and well groomed trails we have to offer in Park City. Doug & Jennifer are experienced riders that wanted to improve their jump and drop skills.
Virginia went through the whole progression of wheel lifts on the basketball court, then worked on timing on the jump line, moved to the pump track to really feel what it feels like to have full extension, then went back to the jump line to put the skills together. Virginia then talked them through recentering in the air and landing, and Doug & Jen put it to use on the jumps! They were so happy to be there and SO happy to be getting a lesson. They had been looking forward to this vacation for months. After just riding Trailside (the first day of their trip), Jen was planning their next trip back to Park City!
@lisa45215 is an inspiration to the coaches at Women in the Mountains. She has participated in a few clinics and recently had a private session with @vsolomon36. Lisa is committed to riding everything as smooth and safely as possible.
Virginia started Lisa off really breaking down the ready position, not only on the ground but also with the front wheel and the rear wheel on the bench of the picnic table, to see where "centered" is as the angle of the bike changes. Having worked on fore/aft movement, they went to working on getting up and down obstacles, to apply moving the bike back and forth going up, down, and over rocks. They then moved on to talking about vision and up/down and side to side movement on skinnies and in the pump track. Lisa was prepared with lots of questions and wanted to understand the mechanics of all of her movement, which we applied on the features!
Our weekday clinics are split into two sessions, giving participants a week to practice in between. We keep these classes small, giving riders maximum learning opportunities.
You have one more chance for these 2-part clinics in September! Details on our home page: www.womeninthemountains.com
During this week’s session, Shelly coached an overview of body positions and bike/body separation. She was able to challenge the participant’s balance on the bike on all the great features our local bike park has to offer. Next Monday she will move those skills to the trail and add even more real-life/useful skills! She had a great time getting to coach and ride with Meagan and Carrie. They are both new to Park City, having recently moved from Vermont, and were both ready to learn some new skills so they could tackle all the amazing trails we have to offer.
Remember the rad couple that we posted about yesterday?! They actually had 2 sessions with @womeninthemountains last week! Day 2 was with coach @ericatingey and the focus was on cornering. We developed their technique for berms and differentiated it from technique for switch backs. They were stoked to have even more tools for their riding. They are practicing everything @vsolomon36 taught them on Day 1 as well as corners and switchbacks and will return for a tune up session in September!
This couple was stoked to get some air with coach @vsolomon36 last week! Emily has taken a couple of clinics with us and she was ready to learn jumps and drops. Along with her husband, they were very successful. Here is a full account of the lesson:
They did the parking lot progression with ready position, then compressing the bike evenly, and moving into front wheel lifts, rear wheel lifts, successive front and rear wheel lifts, and level lifts. They got that all super quick, adjusting to a centered instead of back ready position so they could compress their bike evenly, and then getting their wheels off of the ground from a compress and release rather than a pull.
Then they moved up to the wood features in the park, and worked on roll downs and then the low and push drop technique, but Virginia emphasized with them that that is just an option and a step in learning the different facets of doing drops, and we'd add the compress once the timing and form of just the push was dialed.
They moved onto the middle rock in the drop zone and did some more low and push drops before adding the compression, making sure timing was spot on, they pushed out rather than coming up after their compress, and recentering to ride out the landing.
Then they moved on to jumps, working first on the timing of our compress and extend on the right hand jump line, then going into the pump track so they could feel the timing and full extension better, then back to the jump line to work more on timing and extension and once they had that adding in absorbing the bike and recentering and actively landing instead of just falling out of the air with their bikes. They got it, and with a bit more speed were clearing the first two jumps of the jump line, and landing well!
Huge thanks to @pocsports for keeping us looking sharp this season. Check our out fresh matching gloves & helmets!
Really great private session with Jennifer. She just bought her first mountain bike from @contenderbicycles and wanted to feel confident on her beautiful new riding machine. We covered all of the basics and now she is ready to rock her backyard trails! She is going to practice for a few weeks and come back for another session in September!
Coach Shelly had the opportunity to coach Christy for the second time this summer. It was great to see how much she has improved from her first clinic earlier this season! Christy is an avid skier (Alta Plug😊) and was interested to know how skiing and mountain biking were similar in skills. Shelly helped her see the connection between keeping a strong and stable body and allowing the bike to move underneath you and how that correlates with the same strong athletic stance in skiing and using your legs to turn the skis. They connected more dots in cornering, by getting Christy’s weight (hips) to the outside of the turn which is similar to getting pressuring to the outside ski before you turn. Looking forward to seeing more of this super fun woman on both the dirt and the snow!
It was really great getting to ride with Rebecca again. We were able to take the skills she learned last year in a clinic and really apply some more dynamic riding to the trail. We rode two loops in the Bobs Basin Area (Ant Farm and Crazy 8’s) and really worked on letting the bike move underneath us over the many rock features and how/when to brake and lean the bike more efficiently to corner safer and faster. It is really rewarding to see how women progress over the season in both their skills and confidence when they start with the fundamentals.
Florence can fly! It took her 50 years to be bold enough to try.
Florence broke through personal barriers to get to here.And now she gets to ride with out any fear.
It was the most empowering day for her & coach Erica Tingey. Together they were hugging and singing.
Allison and Ben scheduled a semi-private clinic with Shelly so they could learn together. They have a few years of riding experience but no formal skills instruction. They were quick to see how separating their bodies from their bikes makes riding so much easier, smoother, and faster! Trailside Bike Park was a great place to challenge their riding over technical terrain while allowing them to develop it at their own pace. Riding bikes is really fun, riding bikes with your spouse is super fun!!!
Coach Virginia had a blast with Taylor, who was in town for a dental conference.
“Awesome group! Erica got me set up with a lesson super fast, picked an awesome area to practice skills I wanted to improve, and recommended a great bike shop for a rental. Virginia was an awesome coach who really knows their stuff! Highly recommend to anyone who wants to improve their skills in the Park City area.”
“A great experience being coached by Erica. My personal coaching session covered drills, skills and plenty of one-on-one evaluation. I can't say enough about how much I learned and how highly I recommend trying a clinic or personal session with one of their coaches. Invest in yourself and feel more confident on the trails!!”
This mother daughter duo ride together frequently (how rad is that?!). Diane & Tessa wanted to work on front and rear wheel lifts, manuals, and bunny hops, and then drops. They had a successful first session and they are returning for a second session with @vsolomon36 in 2 weeks! So stoked to see where they take these skills.
Amber wanted to learn how to ride drops with skill (not just luck) as well as learn to ride UP steep rocks (preparing for desert riding). We rode UP and DOWN everything! She is such a strong rider with thousands of miles and many years of riding under her belt. She is super stoked to have a whole new set of skills to smooth out her mountain AND desert riding!
Jené &Brad are some of our favorite local residents. Jené recently got into mountain biking and she has taken it on in a very real way. Last year she took a group clinic with Women in the Mountains and later in the summer she raced the Park City Point to Point! She and her rad fiancé have been doing some local racing and they were ready to be faster though the corners and switchbacks. Coach Virginia worked with them on braking, vision and other ways to get them in and out of corners efficiently. So if they win any prizes at these upcoming races, Virginia gets first dibs! (J/K)
Today we had such incredible flow at our clinic. Everyone was eager to learn and had very positive mindsets. We covered a lot of material and the women handled it all smoothly.
We love days like today!!! Coaches: Kristen & Erica
Kristen, Rebekah, Georgia, Stephanie, Erica, Laura, Lydia, LaRobyn
