I highly recommend these clinics.

I love to ride bikes, and I love to ride them fast.  After some years of road riding, I decided (read: my boyfriend suggested) that I should give mountain biking a try. And not just weekend lah-de-dah, pack-a-peanut-butter-and-jelly-sandwich mountain biking--I decided I was going to RACE mountain bikes. After all, it couldn't be THAT hard, could it? I mean, I knew how to ride/race a bike, I had great fitness, and I had a totally sweet custom-built race mountain bike (courtesy of said boyfriend).  So I signed up for a local race series. Well, several races and countless crashes later (and, allegedly even some tears--although I will deny it to my grave), I wanted to put the kibosh on my mountain bike race career. I had so many cuts, scrapes, gashes, and bruises that you'd have thought I was trying to bring the "mummy" look back into style with all my bandages. (Honestly, I should have bought stock in Band-aids and Advil.) And those were just the external wounds.... My pride/ego and my psyche took a big hit, too, and not even my beautiful series overall winner trophy could take that pain away (yes, I did win, but it wasn't pretty). I just couldn't understand how I could be so terrible at something (ie, how I completely lacked the bike handling skills to navigate around a course crash-free). However, instead of heeding my calls to sell/destroy/part-out my mountain bike--which at that point I had taken to calling "That Stupid Bike"-- my boyfriend suggested that I take a mountain bike skills class with Ninja Mountain Bike Skills. (My boyfriend....he is so full of suggestions). So, in March 2013 I took the Beginner Level 1 class and, wow! Boyfriend's idea was great (for once)! What an amazing and transformative experience. I had so many light-bulb moments that I must have looked like a Christmas tree! Coach Richard patiently and thoroughly taught all the important skills that I was completely lacking, from weight distribution, to cornering, to proper braking, to mounting and dismounting, etc. And he doesn't just go through the "how", he teaches the "why"--which for someone like me with a super analytical and critical brain is a HUGE plus. Furthermore, both Richard and his helper Jeff (a former pro rider) gave great race-situation examples for all the skills. I liked the class so much that I took another one soon after. This time a Women's Only class. I love the fact that this is offered, by the way. It was the kind of totally supportive, stress-free, pressure-free environment that only someone with two x-chromosomes would understand and appreciate. And Coach Richard had two great female helpers there too (Kris and Jessica) that were able to translate some of the concepts into "woman-speak." Ok, to wrap it up: I highly recommend these clinics. Great instructors. Great content. Bargain price. I saw such immediate gains in my skill level and confidence level that I signed up for yet another race series...This time the US Cup series. Go big, or go home, right? ~ Heidi A.