Hi, I wanted to ask any girls who ride (or guys who ride with girls) about areas of riding that you might want to improve on? If you could do some specific skill sessions what would you all find the most valuable and how would you like to learn? If any of you have found any really good courses or methods would really appreciate the heads up. cheers
Bike Forum
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riding with the girls?
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Posted 1 year ago #
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Have a word with Stuart top lad
Posted 1 year ago # -
Getting wheels off the ground for me - I'm not very confident jumping but then that is probably the same for guys, too.
Rachel
Posted 1 year ago # -
Cheers Valleydaddy.
I'd estimate that over the course of any one year we instruct more woman than blokes (60-40 split). Regardless of sex the majority of folk are looking to increase their overall confidence. If you break it down into skills, techniques or general areas of riding then women most commonly want to know.
• How to deal with speed and avoid panic or over braking.
• How to lift the front wheel (low and high speed) ... lots of people believe they need upper body strength, so it's a nice surprise when they realise they don't.Blokes want to know about drops and jumps much more than the majority of women do ... but that often changes throughout a course as confidence rises. I must say that after 5 years of instructing one thing that always shines through is, no two people are the same.
Posted 1 year ago # -
I would love to learn how to jump, I'm confident jumping off small stuff on a full susser but not on my HT also cornering at speed. I'm happy that I am confident enough to pick up the speed but sometimes cornering goes a bit wrong!!! Why you doing some courses? need any girls to test your courses on??
Posted 1 year ago # -
Without sounding a little daft, surely the needs of women riding and men riding are really the same? When I went for coaching, I wanted to gain more confidence with drops and jumps and gain some more advanced trail skills. How would that differ from the average woman who's been riding for 4-5 years?
Posted 1 year ago # -
Why you doing some courses? need any girls to test your courses on??
It seems confidence is a big thing for a lot of people!
I need to get the confidence to try steeper / rockier things. Was at sherwood at the weekend at got off the bike at a couple of places near the dh bit (whereas my friend who was mountain biking for the first time just did it without thinking!). Did a rocky drop that was about 1 ft (so not huge I know), it wasn't graceful but I did it, mainly because I was going to fast to realise it was a drop and then had no choice but to do it!
Posted 1 year ago # -
The average woman is less aggressive when riding and might be more interested in overall fitness and technique, potentially wanting to ride quicker. I rarely ride with other woman as they aren't anywhere near as technical, or quick whereas I love down Hillingdon and technical riding so I disagree with your comments Atlasz.
Posted 1 year ago # -
THANK YOU all so much...so helpful!! I am part of a mtb company in the alp's and we are putting together a women's specific week. I really wanted to make it a true reflection of what all levels of female riders want and not base it only on my own experience or what i think they might want? I rode for a summer in Whistler and did the women's Wednesday riding evening which were amazing, i was sceptical at first but really did find that my confidence and riding level went up a lot!! I wanted to know if other girls found it easier riding with other girls or in girls specific groups and if this is something they would want?? Thanks Stuart...great advice, you are right about feeling confident above anything else, if i am relaxed and having fun on my bike i ride 100 times better! thanks again
Posted 1 year ago # -
Munqe-chick, you're right about the aggression. Some aspects of riding do require / are easier with a certain level of controlled aggression ... women are, on the whole less aggressive than blokes so this needs to be coaxed out at times. On the other hand blokes often need to surpress the aggression.
*Women often have an easier time learning how to ride 'using their heads' because they don't ride with dangly bits
... if you know what I mean.* No offence fellas.
Posted 1 year ago # -
Look up the 'Air Maiden' event girls! http://www.airmaiden.com
Posted 1 year ago # -
I would love to ride with more girls however I don't know any that are really my level/abiliity. Sometimes I will encourage other girls out but that has to be a day when I don't want to do so many miles or technical trails. I have tried encouraging and coaching others but they just don't seem to love it like I do, which is why I always ride with the boys. It can be frustrating for me to improve as well, because the boys are WAY quicker than me, so I struggle to find someone to chase down hill to push myself down hill so it's hard!
Posted 1 year ago # -
I'm still working on replacing aggression with spodstyle stu, just bought a dh bike though so could get a bit messy. At least I'll be practicing the ol' ballistic path
Posted 1 year ago # -
I saw you'd bought another ... your kid got your hand me downs then?
Posted 1 year ago # -
I could do with a) looking forward more, b) focusing more on the task in hand
Posted 1 year ago # -
Is this a blatant marketing ploy or what!!
Posted 1 year ago # -
I would like the cojones to be rad and get large amounts of air. I know I have the skill and I can get moderate amounts of air easily enough.
Posted 1 year ago # -
And that is where you are going wrong Molgrips! a lot of women just want to learn to do jumps and drops as technical skills for the trails. We don't wants lots of rad phat air
Posted 1 year ago # -
Why does googling "riding with the girls" lead to this?
www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmmZ48EDfHkPosted 1 year ago # -
geordiemick00 - Member
Is this a blatant marketing ploy or what!!Yup and not very subtle either!
Posted 1 year ago # -
I saw you'd bought another ... your kid got your hand me downs then?
nope not this time, sold the complete bike to buy a kona operator at a silly discount. got a zesty for an all rounder
Posted 1 year ago # -
Marketing ploy by who? ... someone asked a question and people have answered it.
Posted 1 year ago # -
It's called market research.
Posted 1 year ago # -
still s8tannorm - Member
Marketing ploy by who? ... someone asked a question and people have answered it.Well you were given a nice intro, almost like someone answered a genuine question, you then lined up someone to intro you and hey presto along comes the answer....
Posted 1 year ago # -
Munge-chick. I know exactly what you mean about not knowing your level and not finding other girls who want to ride the same sort of thing . I would say though that if you can find other girls who are at a higher level you will learn a great deal riding with them. I ride with guys ALL the time which I really love and is great fun, but if I want to learn I go with the girls. we session stuff a lot more, take time over looking at our line choice and there is always a different atmosphere in the group. That is not to say we don't still push it. I learnt to jump and drop and have done all my biggest lines with the girls!thanks again for the input...nice to know there are a lot of girls out there wanting to progress!
Posted 1 year ago # -
[cynical mode]
All we need now is a link to their company website, and piggyback onto STW, for good search results...
[/cynical mode]
Posted 1 year ago # -
Jesus ... someone you've never met, spoken to and don't know asks a question. You have experience with the subject, so do your best to answer their question. Someone else also mentions you in the thread because they know you have relevent experience ... I suppose you believe Area 51 too?
Posted 1 year ago # -
Hi Lucy,
My fiancee is a relative newbie to mountain biking, and I was chatting to her about what she felt were her areas of weakness to overcome. She came up with:
- Moving weight around effectively (she's more used to road biking and commuting)
- Maintaining momentum over obstacles (she often stalls at fairly minor bumps and gets very frustrated).
- Maintaining balance and confidence on rough ground.
She's in the process of booking a session with Jules Fincham's bike school to help address these points.
Posted 1 year ago # -
Xiphon.. does i really matter if it is!? It's nice for us girls to talk amongs ourselves for a change, plugging for customers or not, that's a decision I will make with parting with my cash.
The problem I have Lucy is I don't know ANY girls who are my level or really even similar! Very excited though as my new Giant Cypher 1 5" travel full susser arrived today can't wait to test it out in Wales and start trying those drops
Posted 1 year ago # -
Yes to wanting to learn jumps and drops - in fact I am booked on a course in May to do just that!
Xiphon and geordie mick - push off.
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Posted 1 year ago # -
My daughter is bit 'off' biking at the moment due to being busy with drama. Whe she is on it she is a phenomenal climber and has lots of natural ability but always struggles beyond a certain speed. She says it's because 'boys are idiots, they switch their brains off'. Maybe...
Posted 1 year ago # -
Domino where are you doing that course then? I fancy going on one but haven't found any local or at a reasonable price if I'm honest. The boys are off to do a skills day with Jedi, but I wasn't allowed to go
Posted 1 year ago # -
Oooo no Gisburn is a bit far....
Posted 1 year ago #
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