Mike Kinrade Bike Camp June 15-16 COP - Review
You get professional help, that’s how!
I was in Calgary Cycle the other day with my commuter bike – which is a vintage 1988 Brodie Catalyst decked out with the, at the time, latest in rad technology – Rock Shox Mag 20 suspension fork featuring a whole 1 inch of travel! It got us talking about how biking has changed over the last 17 years.
And it's not just the gear – riding skills and style has progressed immensely, from hard-core XC riding, to full suspension and drops to flat, to hucks to trannies, stunts, skinnies and most recently - Dirt Jumping!
Problem is – when you work full time, and can’t spend all day at the dirt jump/skate park how do you pick up the skills so you don’t end up becoming a weekend warrior type poser? You know - the type that stands there, decked out with a $5,000 bike, full face helmet, Dainese armor, making inane comments about how lame tricks are that the guys are pulling when they clearly have never even hit a dirt jump themselves?
You get professional help, that’s how!
Last weekend, Mike Kinrade of MPF productions, dropin TV rider, veteran of 2 Red Bull Rampage competitions put on a mountain bike skills camp hosted by the fine folks over at COP. 
It was only 125 bucks for two days of training, with lunch and lift tickets as part of the deal, and only 7 riders were in the group. We had a large range in ages – from about 14 up to me being likely the oldest (given that my first bike is some 3 years older than the youngest rider in the camp..)
We started out by sessioning the DH course, where Kinrade showed us techniques for getting each section down – from the big table to the step up, to the fastest route over the log and rock piles.
Then we checked out the stunts – where we practiced techniques for riding skinnies, doing drops and riding teeter-totters.
The second day we spent some more time on the DH course, doing corners and rock entry techniques, then worked on dirt jumps, and drops. Then we did some trick/trials work in the trials park, and learned how to do hip jumps.
Mike was great to learn from – he explained the theory behind each technique for handling a given situation, then did a few demos to illustrate. He then watched as we sessioned the section and gave instruction on how to improve, or fix what we were doing wrong.
It was a great weekend, and I would highly recommend taking a course/camp from him if you get the chance – whether you are a shall we say - ‘veteran’ rider like me trying to learn new stuff, or full into racing DH and want to get some polish on techniques to shave those mega-important seconds off your time!
(PS: GET well soon Mike!)