Betterride Camp - Michigan

Two years ago, I drove down to Richmond, VA to take a mountain bike skills camp. Since then, I've definitely improved a lot, but I feel like I could still get a lot better. When I saw that Betterride was offering a camp in metro-Detroit, I jumped on it.

In the end, I would say that the second camp was way better than the first. At the first camp, I learned enough that I got pretty good at the core elements in a controlled setting (ie- the parking lot), but I still went back to a lot of old habits on the trail. I definitely did improve on the trail between then and now, but maybe not as much as I had hoped. At this camp, I had the drills pretty well down in the parking lot (I did make some small, but significant, corrections). Where I really made a lot of progress this time was on the trail.

Some of the key things I learned:

- Get low, low, low. I did one ride with my saddle dropped, and I put my Gravity Dropper on for another ride. The difference in control is huge with that saddle out of the way. When I did the whole ride with the saddle dropped, I couldn't believe how fast I ripped through some of those corners (I still can't)!

- I need to change the way I practice. Like I said before, I got pretty good at the things that I was practicing, but I didn't really progress. So, I think I need to keep working on new things, and I also need to occasionally spend some time really practicing on the trail. If I mess up a corner, instead of just going on, I should go back and do it a few times and get it right.

- I'm a better rider than I give myself credit for.


So, the Gravity Dropper thing. For now, it's back on my bike. I used it a bit at the beginning of the year and some last year, but after several rides I took it off. The problem was that I was only using it 2-3 times per ride, and I didn't feel like that justified having it on. It also seemed like the transition between the low and high positions took too long; it wasn't the movement of the seatpost that was the problem, but the time it took for me to get ready to pedal in the proper gear. I worked on that aspect a little at the camp, and it got much better. Basically, I sort of "get" how to use the Gravity Dropper now. We'll see how it goes now when I'm back to riding on my own and pedaling a bit harder between technical sections.