MTB riding technique courses: "You don't need a mega pop like Danny MacAskill!"

FREERIDE: Marc, what do you think are the most important skills to learn or improve this season?

Marc: First of all, the FUNdamentals, as I call them - you should improve and refresh your basic techniques in a fun and playful way. That also makes sense for experts. For example, there are many people who are good at speed but fail at balance challenges because they have never practised them properly. And if you go back to these basics, you can build up the foundation to be even more balanced and better at faster speeds later on.

And what special manoeuvres should you be able to do to rock the trails and parks even better?

Bunny hop, jumps & drops as well as manuals and wheelies are the timeless classics. These moves are on the wish list of most bikers. Rear wheel offsets are also included, but are less of a bike park topic. My tip: prioritise, because you won't be able to learn everything at once and will need a lot of patience anyway.

The good old bunny hop!

Yes, bunny hops as a trail manoeuvre are super practical, as we all know. It's not even about flying over mega thick tree trunks, but bunny hops with "normal" height, which you use for improved line choice and a smoother riding style. You don't need a mega pop like Danny MacAskill! The same applies to manuals, surfing down a street forever on the rear wheel is fun, but requires a lot of practice. It's more important to use short manuals on the trail, for example to manual elegantly and quickly through bumps and waves and avoid the front wheel sinking in muddy patches.

Technique training in the adult theatre

Many people want to, but how do you actually manage to learn all this in adulthood?

No pain, no gain - logical. In our plug & play times, everyone wants everything at once and very quickly. Many people underestimate the time they have to invest. But you can take a playful approach and activate your inner child despite your ambition and goals - for example, you can round off exercise sessions with playful jibbing elements, such as finishing off a manual exercise session with fun drops on high kerbs or small walls and stairs. Important: Use your smartphone or tablet and film your attempts - especially with complex moves such as the bunny hop, you can quickly see and avoid possible mistakes in the long run. SlowMo mode reveals many movement errors.

Riding technique courses are still in demand, there are also special offers such as bunny hop courses - are such offers serious in your eyes and can you learn the bunny hop there?

Above all, it is important to have something like a realistic goal. In a course with a well-trained coach, you can get a very good analysis of your current situation and constructive feedback, including methods for homework to practise. Of course, the coach should also carry out a professional video analysis. You should be suspicious if the course advert promises that you will learn the bunny hop step by step and then apply it directly in practice in the terrain. This is unrealistic and can even be negligent.

Online coaching services for these manoeuvres have been available for a few years now - how useful is this?

I'm a fan of this, as you get detailed learning lessons there and can then tackle them at home in a highly motivated way. Depending on the provider, there is also support via online feedback. I have designed over 47 video lessons for my course participants, which they can use to continue practising at home. I think this combination of on-site riding technique courses and online coaching makes a lot of sense - we have a community where people can post their attempts filmed on their smartphone and receive helpful feedback.

Where can you get quality?

There are now a large number of providers - how can you recognise where you are getting quality and where you might legitimately have doubts about their expertise?

In fact, this is not always so easy to recognise. It is important that specific certificates are listed in the information about qualifications. For example, there are very large bike schools where a few of the coaches may have completed a training programme, but the majority have only completed internal training online and with a meeting once a year. Especially when it comes to advanced topics and personalised coaching, there can be huge differences in quality. A highly trained and full-time riding technique coach can act very differently to a sports student who gives a few courses a year. However, the website generally states that all courses are run by highly trained people. As a customer, you can also enquire in advance which coach will be running the course on site.

Where do you offer courses and on what topics?

My primary course regions are the Sauerland and the neighbouring areas. I live near Winterberg, Willingen and Brilon, where there are great parks and trail centres. Of course, I'm often asked to teach advanced manoeuvres, but I also give courses on basic topics and specifically target e-MTB fans. You can find an overview of the courses on www.ridefirst.de