Swayback clinic
As mentioned, I’ve been pleasantly surprised at the amount of enthusiasm I’ve found towards cycling in Alabama, especially towards Mountain Biking. Living in Montgomery there aren’t a lot of close MTB riding options, but just up the road in Wetumka is the Swayback Trail network, maintained by the River Region Mountain Bike Alliance. A mixture of old-school narrow single track and newly-cut machine cut trails, Swayback offers a little of everything for all riding abilities. The Alliance leadership is very interested in promoting cycling in the region, and felt that a skills clinic would be a great opportunity for the community. Obviously COVID-19 makes group activities more challenging, so we kept things small for this initial event. I led a morning foundational session primary focused on body position and becoming more comfortable on the bike, and an afternoon intermediate session, broadening into maneuvers to help riders navigate the trails and obstacles they might encounter. The clinic was a big hit, and we all learned more about how to have more fun doing what we love—riding MTBs. It was also the first clinic I’ve taught in nearly a year, thanks to COVID and life changes, and a good refresher on what works where I need to improve—such as taking photos during the clinic and not right at the end before everyone leaves! I look forward to working with the River Region Alliance on future clinics and other organizations in central Alabama.
Held in conjunction with the
River Region MTB Alliance
