Jiro Nakamura. Bikeskills’ New NorCal Operations Manager
We’ve been after Jiro for a long time! Jiro is one of mountain biking’s true MVPs. In addition to having raced the very first Mammoth Mountain Kamikazee event at the age of 12, Jiro has been part of the competitive mountain biking scene for over 20 years. He climbed the ranks to become a professional license holder some 12 years ago and has used that license quite literally around the world in disciplines ranging from the high intensity demands of cross country, physically demanding world cup downhill events and more recently grueling marathons and Europe’s new “Enduro” scene. The result is the kind of rider that most of us aspire to become: capable and confident in virtually any situation with a style that can only be described as… mellifluous – look it up…
And if two-decades of being in the world class mix wasn’t enough to qualify Jiro to teach at Bikeskills, his UC Berkeley psychology education certainly helps as there’s a great deal of sports instruction that takes place above the neck! Seriously, ask any great sports instructor be it Skiskills’ Dr. Robb Gaffney MD (himself a practicing psychiatrist) or Surfskills’ legendary waterman, Dave Kalama, and they will tell you: the difference between physically able and actually capable, is often psychological. And who among us hasn’t had some form of psychological barrier keeping us from getting to the next step, or overcoming an unreasonable fear?
Talk about the rubber meeting the road: within 72 hours of showing up for work at Bikeskills, Jiro was digging in to his first clinic. I have to say, he did not dissapoint the Bikeskills staff; and I’ll let what one of his students do the talking from the customer’s side:
Jiro is a pro racer and can definitely teach anyone enough to get to the next level. He was extremely patient and asked us what we wanted to work on… They helped me tweak my bike so it felt way better than I had it. I just built it up but Jiro and Ed showed me some tricks that made it feel a lot better in terms of control and comfort.
…my skills at switchbacks improved by a factor of 2. REALLY great experience overall. I highly recommend it. If you want to get better these guys can take you to the next level – no matter your current level. I’ll do some homework and practice and when I’m ready to advance I’ll drop by again.
Thanks a lot guys!
Wilson Wong, Electrical Engineer
Jiro is currently teaching trail riding clinics at Fairfax’s Camp Tamarancho. For more information about the clinics including times, and dates, go to http://bikeskills.com/event_calendar.php
If you would like to contact Jiro directly about one of his upcoming clinics, a custom or private clinic, you can do so at jiro@bikeskills.com
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