“Ed doesn’€™t reconstruct your riding, instead he focusses you on a few moves to make it somewhat more fit for purpose. Firstly a more open body position combined with better management of speed before letting it all hang out on technical sections. This act of faith to abandon the binders means taking more direct lines and committing 100% to the terrain. There’s some soundbites around “€˜chin up, elbows out”˜ but it’€™s more subtle than that.”

More great feedback on a blog, this time from Alex who came up to ride Hebden Bridge with two mates. This was a private booking and we did an Alpine Prep course specially tailored for the group of 3. We looked at pumping the trail, carrying speed, manual, bunny hop and drop offs as well as steep switch back corners and other ace mountain biking stuff.

As always with these courses I try to build on what is good about the way the guys are riding and then make tweeks and add in good technique where it’s missing. Then we ride lots of trails, have a good lunch, ride more and drink some fine ales to finish.

You can read the full blog here.

 

We’ve got loads of different flat pedal shoes now to choose from and most of them are good. This means that we can be a bit choosy depending on what particular features we like best. There is now choice in level of grip, stiffness of sole, how quick they dry and what they look like. These Giro Jacket shoes tick all my boxes.

The Vibram sole has plenty of grip. The fit is good and matches my usual shoe size. I particularly like the fit of the heel cup which keeps your foot securely in the shoe even when hike-a-biking up steep mountains or hillocks. There can be a fair bit of walking especially if you go off ‘pass storming’ and the Jackets are dead comfy on and off the bike. They also look like shoes I would want to wear, rather than some Buy Viagra sort of perverted sportswear product. Mine are the black shoes by the way, Benji Haworth has the ones with the more eye catching/distracting laces!

You get a good feel through the soles of what the bike is doing, but they are not too soft and flexy. This makes them nice to pedal in as well as giving you a bit more support and reducing fatigue I found.

When they get wet, which in the UK is on most rides, they are not too difficult to get dry again. Stuffed with newspaper and left at a respectable distance from the fire or radiator, they will dry over night.

Overall then I’ve found my new favourite flat pedal shoes. Grippier than Tevas with a stiffer sole than Five Ten Freeriders, plus they dry pretty quickly and look tidy.

RRP £89.99

More here on the Giro site.

It’s a great part of the job to see people progress on a skills day and it’s very satisfying to see people as excited about riding bikes as I am. Often a couple of comments come back after the course by email, Twitter or Facebook. Don’t worry though it’s not compulsory!

Occasionally people go much further and write up their experiences on their blogs, finding this a good way to extend the learning process by reflecting on their riding experience. Recently Shann came along and paid his money to do the Stop Crashing Levels 1 and 2 course at Generic Cialis Gisburn Forest.

He says lots of nice things like the following…..

“By the end of the day I’m riding much more smoothly and feeling more in control of the bike.”

“What caused us some minor discussion was what level we should pitch ourselves at.”

“Even the most minor of tips seems to be a revelation to me when put into practice.”

“The afternoon saw Ed push me and a few others out of our comfort zones.”

……and if you’d like to read the whole blog you can find it here:

http://trailtothetrail.wordpress.com/2013/04/25/tuition-from-ed-oxley-a-review-and-thoughts/