About 2 months ago I got a strange email from my friend Lisa Vible about a cross clinic headed up by Nick Sears and I the Wednesday before the Granogue Cross Race. I had no idea what she was talking about. No sooner did I finish reading my email than I got a phone call from Nick, "so man, not to put the cart before the horse, but do you want to put on a cyclocross clinic at Granogue the Wedneday before the event with me?" I laughed and of course agreed. The Train Smart Sports Coaching Cyclocross Clinic at Granogue was born!
I'll admit, I drug my feet a little bit. It felt an awful like a race promotion and a lot of work I wasn't sure I wanted. But as I worked with Nick, Paul and Lisa their enthusiasm and excitement was contagious. I was excited that we could add to what was already going to be an amazing Granogue weekend. Before I knew it, I was writing up curriculum for the clinic, working with Nick and Lisa on the bikereg page, and planning out where we wanted to teach at the venue.
Early on, Nick asked me, "how many people do you think we'll get?" I replied if we get 20 I'll be stoked. Lisa and Paul- ever the optimists recommended that we allow for more than 20 spots on BikeReg. It was with great pride that we sold out the clinic a week prior with 60 riders!!
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| Photo Dennis Smith |
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| Train Smart Sports Coaching Granogue Clinic Staff- Photo Kita Roberts |
We had two groups: Advanced and Intermediate/Beginner. We worked hard to have a 6 to 1 coach to rider ratio.
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| Ben encouraging... Photo Kita Roberts |
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| Monkey explaining- photo Kita Roberts |
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| Kelly demonstrates three points of contact. Photo Kita Roberts |
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| Under the watchful eye of Consorto- photo Kita Roberts |
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While shouldering is a little used skill here in the mid atlantic- Bad Andy shows the proper technique.
Photo Kita Roberts
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| Paul walks some riders through the 3 points of contact drill- photo-Bill White |
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| Kevin, Nick and BA lead the group through drills on Bamboo Hill. (photo Bill White) |
From the outset, we knew that we had a lot of information we wanted to cover, and just 2 hours to do it. We raced the sunset to the very end. While the feedback on the clinic has been overwhelmingly positive- as a coaching team we recognized that in 2 hours we had to cover a lot of ground. Each of us felt like there were areas where we would have liked to have taken a deeper dive. Nick and I admit that we were both task masters as far as watching the clock, and making sure we stayed on target with the agenda. Spurred on by the great feedback, and great time that we had, we have already begun planning for either a 1/2 or full day clinic for 2016. I am incredibly excited at this possibility.
One of the most rewarding things for me post clinic was talking to folks who came Wednesday and then raced Sunday and were able to apply what they learned. I'm really proud of that...
thanks to all the coaches for giving up their time.
thanks to all the riders who could have been anywhere in the world, but chose to hang out with us.
thanks to Nick, Paul and Lisa without whom none of this would have happened.
Finally, thanks to you for reading.
respect
Fatmarc
(still stoked from this clinic)
1 comment:
Thank you so much for sharing your do's and don'ts with us! My dismount/remounts are a thousand times cleaner than last year! Can't wait for next year's clinic!
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