Wholistic Fitness

“When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe.”
– John Muir

Today was Session 3 of our St. Columba 5th Grader MTB Camp.

After Bike and Helmet Check and splashing $10 in chain lubricant over the kids chains?  i signaled ever awes(om)e Assistant Coach B to roll the kidz over Main Ave to Triangle Park (technically? Fassbinder Park, yet it is shaped as a Triangle so…) 

whereupon:

•) Free Ride for 10-minutes around the Park, coached them to ride around the trees especially on the side they did not want to!
•) Clinic on the Types of Cornering on a MTB:  Flat, Bermed, and Uphill (Switchbacks)
•) Clinic on the PRIORITIES of Cornering Safely and Fast:   1) Traction!   2) How to provide best traction to your tires? Stand on outside pedal which ‘automatically’ lifts the inside pedal and opens the inside hip.   3) Shift hips over outside leg and lean the bike to the inside!  4) CHOOSE YOUR LINE!   we clinic’d OUTSIDE LINES and INSIDE LINES and how best to approach them.  5) Slalom Challenge; i set a slalom course through 5 Trees  and established a Finish Line which all participants had to match.  6) Bike Throw;  taught the kids how to throw their bike across the Finish Line, they LOVED this feeling.
•) rode pavement up to Overend Mountain Trailhead (this bought us time for the slower riders to enjoy the pristine singletrack of Slime Gulch and allow time for short intervals)
•) Short Intervals:  longer than last week up the Ditch:  i established an 18-second effort toward which the kids could match up against…after 3 Repeats it was Dewa and Langdon at 22 seconds.  The Gummy Bear Award however, went to…Eli whose pedal kept coming off yet?  he remained stalwart in the participation

{ NOTE TO 5th GRADE PARENTS:  it is imperative that you do what must be done to have a Mountain Bike in safe, solid, working working order..otherwise, like today,  the coach’s must spend a lot of time fixing/repairing your child’s mountain bike while the other kids just wait around.  contact me for more ways to help make sure your kids’ pony is ready to roll!} 

•) Snack Time… hilarious.  Situational humor… your kids are AWES(om)E!!!
•) Slime Gulch endurance ride with periodic regroups to discuss terrain features, route names, how to hammer up short risers because, “sometimes? safety is in our speed!”
•) rode to Bridge;  see vid below…we were not able to make it this far last week.  this week? GOAL ACC(om)PLISHED!
•) OMG!  such a sweet, fluid flow descent to TH!   SUPER PROUD OF HOW the kids were opening their inside hip, flattening their pedals during transitions and keep their heads up…all of which will REALLY HELP keep your kids safe and sound on the trails in the decades ahead!
•) rode pavement back to Fish Hatchery SingleTrack
•) slower riders went straight back to Viles Park while stronger riders did Elimination Hill Repeats up Library Hill (Kudo’s to Dewa and Annie and Parker who finished out the Hill Sprint podium;  the boyz have some fast twitch fiber work to bridge the gap to these very talented girls!
•) closing ceremony

Click here to see a vid of our Slime Gulch bridge crossing…