Sneddon Pedals Cycle Coaching

The Mountain Bike School is back! 🚵‍♂️💨

On the 20th of November we have the next session in Rostrevor MTB Trails with Iain Sneddon looking after both groups!

Book online here!👇🏼
https://tommymagmtb.com/mtb-school

Jump skills 101. Matthew demonstrating perfect technique and lots of progression.

We get asked loads of questions about jumps both from riders looking to start getting a bit of air, aswell as from those who are well experienced and want to progress their airtime.

Key focus for this session is straight lines - riding in a perfectly straight line from the run in, stay straight and true in the air and then touchdown with both wheels and use 'natural suspension to absorb the landing, all with equal weight distribution on the bike. If you watch back here you can see a faint vertical line in the ground, our rider tracks that line throughout, using perfect form and technique!

Although this isn't the first step to mastering small jumps, it is very important to practice the basics and get comfortable with them before even attempting to leave the ground on a bike!

More jumps progression to follow, watch this space!

Super proud of our wee girl tonight.

Cailey, at 4 years old, and having only just started riding the track independently herself, had the opportunity to lead a convoy of over 40 women and children around the full track tonight. Here she is here leading the way.

Proud of you little one, keep on showing them how its done!

More track practice tonight ahead of the club race on Sunday.

Class kids, well stoked and keen to learn.

They seemed to to ride faster with whippet Lucy snapping at their heels style!

How's your balance?

Another kids and parent session at the weekend working on simple bike control, showing you don't need lots of equipment to get a bit of practice in!

A relaxed body position is necessary here to keep the bike going where you want.

Eyes up
Elbows out
Stay in control

Yesterday's session was a long one, 3 hours 1:1 with Martin.

Having a good understanding and solid foundation of basic bike skills can go a long way to helping you develop as a rider. Good purposeful practice was the aim of the day where we discussed using a number of different techniques for a range of scenarios on the trail.

Here we can see good application of the "squash and pop" method to overcome a simulated trail obstacle, which allows our rider to maintain good speed and flow throughout. Its worthwhile noting here that this method can be applied to many other situations on the trail, including cornering!

Again, this was a progressive session where we started small and built up, gaining confidence and understanding each time. Its great to see such progress in a relatively short time period and being able to help riders achieve things they thought were otherwise impossible is what we are all about!

Keep on riding folks!

After watching the kids absolutely send it all day on our jumps masterclass it would have been rude not to have a go myself, with an added obstacle in for good measure!

Focus points -

Control the nerves, either fully commit or back out in good time, and when going past the point of no return it is important to remain composed and confident throughout.

Good long run in, set up straight and keep the bike nice and level.

Good emphasis on posture here, using arms and legs as "natural suspension" to allow the bike to move up and down as necessary. Watch back and see how little movement there is in the upper body area. Even though there's lots of up and down movement from the bike, my head and shoulders remain on a level plain.

Any requests for skills breakdown vids please comment below!

Jumps session with the little rippers!

Here is Nathan, 5 years old and giving us a great example of good jumping technique. Good use of the ready position and in plenty time to set up before take off, speed judged correctly and staying in control and composed in the air.

Session began looking at preparation for jumps, using good body position on the run in. We progressed to sessioning some bigger jumps and looking at different scenarios for landing back wheel, front wheel, or both wheels.

Great day and well done everyone!

A quick lesson this morning looking at 2 wheel precision followed by some practical application on some steeper descents.

The aim of this session is to promote a natural position on the bike while riding steeper terrain, progressing to maneuvering the bike through the cones to simulate a tighter section of trail.

Points to note -

Allow yourself a good run in and aim to be prepared well in advance of the steep section

Ready position is key here, heels down and elbows out, chin up and look ahead

It should be expected that the bike will slide as you apply brakes to control your speed on steep descents, especially in the wet. Stay relaxed and allow the bike to move beneath you.

Great way to spend a morning, cheers guys!