A QUALITY RIDE COACHING...Winter Technique & Skills Coaching UK

Since before AQR Holidays was even a twinkle in our eye, before mountain bike skills coaching was even heard of Ian Potter has been coaching people on mountain bikes, helping them improve their skills or teaching them basic skills to improve their understanding of trail riding or mountain bike racing. Ian was my coach all through my pre-racing and racing days....even when I out climbed him and my ego was sky high thinking I had mastered a section of trail...he could still see weakness in my technique and so we continued to work on fine tuning every aspect of my riding, and continue to do so today. It's fun to explore what you and the bike can do together...even if it means tasting mud every so often...mistakes give you instant feedback and improvement in the future. I love seeing smiles widen and confident body language take over when a rider learns a new skill and puts it into practice with confidence and commitment.

As the years have passed by coaching has become a big part of what AQR is all about...hence why we now call it 'A Quality Ride Coaching'. We will do our best to make time for regular blogs about what we do and what advice we can share to help you improve your time on the bike in which ever way that may be.

This is the first of many blogs to highlight what AQR Coaching is all about -

JANUARY & FEBRUARY 2013 - Ian and I have been braving the British weather, and for 6 weeks we have been running skills coaching sessions in the UK on weekends and mid week...

Last weekend Cotic-AQR Holidays Racers Ruth & Emma braved the snow and this is what Ruth has to say about the experience...

'The great British weather did it's best to ruin our plans for a weekend of skills coaching with Kate and Ian from AQR with a good foot of fresh snow falling on our journey up to the peaks - making our journey about three times as long as it should have been and with some bonus car pushing!! However, the journey was worth it as Kate and Ian, as always, wanted to make sure that myself and fellow AQR Holidays Race team mate Emma Bradley got as much out of the weekend as possible.

We all braved the conditions once most of the snow had melted and even though the day was really cold and wet, I had a fun day and never really thought about the conditions. Kate and Ian have a great skill of finding places to challenge riders of any level so that they go home armed with aspects of their riding to practice.

On Sunday, although we didn't really cover much distance we were able to practice and be challenged in a number of areas that make a big difference to an XC racer, such as race starts, technical climbing, mounting/dismounting - to name few. We were also put through our paces with some pretty tough hill sprints - which certainly got us warmed up!

I know that with hard work and practice, you certainly see results when you put the Potter's advice into practice. The method of coaching is not to take you to the biggest most challenging descent they can find - which is what some skills companies seem to do, instead they watch you ride and take you somewhere they can pick apart your riding style to find small aspects that with improvement will have a significant impact on your overall speed, power and efficiency.

I know that I am certainly a better rider for my skills sessions with Kate and Ian, but every time I ride with them they still manage to find something that I can improve upon and when I practice and make changes I certainly see the difference.

You don't need to be an elite level racer to gain something from a skills day with AQR - if you want to improve your riding, whatever aspect that may be, then Kate and Ian can help - and you'll always go home with a smile on your face!'