Went to a clinic today

I went to a clinic today that was hosted by the power company :p they sponsor tri and mtb teams.

There were about 50 mtb'ers and a whopping 3 roadies - me, a girl from my tri club and another from our partner club that just got her first road bike the day before.....

This meant we got 2 coaches for the 3 of us. cool.

First we learned some details about braking technique, and also had to try to go as slow as possible, almost to a trackstand. no biggie. Except I was very nervous about crashing my beautiful new bike.

then they wanted us to do a fast mount: have one foot clipped in, while standing beside the bike, push off - swing leg over bike - clip in.
No way I was going to do that on my brand new porsche and ruin it. They were arguing it helps in tris, I answered back I can take the 3 extra seconds :rolleyes:

then curve riding, and hopping over speed bumps - had learned that one before.

then picking up water bottles from the ground - how fun. You are supposed to unclip on the other side, I managed after about 10 misses (can't look at the bottle...)

then bumping into each other sideways and rubbing wheels without panicking, always useful while riding in a group or paceline.

We skipped the slalom practice because two of us had toe overlap on our bikes. I really enjoy my new, smaller frame but the toe overlap is something I will have to keep thinking of.

And then an enjoyable wee ride back up to the top of the hill, chatting technique and tris, followed by coffee for the three valiant girls. I had fun.

they also talked about practicing falls. They were really mtb'ers. I can only see myself doing this beside a haystack on a beater bike - LOL.