Quote Originally Posted by brigada View Post
The other day she survived her first crash. Looked bad from my spot, but she's fine, just a few scratches and a bent pedal cage. The helmet did its job and I was so relieved that I insisted she gets it right away.

Thing is, this only happened because she is stubborn - she went down a slope that was new to her and lost control of the bike when she hit the rocky bumps at the bottom. She insists on riding ahead of me because "she can't see the obstacles if I'm in front of her", instead of following my lead and learning that way. I mean, I'm still a noob to proper trail riding myself, but I spent all my life riding bikes, occasionally hitting the trails with my dad who has been racing locally for over a decade so he gave me some useful tips very early on. I think it would benefit her more than she thinks at this stage to try and emulate some of that.
Wow, glad she's basically okay ... I'm sure she's sore, hope she feels better soon.

Speaking from the POV of someone who doesn't MTB but who learned to ride (street) moto as an adult ... I think there's a place for both leading and following. So very, very much about learning to ride anything on two wheels (or anything at all at speed, no matter how many wheels) has to do with learning where to look and how to keep a wide focus. When following, even a moderately experienced rider can get distracted by the rider ahead to the point of losing focus on anything else. (That's how I T-boned an oncoming minivan in the middle of a tight right-hander ... but I digress.)

The easiest way to learn from someone else's lines is to follow closely, so staying farther back when following isn't that great of a solution. I do tend to agree with thekarens that you need to REALLY trust anyone you're following - not trust them in an abstract sense, but have a gut confidence that their skills are 100% adequate to the task. As indysteel suggested, that can bring out relationship issues ... think of all the taboos surrounding teaching a spouse to drive a motor vehicle.