Most riders who stall do not lack courage. They lack a pair of eyes. You cannot see your own weight go backwards on a steep section, or your own gaze drop two metres in front of the wheel. Someone else can, in a second.
That is what a skills day is for. Here is what we work on, how the day runs, and what it costs.
Half of what blocks you is in the setup
The day starts with a round table and a spanner. Your level, your bike, what you want to unblock. Then suspension, saddle height and brake levers. Half the blockages come from there, and they get fixed before anyone has ridden a metre.
It is the least spectacular part of the day, and one of the most useful.
The video is where it usually clicks
We film you in the morning, on easy and repeatable ground. At lunch we watch it together. You see what you are doing, not what you think you are doing, and that gap is almost always bigger than people expect.
The footage goes home with you at the end of the day. If you would rather work that way from a distance, we also do video coaching online: you film, we analyse.
What we work on
Position. Base position and attack position, weight distribution front and back, arms and legs that absorb, and the gaze: where you look is where you go.
Braking. Modulating without locking, braking before rather than during, one finger on each lever, and what you can and cannot combine with a turn.
Turns. Bermed and flat turns, switchbacks going up and coming down, anticipation and line choice, inside foot and outside foot.
Obstacles. Steps and rocks up and down, roots and greasy ground, drops and small jumps, manual and bunny hop depending on the level.
The day, hour by hour
9.30 am. Welcome, round table and bike setup.
10 am. Fundamentals on easy ground, where the same movement can be repeated ten times without risk.
12.30 pm. Lunch, and the morning's video.
1.30 pm. Real trails, matched to the group, with an individual correction on every run.
4.30 pm. Debrief. Everyone leaves with two or three precise things to work on, and enough to keep progressing alone until the next ride.
Five students, one instructor
The group never exceeds five students for one instructor, which is what makes an individual correction on every run possible. Above that number a course becomes a guided ride with commentary, and that is a different thing.
The instructor is Swiss Cycling certified and has taken more than 980 riders through these courses in sixteen years. The exercises are not improvised; they have been tested on all of them.
Two group levels, and private for everything else
Beginner, technical 1 to 2 out of 4. You can ride a bike but off-road is new, or you have just bought a mountain bike or an e-bike. Position, braking, gaze, first turns and first steps. At the Fully bike park.
Intermediate, technical 2 to 3 out of 4. You ride regularly but you have stalled: switchbacks, steep ground, wet roots, small jumps. In Verbier or Villars.
Private, all levels. From the first day off-road to the experienced rider, working only on what you need, at your pace. It is also the only format above 3 out of 4, where the blockages get too individual for a group.
Not sure where you sit? Our levels page tells you in two minutes, and we explained the two scales here.
On an e-bike too
An e-bike is not a mountain bike with a motor bolted on. The weight, the balance and the assistance change the braking, the turns and above all the technical climbing. Plenty of people arrive with a new e-bike and no idea what to do with it uphill, and that is exactly the kind of thing a day sorts out. If you are still choosing between the two, we compared them here.
No bike of your own? We rent full-suspension mountain bikes and e-bikes, set up for you on the day.
Price, dates and booking
A group day is CHF 129 per person, 9.30 am to 5 pm, video included. A private course starts at CHF 240 for a half day, on your own date. Online payment at registration, cancellation according to our terms.
The course dates are online. If you would rather work on your bike than on your riding, there is also the mechanics course, two places at a time, on your own bike.
A day does not make you a different rider. It gives you what you cannot see on your own.
Chris
