LADIES' TRAINING DAY : 14 NOVEMBER 2010

How good is your eye sight. Some of us "ladies" might want to consider joining in.

Please put my name down , thanks Pete , unless you become full (since I have had training with you) 

Awesome!! Know a few ladies keen on doing the training with you... Will pass your contact details onto them. Is it ok if they're not yet part of the club as they're still just getting into the game?

Please put my name down, Pete. 

Hi Pete, would the training be primarily basic, or will there be an intermediate option as well? If the latter, then I will definitely be interested.

Cheers
Karin

Unless you actually use Bella you're going to have to stop calling yourself that!!!

Some of the ladies are real  beginners and others have some experience and are quite good riders like Erica and Renette, so we'll have two groups, however I'm not sure what "Intermediate" elements you'd be interested in.

We shall definitely tailor the training to accommodate the needs of the majority though.

Julie and a number of women have expressed fear at riding downhill.  I wouldn't mind taking Julie around the top vineyard a few times to practise slow descents.  Depends on if she is available though.  But I would be happy to help out with the training.

Hey Pete

Well, I still have (and regularly use) the lovely Bella but will think of another name... hmmm, perhaps something like HaH (Hooligan at Heart)

I was thinking of a few practical "intermediate" skills that we got introduced to at the Klipbokkop intermediate course, but don't get a chance to practise regularly or in a safe environment:

* Tackling steep uphills and downhills
* Changing direction on said steep uphills and downhills
* Stopping / starting / bike recovery on a steep uphill
* Obstacles; lifting the front wheel to get over small obstacles
* Step-ups and step-downs

Eg picture the scene 1:
You are riding with your buddies on Biltin Farm. They dont wait for you at the turn-off to the nice flat gravel road inbetween the vineyards, and you keep going up the mountain (something sounds familiar here). After a few hundred meters you realise the road is fast dwindling to a single track; it has gotten steeper with lots of loose gravel, and your buddies are definitely not ahead of you. So now you have to turn around and go back down the hill. (a) The path is too narrow and you have to do the clutch-in-and-release-a-click-at-a-time exercise (b) There is a wide open spot and you think you can ride the bike around even though you have failed consistently to ride cones successfully for the past year, let alone on an off-camber hill... will your enthusiasm at attempting the exercise equal your skills levels?

Picture the scene 2:
You are having a lovely day with your riding buddies, en route to Doer-en-Gone. Suddently you come across a sloot, too deep/steep to ride through, but only a metre wide. Your buddies refuse to put their bikes down in the sloot so that you can ride over them (tut tut), and the only way across is to do a little jump (quite doable, the sloot is not too wide). How do you do that.

Picture the scene 3:
Tankwa-Karoo had some rain. You get there after everything has dried up again, but now there are a few river crossings where you have to drop a foot or so into the riverbed, cross the lovely sandy river bed (we'll ignore that as Biltin does not have sand), and get your front wheel up onto the bank on the other side

Picture the scene 4:
Your novice buddy puts his  bike down while riding up a gravel pass with nice tight, steep switchbacks with lots of lekker loose gravel in the corners. How do you stop your bike, pick up his bike, and get going again, preferably without breaking a sweat...

And so on ;-)

Thanks Charles

Hi Bella , the more one does training especially at a great venue like Bilton which offers everything , like up and down- hills, the more one builds up confidence to deal with difficult scenarios.  And Pete is very good at it.  So come join us on this course and then you are free to also do another Country Trax intermediate course to learn some more of the advanced scenarios stated by you .

I kid you not.  Everything you mentioned requires having the basics down.  And that means cones.  Even the sand course requires cones - when I did it, they split the group into advanced and beginner groups by making us ride through cones.

So, on one hand I'd be keen to help with stuff like that - on the other, if you can't do cones you are risking your bike and your limbs.  Come practise with me some time and let's get it sorted.

Could not agree with you more! That's why I was kinda hoping Pete would include cones on off-camber hills or through sand/mud or on gravelly sections at this course if I asked nicely - but I would not recommend that someone who has never done cones go off and try them on a hill, which is why I asked what level(s) this course would cater for. It would be so nice if we could do some of the GS Challenge exercises?

We only touched on lifting the wheel & jumping a log/hole/ditch at Klipbokkop, and I find that I am now starting to ride routes that require those skills, hence my request if those would be included in this training session.  I've also never had to pick up a bike on a hill - learning that in training would be great.

There was also one exercise we did at Klipbok which was so much fun - the one in the "jumping quarry" where Lourens made us ride very slowly down a very steep hill, stop and balance, and then slide the rear wheel and use weight distribution on the foot pegs to turn the bike to the one side or the other. Was such a nice exercise, perhaps Biltin has a place where that one can be replicated?

Charles BTW - would love to come and ride cones with you anytime you do so; the more practise time the better. Keep me posted!

(PS Charles, agree 100% with a comment you made on another forum that dirt bike riding/training/playing should be compulsory for big off-road bikers (and perhaps even more so for ladies - so much easier <and FUN> throwing a light bike around)

PPS Rynet - yes would love to do Klipbokkop again but I'm not sure my bank manager will agree at this stage!

I so enjoy skills challenges - we can set up on at Billton and have a mini competition on the day if Pete is willing and we can get some props and help from experienced riders.  Might be tremendous fun for the ladies to get them going.

Sounds great!

I am enrolling my wife Jacky for the training day but will confirm tomorrow. We are both new members.

Regards

Richard Wantling

I've had more male members asking to help than I've had ladies signing up!!!  So thanks but no we don't need any helpers over and above those that I've already arranged (one of whom is likely to be a surprise on the day).

If all goes well, the training will be given by two of us who have at least 10 courses behind our name and one who is one of the most highly qualified trainers in the country.

This will be a day where there is no need for stress or apprehension about what you will be expected to handle, everything will be within your limits, with a degree of stretch to take you to your next level of riding.

Depending on skills levels and numbers on the day, I shall probably have 3 groups, ranging from total beginners, to riders with a little experience up to those who are a little more advanced, like Renette who was one of only two ladies prepared to do the skills challenge at CABC.

As soon as a rider has shown they are capable of managing the exercises they are given, they will be able to move to the next step and nobody is too good to start at the beginning :-)

For those who are comfortable, we'll go up the mountain and practice some of the techniques that Bella mentioned ... some higher than others - but no mud and no sand (we only have one day!!!)

Provisional list so far:

Heather
Anele (plus 2 other possibles)
Sharon
Rynet
Marita
Karin
Noeline
Jacky
Julie
Kirsten

A few others still need to check their diaries and will get back to me, so it looks at this early stage that we're going to have a busy Funday.

wow, all those ladies in one place, and I'm not invited.

I feel like crying.

Hi Peter

Count Jacky in.

Regards

Richard

Dusty Rusty from the WD forum is keen , will send her the details 

Thanks Rynet.

Here is the latest list for the training this coming Sunday at Bilton.  I shall be sending everyone an information email tomorrow with final details.