This last May, SBMTV participated in Santa Barbara County’s 5th Annual CycleMaynia. SBMTV’s IMBA certified mountain bike instructors, Michael Blake and Chris Orr led two mountain bike skills clinic at Elings Park.
The first clinic, a women’s skills clinic, was attended by 11 women with diverse skill levels from beginner to advanced. Blake and Orr emphasized body english and balance by running the women through exercises designed to improve the riders body position, braking, shifting, climbing and bike/body separation abilities.
During the three hour session confidence levels, bolstered by the instructors support and encouragement, rose among all of the women. At the conclusion of the day participant Liz Caruso was heard saying, “”I just did some things on my bike that I would have been terrified of before this class!” .
Six men attended the open clinic which followed the women’s. With a 1 to 3 instructor to participant ratio, Blake and Orr were able to perform skills analysis on each participant and tailor their teaching to the needs of the riders. Both clinics were of value to the students and instructors and everybody, regardless of their skill levels, came away knowing something new.
Look to the SBMTV website for more skills clinics coming in the near future. Come join in and invite your friends who have been
wanting to improve their skills or get into mountain biking. Let them know about their chance to come to clinics and get involved with SBMTV and its trail advocacy work.
- Nichol
