Bikeskills

Special Weather Statement: Get Out and Ride!

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Jiro leads an all-star epic ride. Jiro, Jon and Max Sigerman, and Nathaniel Knopf treked all the way from downtown Mill Valley to the mid-point of Rail Road Grade in a 1.2 mile ride that climbed over 200 feet of elevation. Famished, the crew stopped off at CiCi’s Organic Gelato shop to refuel.

From the sounds of things, there’s another series of storms headed to the west coast that will then head east. But in the meantime – as from now until this Saturday night – there’s some great riding to be had. It’s still a bit wet out there, which means to make sure and follow our Wet Riding Recommendations when you go.

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New: Contests and Clinics…and more. Stay Tuned!

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Bikeskills Contest #1: This is Marin County as seen on a ride 7 February 2009. Here’s the question: from what trail is this shot taken and what is the body of water in the photo? Be the first to get it right and we’ll send you a set of WTB Prowler XTs. And if you can correctly give us Joe Lawwill’s middle name, we’ll toss in a set of tubes as well. Send your answers to: jiro@bikeskills.com  To claim your prize, you MUST be a Bikeskills YouTube Channel subscriber: www.youtube.com/user/bikeskills. It’s FREE!

Stay tuned for complete details on a NEW Bikeskills contest with lots of FREE stuff being awarded. In the mean time, a word to the wise (and those who like FREE stuff):  sign up for the Bikeskills Channel at YouTube (www.youtube.com/user/bikeskills), and, out newsletter at Bikeskills.com!

We’ve scheduled more clinics, including our red hot new SESSIONS clinics. We’ll also be announcing a new Bikeskills location very soon. Last but not least, we’ll give you some 411 about our newest Bikeskills board member, UCLA medical school professor and Chief Neurosurgeon, Dr. Michael Levy MD PhD.

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Tenderfoot Tune-Up: Great Clinic. Lousy Pictures…

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Only in Marin… only in Marin California can you deface a public sign (as long as it’s PC) but get arrested for riding on a trail that you can do anything on, other than ride a bike…

If you live in Marin and have ridden the Tenderfoot Trail, you have probably looked up and seen good old Chief Tenderfoot (or whatever his real name is). You’ve probably enjoyed Mill Valley’s only little spit of legal singletrack and been more than challenged by a few of its quirks. Yesterday, on Superbowl Sunday, Jiro held Bikeskills’ first Tenderfoot Tune-up. Read about it and check out some funky [as in bad] pictures… [Read more…]

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Announcing Bikeskills SESSIONS Clinics

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HB Performance (aka Hayes Brakes) and Bikeskills have Teamed up for the first Bikeskills SESSIONS clinics. So what’s the difference between Bikeskills’ existing clinics, and SESSIONS?  Real simple: SESSIONS clinics are focused on either a single skills area (say jumping, drops, etc.) and, SESSIONS are compact, two-hour clinics.  The first two SESSIONS clinics will take place at the Rockville Bike Park (close to Sacramento, CA) and the justly famous Tenderfoot Trail in Mill Valley CA. For additional clinic information, times and locations, read on!

[Read more…]

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Start February off Right With a Bikeskills Clinic

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With yet another week of fantastic, unseasonably warm weather predicted for all of California, what a great time to take a Bikeskills clinic. Here are some recent pictures starting with Jiro (above) sessioning a very techincal rock garden at Rockville Bike Park, near Sacramento California. For more pictures and information, read on [Read more…]

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Changes in Weather Call For Special Riding Skills…

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After record breaking high temperatures throughout much of the west coast, the forecast is for gray skies and at least some rain. Not only does the West Coast need rain, but the trails have started to get a bit dry, dusty, and even a little too loose. So while the sun was nice, newly tacked down trails will be that much better.

As we’ve said many times in the past, when the trails are wet, the riding will be different. By and large, damp is good, but there are special skills and techniques that need to be applied. The best way to learn about them is to take a Bikeskills clinic from the pros that had to earn a living, like Joe Lawwill, Paul Thomasberg, and Jiro Nakamura, who made their livings, rain or shine, on the World Cup tour. If there’s not a clinic located close to where you are, then watch this video we created to help you deal with the Slippery Stuff.

Video: Riding Roots, Rocks and Water Crossings
Check out this classic Bikeskills video and learn… [Read more…]

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Take a Clinic and Bikeskills Video of the Week

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If you are lucky enough to either live, or be in California right now, we don’t need to tell you the weather is great. But, you might not know that there are Bikeskills clinics scheduled in both NorCal and SoCal this coming weekend. With temps forecasted to be in the 60s and 70s, the trails in perfect shape, what could be better than taking a Bikeskills clinic from two of the best instructors on the planet, former World Cup veterans Joe Lawwill or Jiro Nakamura?

The Art of the Switchback Video

Anyone that has been frustrated with one of mountain biking’s perennial challenges, steep and or complex switchback turns,  knows that they are not easy. However,  if you’ve taken a Bikeskills clinic, then you know that every switchback turn not only has common elements, but that there are skills you can develop and tools to apply to successfully tackle even the most difficult switchback.  Check out the video… [Read more…]

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Bikeskills Clinics Galore in January!

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Not only has the weather been relatively mild this January in California, modest amounts of rain have left our trail systems in terrific condition.  About the only thing that could make things better is having an array of Bikeskills clinics to choose from. And best of all, this January – for the first time – you’re in luck whether you live in NorCal or SoCal!  So check out the schedule and sign up now for one of the J&J (Joe or Jiro) clinics. You’ll be glad you did!

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Are You Predictably Irrational?

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This past weekend was organizational development time for Bikeskills NorCal group. That’s a fancy way of saying we simply got together, rode, talked about ways of refining what we do, tossed around ideas, and had fun riding mountain bikes. One of the things we talked about the most were ideas we got from an “assigned reading project” that being Daniel Ariely’s new book, “Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions.”

While MIT professor and behavioral economist Daniel Ariely’s book deals primarily with research and applications relating to economic issues, his broad range of examples and layman’s explanation of complex experiments he’s conducted, make extrapolating and applying his ideas to an even broader range of day to day life issues – and in our case, riding mountain bikes – almost automatic. And while we highly recommend Airely’s book, we also recommend taking a Bikeskills class (if you are a mountain biker) and we hope that Dr. Ariely would not only agree, but endorse our rationale as well!

The picture above is not just an artistically rendered photo of an artistic rider and Bikeskills instructor, Jiro Nakamura, but an example of our own observations of “Predictable Irrationality.” As it turns out, this root-infested, tight turn, knock-your-block-off drop, is one of the trail challenges that very, very few people even attempt – and even fewer pull off. However, Jiro was able not only to demonstrate it to countless “watchers” many times, and flawlessly so, his doing so sure seem to impress (maybe even anger)  lots of nnvious mountain bikers on this well known, Marin (Tenderfoot) trail. [Read more…]

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