teaching kids to ride MTB

[rudi-h]

I went to ride in Louis Trichardt yesterday and was truly amazed to see how much effort and dedication goes into MTB for the highschool kids up there.  There were 3 cars full of grown-ups with weed eaters, rakes and spades preparing tracks for the highschool XCO season starting in a few weeks.  Great to see and truly amazing work that the guys are doing.  The kids were out on their bikes riding, playing and helping out here and there with the route.  They also offered to show me around, so I rode some of their favorite tracks with them.

 

So although I'm tempted to write a long rave about what I experienced out there in the Soutpansberg yesterday, this thread isn't about that.

 

The kids are great, they seem fit and excited (excitement being the most important), but they lack confidence on the technical stuff.  They have trails with a few pretty rough rock gardens and a handful of dropoffs of say ~400mm to ~600mm nicely built with wooden pallets and clean landings, but none of the kids there on the day would ride it.  The most confident kid there said that he tried it before but gave it up after a bad fall a few months ago.  I had a quick look at their setups and all of them have very aggressive HT race bikes, flat bars, low stem angles and cleat pedals.  I get the merits of racing with such a setup, but are we grooming the kids too fast for speed and performance?  They even opted to remove the rather cool drop-off section (there is a non-technical B-line) from the course because they reckon the kids won't be able to ride it.

 

If I can go back in time, I would have spent a lot more time as a kid learning how to hop, wheelie, manual, jump and corner and less time on getting my FTP that extra 5 Watt higher...  I asked them what they do in terms of skills training and they said they don't do any.  I'm not blaming the coaches / parents / teachers, because skills coaches don't grow on trees, and a lot of people that cycle might not deem skills as important as I do, but maybe those parents and teachers involved should encourage the kids to spend say 25% of their riding time (or at least a 1-hour session per week) with flat pedals and dropped saddles so that they can gain confidence and skills on the bike.  Perhaps it's even worthwhile for a school to buy a jump bike or a trials bike that can be used as a pool bike for the kids to use for practice?

 

What do other schools do and how good are the skills of the kids out there in general?

[Oufy MTB (Roadie)]

My 7, 6 and 3 year old plays around at the Bike Park in Constantia, I just let them have fun, they ride over rocks, drop off, think sand and everything. I just make sure they don't do stuff not meant for them. I found it is better to leave them, otherwise they overthink things. I can see their skills improving automatically, the one figured out it is better to stand over the rock garden as opposed to remain being seated. The older boys are also figuring out how the gears worked. They actually a bit slower now that they figured out how the brakes work. I suppose there will come a time where a coach can accelerate/enhance things but I think the key is that they must have exposure to the terrain and ride often. Then they learn from watching the older boys doing their stuff. So investment should rather first go into trails/tracks, kids are uncomplicated and can learn alot on their own

[mrcg]

Nice story.

It's what i "preach" every day: skills before speed!

It's how we learnt back in the day on our bmx'. Experience the ins and outs of riding and LEARNING.

However, it is very easy to learn incorrect skills. So instead of leaving the kids to learn and experience, I advocate to give some basics and then let them go and experience. To re-teach/re-learn is always extra work.

Try to get a proper coach in or study Youtube instructional videos. Unfortunately there are too many adults out there who do not know correct techniques either (because nobody showed them either, as witnessed on the tracks every day).

Good luck to the all the kids....our future on the tracks.

[Milkman]

I agree with you , up to a point . The problem is more a financial one , I think . Most parents can hardly afford 1 bike for their children , never mind 2 .

And its a lot easier to try and ride a hardtail with a racing setup through technical stuff ( even if you don't do it successfully ) than it is to try and race a BMX or something similar in an XCO race , so the kids have to try and make do with what they have . The schools races are also not technical at all ( the aim of the organizers is " kids on bikes " and not technical riding - their aim is to grow the sport ) , I should know . I've got an XCO track on my farm and they've had the Spur series here for the last 2 years . We've had to close all the "A " lines for the races and the kids did not even have the option of "A" or "B" lines - only "B" lines . Once the kids progress from the school series , they can try their hand at the SA Cups and do the technical racing there .

[Milkman]

Something interesting - North West province is one of the flattest provinces with probably the fewest mountain bikers ( bar Northern Cape ) in our country ,,,, and yet they've managed to win the Spur High school National champs for the past 2 years . Makes a person wonder ??

[WrightJnr]

If I could turn back the clock a few years I would have definitely started my boys first at BMX. Although they do both now (XC MTB and BMX) it's the BMX that's making the biggest difference.

 

The fundamentals of BMX, Cadence, Pumping, Manualing, Jumping will carry them into every wheeled sport they end up doing....,For life!

 

And what other sport do you get to line up in the gate next to our Olympians every other weekend. Cheap as chips, almost zero maintenance and fun!

 

BMX, BMX, BMX.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Imploder]

I think you mean something like this:

 

[rudi-h]

I agree with you , up to a point . The problem is more a financial one , I think . Most parents can hardly afford 1 bike for their children , never mind 2 .

And its a lot easier to try and ride a hardtail with a racing setup through technical stuff ( even if you don't do it successfully ) than it is to try and race a BMX or something similar in an XCO race , so the kids have to try and make do with what they have . The schools races are also not technical at all ( the aim of the organizers is " kids on bikes " and not technical riding - their aim is to grow the sport ) , I should know . I've got an XCO track on my farm and they've had the Spur series here for the last 2 years . We've had to close all the "A " lines for the races and the kids did not even have the option of "A" or "B" lines - only "B" lines . Once the kids progress from the school series , they can try their hand at the SA Cups and do the technical racing there .

 

I get what you're saying, I'm just trying to put myself back 20 years and day-dreaming about what i'd do different if i were to have it all over again...  and wishing I'd REALLY learnt to ride a bike is definitely high up on my list.

 

I don't think its about having two bikes, but rather about which bike to buy in the first place.  Just because Nino Schurter rides a pure bred racing machine seems to let people think that it's the obvious choice for anyone rolling onto a XCO course.

 

To stay within a similar budget, maybe keep it a hardtail, but perhaps try something with a slacker head angle or at least a riser bar and keep a set of flat pedals spare when practicing the harder parts of the course.

[Red Robin]

Not sure about other areas but in JHB there are a few child specific skills clinics which might be useful. They still keep it lots of fun (which at the end of the day is what is most important)  but teach them how to do stuff properly.

[davidwaan72@gmail.com]

To help you along the process of introducing your child to mountain biking, I've put together a list of seven helpful tips to ensure success.

• TALK TO THEM. ...
• FIND A SUITABLE BIKE. ...
• GET STARTED (BUT SLOWLY). ...
• start riding off-road. ...
• 5. go easy on them. ...
• facing difficult trails. ...
• technical riding.

 

Regards: IT Support Services Africa

[ChrisF]

.....

 

What do other schools do and how good are the skills of the kids out there in general?

 

The SPUR series have had a massive impact on cycling in schools over the last decade !!    

 

This series is now firmly alligned with "Schools Cycling South Africa" - http://schoolscyclingsa.co.za/

 

They are in turn firmly alligned with their regional branches (hope I have the terminology correct).  In the Western Cape we have the "Western Cape Schools Cycling" actively involved with the SPUR series.

 

 

In fact, this office is actively involved with the SPUR, XCO and other schools cycling series. 

 

 

It is a MAMMOTH task to get the schools and parents on board, and up to speed ....  Over the last 24 months I have seen how they have fine tuned the rules, and now issue this long before the start of the series.  Tomorrow a host of parents and teachers are offering up their Friday afternoon to attend training to be officials at the series.

 

BACK TO YOUR QUESTION - More training is planned for the coaches.

 

 

Most of the established schools have cycling coaches, some even hire in professional coaches to hone the skills of their top riders.  In 2019 I hosted a couple of sessions for kids of our school to show them the basics of riding skills, at Bloemendal.  Frankly, the parents were the ones that learnt the most at these sessions .... BIG difference between "Staying on your bike in the park" vs venturing out onto a MTB trail.  Cant wait for WCSC to host the coaches trainer session, certainly want to attend this.

 

 

EDIT - I do agree with the previous posters.  Show the kids the basics, then let them have FUN.  On the second outing I ask for 5 minutes to check the very basics, then let them loose on the pump track to have FUN.  When dealing with 7 and 8 year olds it should be fun     Enough time later to become racing snakes.

 

 

So YES, what you saw with some kids lacking the very basic skills is a reality.  Thankfully there are a few dedicated people spending all their free time to helping the young ones to get safely into this sport.

 

 

 

May I extend a challenge to the many very good riders on the Hub ... please follow up with your kid's school ... do they take part in the SPUR series (It only takes ONE email to start taking part - http://schoolscyclingsa.co.za/#partners) .... do they have an experienced rider that can help the young riders ?  How about helping out one Saturday every second month ?

Edited March 5, 2020 by ChrisF

[quintonb]

 

If I could turn back the clock a few years I would have definitely started my boys first at BMX. Although they do both now (XC MTB and BMX) it's the BMX that's making the biggest difference.

 

The fundamentals of BMX, Cadence, Pumping, Manualing, Jumping will carry them into every wheeled sport they end up doing....,For life!

 

And what other sport do you get to line up in the gate next to our Olympians every other weekend. Cheap as chips, almost zero maintenance and fun!

 

BMX, BMX, BMX.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk[/quote

 

Couldn't agree more. It's the best foundation you can give your kid.

My kids "raced" bmx for about 18 months. Just a pity it's such a small sport and they lost interest because there were only 3 of them in their age group. I would encourage the any parent to go this route.