NEW TO MTB PART 3 - BUILDING CONFIDENCE

Becoming one with the contours and flora of your surroundings isn’t just reserved for the hippy trail...

- Andy Barlow

Believing in your ability gives you so much more confidence when you ride. You can commit to tricky lines, feel safer on larger obstacles, and ultimately go faster without feeling threatened or defensive. Why is it so difficult then, to just ‘be more confident when we’re out riding our bikes? After all, it’s all in our heads, right?

In this article we’re going to look at specific skills and techniques that will lead to a feeling of control. Spend enough time deliberately practising them and in time you will feel more confident on even the most intimidating of trails.

THE CULTURE OF PRACTISE

People say that practise makes perfect, but practise actually makes permanent. If you’re using the wrong technique every time you ride, then you’re getting deeper into a rut and the only thing you’re getting better at is managing your poor technique. In order to make solid, productive progress you need to be practising the correct technique. This will be frustrating at first because you’ll need to be conscious of pursuing something specific, but if you do this enough times then your deliberately well practised good technique will become automatic.

THE COACH ANDY BARLOW

Before joining Dirt School Andy liked to win things – races like the Scottish XC Champs and the Scottish Downhill Champs. Since 2009, though, he’s coached some of the world’s best riders with Dirt School and helped bring on the BASE MTB course at Borders College lege in the Tweed Valley. But what Andy really likes to do is communicate those pro techniques to everyday rider rs.

AN EMPTY CAR PARK