Intermediate course 11th March

Andy and Peter got a real taste of spring - shorts and t-shirts in March in the Pennines? Yup. Today was largely about getting wheels off the ground to get up stuff, over stuff, off stuff and down stuff. Pumps, manuals, front wheel lifts up things, wheelie drops, bunny hops, rear wheel lifts for direction changing, endos and, of course, jumps. Why rattle over a root garden when the first root can send you airborne enough to clear the rest? Obviously the corners, obstacle basics all happened too, as well as all the basic underlying principles - but when there is a lot of air to be had it would be rude not to.

Intermediate course 4th March

Paula and Dave were both pretty good but "wheels on the ground" intermediates at the start of the day so our first scheduled stop for the day was the skate park for some step ups, jumps and wheelie drops in nice controlled conditions to ease them into the idea of reduced points of ground contact. We then hit the trails at the wettest and greasiest I think I've seen them for ages. The cafe in Heptonstall had the bin bags ready for us to sit on at lunchtime for our "chilli nachos for 3" before we pushed on for the rougher stuff. The endos for tight corners were entertaining in the minimal grip conditions but by the end of the day both had got their dose of air and a desire to get lots more of it in future!