Why did I bother with Jedi’s UK Bike School training? – Page 2 – Bike Forum

vikingboy · 2010-02-18T23:54:46Z

Spontaneously and at short notice after reading some positive posts on Singletrack forums, I booked a days 1-1 tuition with Tony 'Jedi' Doyle for a skills course. Like the majority of riders here, I felt comfortable riding my bike off road, weaving between trees, sweeping through singletrack and coping with the odd drop.....so what could Tony teach me? For a relative modest fee (even more so when compared to what I've spent on the shiny bits of metal I ride upon), I got a the best part of a days 1-1 tuition with ‘Jedi’ Doyle. I'd already given Tony the brief previous by email where I thought my strengths and weaknesses were, where my comfort zone was and most importantly, what I wanted to get out of my time with him. Having entered the Megavalanche later this year, I wanted to give myself the best possible chance of completing the event in one piece. Tony tailored a days training around my needs. At no point did it feel like he was trotting out some off the shelf generic lesson or using the day to show off his skills rather than developing mine. It became obvious during the day that Tony had got a measure of my riding and where my areas for development would be before we had even left the car park! Tony’s expert eye picked up some tell tale signs purely from the way my bike was setup, he’s a very sharp guy obviously! Tony drove the day perfectly, we progressed at a comfortable pace and he didn’t dwell on any area longer than necessary before moving me on to the next stage to ensure I got maximum return for my invested time and money. We started by covering what one might consider the basics of riding, how to weight the bike by shifting my weight, how to ‘pump’ the ground to extract free speed and how to corner. Now obviously, I already knew how to corner, you turn the handlebars right, easy! But approaching everything Tony said and demonstrated with an open mind really helped me to understand how to really [i]corner[/i]. Using Tony’s technique, the increase in speed I could carry through corners was amazing. My confidence in the bike, the tyres any myself grew massively over the course of the day and with the increased speed and confidence, came increased enjoyment. We then spent time working on my technique for handling drop offs and jumps. Tony’s approach of again starting small and covering the fundamental skills required to handle the bike really helped me develop the confidence and right state of mind to attempt anything larger than I had been able to do previously. Looking back on the day, it seems laughable now than the gap jump we road past early in the morning that looked so frightening was now just another part of the trail I was all too eager to ride. There was simply no fear of failing, the days lessons and practice sessions had equipped me with the skill, knowledge and state of mind that I needed to clear this section of trail with ease. We finished the days riding with a short free ride session which gave me the opportunity to put together everything I learnt during the day, Tony led the way around the woods including some of the sections that I had practiced earlier during the day. We didn’t ride these as teacher and pupil anymore, but just as fellow cycling enthusiasts and friends enjoying the trail. It’s obvious from spending time with Tony that he loves riding bikes. He also has a rare skill in that he can teach and motivate in the way he does. So why did I spend bother spending time with Tony on his UK Bike Skills course? It’s obvious now, there is simply no better way to spend hard earned money on which would have increased my enjoyment and satisfaction from riding as much as the time spent with Tony has. Absolutely 100% recommended!, Thanks Tony!

grahamb

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I spent yesterday with a 1-on-1 with jedi, & I was about to post up a pretty much identical thread. What the OP's said is exactly my experience.

I'm certainly one of the "can't jump, won't jump" brigade. That thread from the other day is me to a tee. If Tony had shown me at the start of the day what he'd end up getting me riding i'd have laughed at him.

I've already booked a follow up session.

Posted : 19/02/2010 3:54 pm

jedi

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blimey guys how long is this thread! :O

Mackem - Member

Jedi, have you fixed a date(s) for some skills weeks in the Basque country yet?

1st week in may is the basquemtb.com/ukbikeskills coaching week.

Posted : 19/02/2010 4:03 pm

Bushwacked

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Mboy - come with us on the 20th march!!

Posted : 19/02/2010 4:15 pm

doug_basqueMTB.com

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I don't want to hijack Jedi's thread, especially when everyone's saying nice things, but... Mackem / Eck, the skills week is the 2nd to the 9th of May, there are some more details on my site: [url= http://www.basquemtb.com/special-weeks/ ]Jedi in a Basque?![/url]

I'm just getting a banner ad together so you'll hopefully see that up there ^^^ sometime very soon.

Posted : 19/02/2010 8:15 pm

Mackem

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Darn it, I can only do school holiday times.

Posted : 19/02/2010 9:44 pm

jedi

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i'm looking forward to spain. singletrack heaven

Posted : 19/02/2010 11:21 pm

forgotmename

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Nice thread, though not surprised, ukbikeskills abroad also a top move.

Posted : 19/02/2010 11:55 pm

Anonymous

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I am such a rubbish rider that I think I'd be too embarassed to be taught! Though I'd love to improve so that is the first mental hurdle I have to overcome lol

Posted : 20/02/2010 12:48 am

jedi

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mental skills can be harder won than physical ones

Posted : 20/02/2010 1:15 am

el_boufador

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Nice one.
Wholly agree with spending time/cash on your skills rather than shiny bits

Posted : 20/02/2010 1:19 am

mboy

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I am such a rubbish rider that I think I'd be too embarassed to be taught! Though I'd love to improve so that is the first mental hurdle I have to overcome lol

LOL

As a qualified skills trainer myself (though sadly not mountain biking!) I can guarantee that the biggest hurdle to overcome is the belief that nothing is wrong, or you're good enough already.

To have the desire to improve is the single greatest attribute you can have... Your mind is a sponge. You'll not remember everything, but you'll remember a lot more if your mind is turned on to it!

Mboy - come with us on the 20th march!!

That a Saturday?

If so, and I can possibly catch/share a lift, then yeah I'm up for that...

Posted : 20/02/2010 1:29 am

Anonymous

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All that is cool MaverickBoy, problem is that when I start hitting trees, slow down on the flat cause i think i am going to fast as it is and manage to grind my big chainring on every bump on the trail, I will just turn red and be too embarassed to pedal one more time lol

Posted : 20/02/2010 1:36 am

Bushwacked

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Yeah - its a saturday. I'll mail you otherwise I might hijack this thread!

Posted : 20/02/2010 7:50 am

doug_basqueMTB.com

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mackem, sickie? 😉

Posted : 20/02/2010 9:35 am

Mackem

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Tempting, but i'd never get away with it.

Posted : 21/02/2010 2:11 pm

metalheart

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Having just come back from a skills course with Tony at Glentress I'd have to say the first/original post is bang on the money.

He diagnosed my main problem from a blurry, distorted photo and unsurprisingly was 100% right. We started on this from the car park!

He's a nice guy on and off the bike and certainly has some interesting ideas (roots don't exist, tyre choice don't matter and trails are living things with energy for starters: scarily it all made sense at the time). And it wasn't me who was drinking Hoeegarten neither.

He quietly deconstructed my knocking on 20 years of mountain biking and rebuilt it from the ground up without fuss. Also surprising was his eagerness to adapt/integrate my own ideas about things since my learning style is 'maximum kinetic': yup another Tonyism.

However I am bitterly disappointed that I didn't get to huck any 25 footers or road gaps. And my crash (on the blue ffs!) proves that I haven't transmogrified into a trail god. On second thoughts I've been ripped off and I want my money back... 😯

Skills courses are definitely worth doing in my opinion (and I'm sure it doesn't [i]have[/i] to be Tony). Thanks again Tony, I'm looking forward to my Steve Peat/Crested Butte moment once again. 😉

Posted : 21/02/2010 9:15 pm

Seggons

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are those pictures from woburn?

Posted : 21/02/2010 9:40 pm

jedi

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which pictures?

Posted : 22/02/2010 11:11 pm

Kit

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So Tony, you got to teach the dust-spewing legend that is glupton today - was he showing [b]you[/b] how it was done? 😉

(just kidding, George is a nice guy and he was raving about it to me earlier)

Posted : 22/02/2010 11:33 pm

jedi

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yeah, todays group session was cool 🙂

[url= http://ukbikeskills.blogspot.com/2010/02/group-session-at-glentress.html ]gluptons group session[/url]

Posted : 22/02/2010 11:41 pm

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