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FUN
Everyone we talked to mentioned this first, over everything else. Not only that, but research done confirms this emphasis.
When kids have fun, they ride more, they get better, they get faster. This was the biggest predictor of success for riders and for teams. If kids enjoyed it, they practiced more, worked harder, got faster, and the cycle continued. When kids are not enjoying it, they burn out, quit, and actually find themselves under-performing over time.MORE SKILLS TRAINING
- From beginners to pros, what we’ve discovered is that successful teams and riders spend A LOT more time on skills than we previously thought. This includes both specific drill training, and in-context/on-trail application of that skill.
- Riders who are confident and skilled on their bike are better able to manage their speed through the various terrain and obstacles they encounter on trails and in races. It can be one of the biggest differentiators in a race - especially on technical courses where many riders have to dismount their bikes.
- Teams are practicing skills in drills, games, and on the trails on specific sections and by repeating them many times.
-This is about making kids better mountain bikers first, then fast racers second.GET OFF THE BIKE
- As with any sport or activity that requires coaching, it is critical that we do more actual coaching. Spending all our time going point A to B with a lead coach and trailing coaches often does not allow for us to adequately watch skills, body position, and other factors that we may need to work on. It is important that we spend A LOT more time observing, timing, measuring, and actually coaching.
- More coaching by coaches and more learning by riders!TEAM FOCUS MORE
Team and team culture has been the subject of a lot of research in the past few years, particularly in terms of how it affects performance. Even in a sport where it seems to be more “individual” based, studies have shown that riders who train in isolation or without belonging to a “team”, ultimately burn out and do not reach their full potential. We learned that 1) fast riders make fast riders, and 2) good riders make better riders. What does that mean? It means that we need leaders and chasers to make both the leaders and the chasers better. It was also clear in our interviews that for long term success in a team and with a kid, they need to feel connected to others their age and of their interests. It’s critical that teams develop traditions, habits, and environments that build good cultures.RACE SITUATION SIMULATION
- Teams practice a lot on mimicking things they find in races. From skills situations to length and speed of ride, to specific components of racing like passing, sprinting to finish, starting line, and more.
- It’s important that we create practices that are more similar to our race conditions and race sections.
- It’s a huge part of training for many teams to create competition a lot more often to mimic race day adrenaline, nervousness, and competitive thinking.
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