Coaches Camp: Top of the World and Trailbuilding
Following on from a weekend practicing, teaching, guiding trails and watching the world cup, our coaches camp crew kicked off the week with their Instructor Development Program (IDP) Level 1 assessment. Each of our trainees had to teach part of an intro lesson to riding in the park, covering neutral body position, braking and cornering. Then they had to successfully guide a group of four down 'EZ does it', one of the beginner trails in the park. As with our Hiring Camp this year, temperatures were scorching but our crew stayed cool with everyone successfully passing their level one! Big well done to all!
![Coaches Camp Top Of The World and Trailbuilding]()
BBQs...
![Coaches Camp Top Of The World and Trailbuilding]()
...and Bikes!
Tuesday morning started with a 'Surviving the Season' talk from Mike Johnstone from TerraMethod. This covered everything from how to care for your bike, body and finances over the course of a summer. He shared plenty of industry insider tips from his 30 years experience.
![Coaches Camp Top Of The World and Trailbuilding]()
Mike dropping some knowledge.
The second half of the morning was spent talking about the importance of communication with teaching, regarding not only the words you use but also the way you present new skills, especially important when coaching a sport like mountain biking. Our trainees were then set a few challenges, describing verbally every step of how to get dressed in the morning, before doing the same again but only able to mime! Everyone brought a strong charade game, and then took these new found skills of communication to the explaining neutral body position and cornering that they had done in the IDP level 1. After that it was time for a blind dual slalom race to further test these new found skills of description!
![Coaches Camp Top Of The World and Trailbuilding]()
Playing charades. The topic: "Making Breakfast"
![Coaches Camp Top Of The World and Trailbuilding]()
Demonstrating the neutral position without talking is easier said than done..
![Coaches Camp Top Of The World and Trailbuilding]()
Blind slalom!
In the afternoon, everyone headed up to the 'Top Of The World' trail to shred the longest trail in the park and take in some of the best views Whistler has to offer! Stoke was high amongst everyone, with the trail giving everyone a taste of technical rock gardens at the top, progressing into flowy wooded singletrack, then out into the jumps of the bike park to finish. A fantastic way to round off a busy few days!
![Coaches Camp Top Of The World and Trailbuilding]()
One of the 'must have' photos!
![Coaches Camp Top Of The World and Trailbuilding]()
Home for the next few weeks.
![Coaches Camp Top Of The World and Trailbuilding]()
Stoke was high!
![Coaches Camp Top Of The World and Trailbuilding]()
Peak Leaders Coaches Camp 2015 train.
![Coaches Camp Top Of The World and Trailbuilding]()
Oli sending it on the 'Golden Triangle' Wallride.
Wednesday was a day off, but luckily Coach Dahj had organised a morning of trail building with Tim Haggerty, one of the head trail builders for WORCA and the Whistler Municipality, also working as Bike Park Patrol. The group met him at the (very rainy) base of 'Instant Gratification' and after being issued with tools of various shapes and sizes, climbed up to carve out a new finishing section using the infamous 'Whistler Gold' dirt (the holy grail for trail building). Many hands make light work, and within 2 hours the crew had managed to clear a path, rake it out, armour up the spots at the end with rocks and managed to create one of the (self proclaimed) best berms outside the bike park. Tim was more than happy to drop some nuggets of knowledge with our crew as well, so definitely watch this space for the next generation of trail builders! Unfortunately because of the rain we couldn't get a chance to ride it, but stay tuned for pictures everyone shredding their new creation! A well deserved afternoon off then followed, a chance to put feet up and watch 'unReal' on the big screen whilst Whistler got some well needed rain (or head out and ride the park as Course Leader John did...).
![Coaches Camp Top Of The World and Trailbuilding]()
Getting stuck in.
![Coaches Camp Top Of The World and Trailbuilding]()
Standing atop of their latest creation!
Thursday we were back in the park, getting to grips with the theory behind the IDP level 1 and 2. After a talk about the basic skills of mountain biking, covering operation of controls as well as stance and balance, it was time for everyone to put the theory into practice. This meant stoppies, skids and track stands were the order of the day. Bike limbo soon turned out to be a firm favourite, with everyone demonstrating some impressive range of motion and balancing skills!
![Coaches Camp Top Of The World and Trailbuilding]()
Skids...
![Coaches Camp Top Of The World and Trailbuilding]()
Stoppies..
![Coaches Camp Top Of The World and Trailbuilding]()
Trackstands..
![Coaches Camp Top Of The World and Trailbuilding]()
And limbo!
It was then time for some laps of the park to take what the group had learnt over the morning to the trails. Riding some of the more technical stuff in the park but trying to ride them as slow as possible, definitely posed new challenges for the crew!
![Coaches Camp Top Of The World and Trailbuilding]()
Coach Dahj on demo duty.
![Coaches Camp Top Of The World and Trailbuilding]()
Before it's their turn to drop in!
With Crankworx in town, it's going to get busy in the next couple of days! Stay tuned for the next update dropping soon, but in the meantime make sure you follow us on Instagram and Twitter!
John Inman
Ski, Snowboard & Mountain Bike Instructor Courses & Camps
www.peakleaders.com | Tel: +44 (0) 1337 860 079
Join us on Facebook | Follow us on Twitter @PeakLeaders| Add us on Instagram @peakleaders
MENTIONS: @peakleaders / @WhistlerMountainBikePark
Tuesday morning started with a 'Surviving the Season' talk from Mike Johnstone from TerraMethod. This covered everything from how to care for your bike, body and finances over the course of a summer. He shared plenty of industry insider tips from his 30 years experience.
The second half of the morning was spent talking about the importance of communication with teaching, regarding not only the words you use but also the way you present new skills, especially important when coaching a sport like mountain biking. Our trainees were then set a few challenges, describing verbally every step of how to get dressed in the morning, before doing the same again but only able to mime! Everyone brought a strong charade game, and then took these new found skills of communication to the explaining neutral body position and cornering that they had done in the IDP level 1. After that it was time for a blind dual slalom race to further test these new found skills of description!
In the afternoon, everyone headed up to the 'Top Of The World' trail to shred the longest trail in the park and take in some of the best views Whistler has to offer! Stoke was high amongst everyone, with the trail giving everyone a taste of technical rock gardens at the top, progressing into flowy wooded singletrack, then out into the jumps of the bike park to finish. A fantastic way to round off a busy few days!
Wednesday was a day off, but luckily Coach Dahj had organised a morning of trail building with Tim Haggerty, one of the head trail builders for WORCA and the Whistler Municipality, also working as Bike Park Patrol. The group met him at the (very rainy) base of 'Instant Gratification' and after being issued with tools of various shapes and sizes, climbed up to carve out a new finishing section using the infamous 'Whistler Gold' dirt (the holy grail for trail building). Many hands make light work, and within 2 hours the crew had managed to clear a path, rake it out, armour up the spots at the end with rocks and managed to create one of the (self proclaimed) best berms outside the bike park. Tim was more than happy to drop some nuggets of knowledge with our crew as well, so definitely watch this space for the next generation of trail builders! Unfortunately because of the rain we couldn't get a chance to ride it, but stay tuned for pictures everyone shredding their new creation! A well deserved afternoon off then followed, a chance to put feet up and watch 'unReal' on the big screen whilst Whistler got some well needed rain (or head out and ride the park as Course Leader John did...).
Thursday we were back in the park, getting to grips with the theory behind the IDP level 1 and 2. After a talk about the basic skills of mountain biking, covering operation of controls as well as stance and balance, it was time for everyone to put the theory into practice. This meant stoppies, skids and track stands were the order of the day. Bike limbo soon turned out to be a firm favourite, with everyone demonstrating some impressive range of motion and balancing skills!
It was then time for some laps of the park to take what the group had learnt over the morning to the trails. Riding some of the more technical stuff in the park but trying to ride them as slow as possible, definitely posed new challenges for the crew!
With Crankworx in town, it's going to get busy in the next couple of days! Stay tuned for the next update dropping soon, but in the meantime make sure you follow us on Instagram and Twitter!
John Inman
Ski, Snowboard & Mountain Bike Instructor Courses & Camps
www.peakleaders.com | Tel: +44 (0) 1337 860 079
Join us on Facebook | Follow us on Twitter @PeakLeaders| Add us on Instagram @peakleaders
MENTIONS: @peakleaders / @WhistlerMountainBikePark
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Member since Feb 3, 2009
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