• This topic has 31 replies, 24 voices, and was last updated 8 years ago by jedi.
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  • Who to do skills course with down south
  • mark88
    Full Member

    I’m getting vouchers for a skills course for christmas. I like the idea of doing it somewhere where I’m able to ride the trails again, so that rules out Jedi. Who else is recommended in the south of England?
    I know there’s a few people in Surrey Hills, or Pro Ride at FoD but don’t know much about them.

    danti
    Full Member

    Why is it important to ride the trails again?

    You’ll be riding the trail plenty of times if you go with Jedi and like a lot of people on here I’d recommend him over anyone else.

    If you go away from the day (with your head fried in a nice way!) and then practice as much and as soon as you can afterwards that’s what most people do.

    khani
    Free Member

    Jedi, I’ve never used him but I’ve not heard a bad word said about him either..

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    mark88
    Full Member

    Why is it important to ride the trails again?

    Because I know with a decent coach I’d hit jumps and drops I normally wouldn’t try, so I want to do it somewhere where I will actually ride again.
    Getting a bit of local knowledge on the whereabouts of some good trails wouldn’t be a bad thing either!

    peteimpreza
    Full Member

    Jedi

    Gotama
    Free Member

    If you’re doing 1-2-1 then maybe worth dropping pro ride an email as I think one of their instructors is an ex-local to surrey hills and may be willing to do it there instead of FoD if it’s closer. There was an article about him in this quarters Cranked mag, albeit I can’t for the life of me remember his name.

    Interested in this as I’m also dithering a skills day for jumps as my jumping technique involves pace and no technique which, now I’m doing bigger jumps, is going to soon cause me a painful issue I suspect.

    mark88
    Full Member

    If you’re doing 1-2-1 then maybe worth dropping pro ride an email as I think one of their instructors is an ex-local to surrey hills and may be willing to do it there instead of FoD if it’s closer. There was an article about him in this quarters Cranked mag, albeit I can’t for the life of me remember his name.

    Ben Deakin? I don’t get Cranked but there was a feature with him on Pinkbike recently. I’d guess a 1-2-1 session is out of budget for a Christmas present. I’d happily ride FoD more next year so don’t mind heading there.

    dithering a skills day for jumps as my jumping technique involves pace and no technique which, now I’m doing bigger jumps

    My issue is I used to be alright at jumps and drops, but my confidence has dwindled in recent years.

    FunkyDunc
    Free Member

    Because I know with a decent coach I’d hit jumps and drops I normally wouldn’t try

    But that’s where your logic doesn’t stack up. Skills courses are about learning new skills. At the moment you don’t have the skill to hit a jump on your local trail. Once you have been Jedi’d and have the skill to do a jump, its irrelevant where that jump is.

    I did a skills course in an area where I haven’t ridden before, and thought I would get to experience the local trails. You don’t. Its a skills course so you end up repeating a section to learn the new skill. Otherwise you would just be paying for someone to take you out for a ride.

    I really think you need to think it through in your mind what a skills course is actually about.

    I live ooop north and went for a northern skills course. Now I wish I had just travelled to Jedi, no brainer if I lived even nearer!

    Gotama
    Free Member

    Ben Deakin? I don’t get Cranked but there was a feature with him on Pinkbike recently. I’d guess a 1-2-1 session is out of budget for a Christmas present. I’d happily ride FoD more next year so don’t mind heading there.

    Sorry, yes, you’re quite right, that’s where I had read it, not in Cranked.

    mark88
    Full Member

    From what I’ve seen from Jedi’s footage, the jumps and drops all look quite easy (there may be far more than the few clips I’ve seen though). I spent years riding dirt jumps, I can still hit the jumps on most trails, I just completely freeze when they start getting bigger. I don’t think riding jumps that I would already do will help me get over that.

    You don’t. Its a skills course so you end up repeating a section to learn the new skill. Otherwise you would just be paying for someone to take you out for a ride.

    Fair enough, hadn’t actually thought about that. I had snowboard lessons in mind where we would cruise around hitting different things. If there was anything new, scary or challenging coming up the instructor would then explain and show us before we tried.

    wilko1999
    Free Member

    I’ve been to Jedi and he was awesome, I’ve taken the stuff he taught me and applied it to my local trails hitting drops and gaps I never thought I would do. It really doesn’t matter on what trails you do the coaching but I kind of understand your point about riding them again. I’ve heard good things about Pro-ride guides at FoD. Also Katy Curd does coaching at FoD and quite a few of our club members have been coached by her with only good things to report.

    deadkenny
    Free Member

    Whether somewhere like Jedi’s place or somewhere local (I’ll give a shout for Richard Kelly / B1KE for Surrey Hills 🙂 ), if what you take away is only how to ride *those* trails/jumps then it still may not help anywhere else.

    Will say with Jedi, yes you get loads of confidence on his set up and while that may not translate to your local trails, his work is on the mind. I find that’s the most useful thing aside from the general skills which don’t take long to learn and translate to anything. The mind skills are key but you really need to go away and practice, practice, practice. It’s taken me a long time to progress as I ended up just riding the same old stuff each week, rather than practicing certain things. Things are clicking more into place now though and I seem to get a sudden boost in confidence at times and hit stuff I wouldn’t normally. Overall though my riding has been a lot more controlled since his course, rather than blindly charging in and making mistakes.

    chakaping
    Free Member

    From what I’ve seen from Jedi’s footage, the jumps and drops all look quite easy (there may be far more than the few clips I’ve seen though). I spent years riding dirt jumps, I can still hit the jumps on most trails, I just completely freeze when they start getting bigger. I don’t think riding jumps that I would already do will help me get over that.

    Is a group skills course going to give you what you want anyway?

    Maybe a half-day one-to-one would work better?

    blairc70
    Free Member

    +1 for Jedi, whatever level your at, he’ll improve you, there are larger drops/jumps not shown on most of the videos.

    willard
    Full Member

    I’d have to agree. Jedi’s very good at building you up and some of the stuff he has at his place is scary as hell. Until he’s shown you how to ride it and then it doesn’t seem so bad.

    ceepers
    Full Member

    Might be too far west but Tony from evolvemtb works out of Haldon and is an excellent teacher and brilliant value (£40 for 3 hrs of one to one!)

    Ive learnt loads on the two sessions I’ve done

    _tom_
    Free Member

    My issue is I used to be alright at jumps and drops, but my confidence has dwindled in recent years.

    Exactly why I went to Tony/UK Bike Skills and my riding still keen progressing 4 years later! I haven’t had a big crash since my session despite pushing my comfort zone 🙂 best money I’ve ever spent on something bike related.

    Onzadog
    Free Member

    I didn’t like the idea of the closed course nature of what Jedi does but having heard such great things I thought I’d give it a go.

    The way he coaches means he’s not teaching you to ride “his” stuff. He’s helping you explore how to apply fundamentals that can be used anywhere. I’ve seen three different coaches as client and if the other two can be called coaches, we need to find another word for Jedi as what he does is completely different.

    mark88
    Full Member

    Cheers all. I’ll have a look this evening.

    phil40
    Free Member

    Jedi, Jedi and JEDI!!!!

    I went a couple of months ago and it transformed my riding! As everyone else has said, it is more the mind skills he enables you to develop that is key! I ride things and it is starting to become instinctive that I ask myself 4 questions!

    On the whole question of some of his set up being tame……….trust me there is stuff there that my my ring twitch just looking at it!

    I didn’t get onto any of the massive stuff it wasn’t where I wanted to get to) but I rode something that had me shaking with adrenaline afterwards and I would never have tried without his coaching!

    TurnerGuy
    Free Member

    From what I experienced Jedi looks to see how you seem to want to learn/do learn and then plays to that, which is why he seems to be effective for everyone.

    colournoise
    Full Member

    +another for Tony. Whatever level you’re at his place has stuff that will progress you, from beginners jumps and trails to vertical dirt, big old jumps and gaps, and more woodwork than a lumberjack’s wet dream.

    But the big thing you will take away is (as has been said) a set of mental skills that will apply to any trail you want to ride. What I like is that while I might not have got much quicker, I do feel I have got WAY smoother and more ‘flowy’ which for me means more fun as I feel more in control on sketchy stuff rather than just being a passenger and hanging on and hoping.

    TurnerGuy
    Free Member

    Somewhat conversely, and based on only one session, I picked up more technical stuff than mental, probably as I had already been through the committing to stuff when learning to ski to a reasonable level.

    So now I am maybe more ‘flowy’ but mostly because I know where I have to put the bike and move on the bike in order to ride better. Although I had read techy stuff before hand I now have a better appreciation of what is happening when watching a good rider.

    Tony could see this is the sort of info I was after, and that is how he taught, without me specifically asking for it.

    MTB-Rob
    Free Member

    there is also Katy Curd, think she coaches FOD

    benpinnick
    Full Member

    Lots of friends recommend Tony. I think I see where you’re coming from though in terms of riding your local trails.

    FWIW I think Ben Deakin would be a good shout – if only for the fact its probably worth just paying for a day riding with him. The guy’s a legend. He’s also one of the fastest people I know and one of those people I would genuinely like to be able to ride like. I can’t comment on his coaching ability but I can definitely say it would be worth the money 🙂

    njee20
    Free Member

    But that’s where your logic doesn’t stack up. Skills courses are about learning new skills. At the moment you don’t have the skill to hit a jump on your local trail. Once you have been Jedi’d and have the skill to do a jump, its irrelevant where that jump is.

    I disagree. I went to Jedi, he was excellent, and I did some jumps and drops I’d not have done previously. However that didn’t translate into an ability to do similar jumps I didn’t previously on trails I knew. The environment Tony has is great, and it made me a better rider, but I can understand why you’d want to do it on familiar trails.

    benpinnick
    Full Member

    I also meant to say that Ben Deakin is only Bournemouth and rides SH alot so no doubt he would be happy to come up to either.

    carlphillips
    Free Member

    Jay Williamson does skills days at Gawton gravity hub in Devon
    great venue and fantastic rider/coach.

    Rob Webb does 1:2:1 sessions at Puddletown or Wareham Forest in Dorset.

    Details

    timidwheeler
    Free Member

    I’ve been to Jedi and he was very good. I’ve also been to Tom at Chicksands and his coaching was very similar and also very good. Most recently I went to see Ian at B1ke. He was equally good.

    Jedi’s closed environment is nice if you are a bit self conscious. However having a lesson at Chicksands opened up a new venue to me. I would never have considered riding there if I hadn’t had a lesson there first.
    I had my lesson with Ian on my local trails at Aston Hill. The benefit of that is I could ask him about specific features that I had trouble with and got him to coach me on them. The following week I went back and practiced what he had taught me.

    I should add that Ian and Tom are considerably easier to book a free session with. Tony had to be booked months in advance.

    deadkenny
    Free Member

    njee20 – Member
    However that didn’t translate into an ability to do similar jumps I didn’t previously on trails I knew. The environment Tony has is great, and it made me a better rider, but I can understand why you’d want to do it on familiar trails.

    I found the stuff I already had a mental block on, I still had a mental block on. It’s daft as there are many I’ll chicken out of and yet looking at them I’ve done others similar without a problem. I really need to go session them. I usually avoid the suggestion when in a group as I’m not so confident with people standing around watching.

    jedi
    Full Member

    Thank for the recommends guys. honoured

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