HOW MUCH BIKING EXPERIENCE DO THE GIRLS COME IN WITH?
SD: It’s a wide range. We have girls who think they know exactly what they are doing on every part of the trail. Then we have others who will go down a grassy slope that’s not a hill at all, and look up and say, “That was really scary.” LD: We get seven-year-olds who have basically ridden only on dirt roads with their mothers, and by the end of the season, they’re riding down these gnarly descents without even using their brakes, which is another issue. HOW DO YOU TEACH KIDS MOUNTAIN BIKE SKILLS? LD: We work on skills at teachable moments, like when the girls fly off the trails because they don’t use their brakes. So we sit them down and say, “Okay, what are these things for? You really need to pull them on the downhill because you’re terrifying everyone.” We’ve seen the most improvement on the pump track, with these little rollers and corners, because they can just go there and do laps. Also, we try to come up with games to incorporate basic skills. SD: And we always have snack. Snack
