From time to time I get asked if we run lessons in other places other than Rotorua. I was contacted by Ride Coromandel to run a day of lessons for their female (wahine) riders. Here it is – Wahine on Wheels
Share this with your friends and organise us to come to your local trails
Firstly, I would like to thank all of you who were involved in an awesome day. Justin and his team have an amazing trail network at the Whangamatā MTB Park that just keeps getting better. A huge thanks to Ally for reaching out to get me involved in this awesome initiative.
We had a great turnout with 22 Wahine joining in on a session over the day.
All of the sessions were slightly different, tailored to all of the different abilities of the girls/ladies.
In the morning with the young girls we didn’t venture too far from HQ and made use of the most accessible and short trails in the area riding the following..
Grundie Grinder to figure out a little riding etiquette, Nakahi where we worked on trail scanning, before working on the gravel skid site and Ki Ranga where we practised some body position, braking and front-wheel lifts (for those that were confident) and ate a few jelly worms.
During the next session with the young ladies we rode a little further.
We started out on Grundie Grinder to get us across to Ki Ranga, again working on body position, then we took this up to J-Line where we practised some bike body separation – having the bike move around independently from our body.
Then we move on to Pipi Run to put it all into practice and add in some basic cornering – Line & speed, scanning, and exiting.
The afternoon session with the Ladies was a breath of fresh air for some with gusty conditions! The idea was to get techy. We did, just on the fundamentals so that we could rid of some bad habits that were out there, debunk some myths, and lay the groundwork for some good progression.
We rode Grundie Grinder to the skid site where we looked at our stance when riding. We gave it a little practice on Ki Ranga before heading to the top of J-Line where we did some braking on the gravel at the top. This built confidence and trust in the ladies brakes. Then we dropped into J-Line to practice the same bike-body separation that we did in the session before to learn how to maintain speed and traction before heading out on Junior Down. On Junior down we stoped to check out a little rollable drop where we could apply the “squash” technique to drops as well as rollers. Then we were out of time and back at HQ.
Whangamatā is worth checking out. Beautiful beaches, surf, walks and MOUNTAIN BIKING!
Whangamatā has flown under the radar for long enough. The Whangamatā MTB Park has some amazing trails that are really accessible. If you are up for an adventure, you can always check out the trails that are out the back. The trails are all on TrailForks.com and the place is really well sign posted and maintained. If you are on the great NZ road trip, or just looking for a new place to go mountain biking in New Zealand – this is worth at least a day of exploration!
If you are wondering if I will make the trip out to your local trails to run some lessons get in touch below or send me an email!