Investing in mountain biking lessons is an incredible way to build your mountain bike skills, have more fun on the trails, and gain a deeper connection with your MTB community. We recently sat down with Boise-based mountain bike skills coach Levi Weert to do a deep dive on who should take mountain biking lessons, why, and how to get started. Read on for some hot tips and a passionate take on clipless vs flat pedals!
Levi, it’s great to speak with you today. Let’s start with some background on who you are and what you’re doing today to help mountain bikers level up.
My name is Levi Weert and I am a professional mountain bike skills coach. I am a Boise native and grew up doing tricks on my bmx bike. A lot of trial and error and figuring things out through crashing and injury. I currently run my own business in Boise and have helped hundreds of riders improve their bike handling skills and confidence on two wheels. The reason I am so passionate about my business is because through my lifelong passion of biking, I get to share that with the world. My goal is to just make everyone love biking as much as I do! Improving skill and self confidence will do just that! The hole I fill is being able to break down skills and technique for any rider into digestible bites in order to fast track progress.
That’s awesome. I love the idea of breaking skills down into their components to fast track progress. So, who should take mountain biking lessons and why?
Mountain biking lessons are for anyone really. I’ll tell you who they aren’t for, over confident closed minded individuals. You see, they don’t even have the first base layer of skill progression, which, written in my book Shred Essentials: A Mountain Bike Skills Guide, states that in order to progress, one must have a malleable mindset. Since it’s in a book now, it must be true.
Sometimes, for experienced riders, it helps to have a free consultation in order to discuss current goals, and learn about goals you don’t even know about, which will help you fast track your success. This way you don’t have to commit or pull the trigger on taking a lesson if you don’t want to. But I tell you, I raise a lot of eyebrows from boyfriends and husbands who only came to the clinic to support their wives, or girlfriends. They end up progressing way more than they thought they would (and have more bad habits than they are aware of).
In my opinion, the best reason to start working with a coach is that the more you learn, the better you get, the more fun the sport is. I mean, not very many of us were forced to buy our bikes right? So why did you buy it? Fitness, flow, and fun! Skill building only makes biking more fun. Mission accomplished.
It’s a great reminder of how much more fun mountain biking can be when we focus on skill progression. I think too many riders (myself included) started out by learning on the fly and developed bad habits over time by being closed-minded about taking lessons.
What are the basic mountain bike skills that any rider should have? Is there a hierarchy of mountain bike skills?
The number one basic mountain bike skill is definitely mindset. A can-do raditude. Getting frustrated or bent out of shape never helps, and can ruin the fun for others.
Past that I would say learning the “dance with the bike” or movement drills. Getting more comfortable moving over the top of your bike, as well as moving the bike underneath you is a great way to explore better balance and confidence, although things can be admittingly shaky at first, just stick with it. Parking lots and driveways are best for developing these skills.
Honorable mention is understanding and operating the controls of the bike such as the brakes and the shifting, even the shocks and chain are used for common skills on the trail.
The hierarchy of mountain bike skills is:
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Mindset – if you think you can’t, you won’t. Fear, and lack of confidence prevents you from experiencing everything else in this list. A negative mindset is unacceptable.
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Positioning – How you are positioned on the bike matters. Where your chin is, elbow and knee movement, how you use your eyes and how that fixes posture. Everything is easier after this
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Shifting, braking, suspension, and chain – The controls on your bike are very important and shouldn’t be overlooked. Using different parts of your bike can increase confidence and control. Your bike can help you bike!
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Vision and awareness – How and when you use your eyes is key to balance and trail navigation. Learning how to use your eyes as a tool is a game changer!
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Pressure control – How we add or take away body weight from the bike at certain moments can help us achieve great trail flow. Work with the terrain to achieve easier biking.
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Direction control – This includes speed and turns. Controlling how fast or slow you move forward, as well as all 26 chapters of cornering advice! Notice how far down this is, be extremely patient with this
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Timing and coordination – Think of this as a blend of all the skills. Like the engine of a car this takes you from driveway drills to the road of success!
For experienced riders, what are some advanced mountain biking technical skills that they should strive to master over time?
We call these maneuvers. Maneuvers require skill, and a rider should know when they have basic skills down and how those skills help you learn maneuvers.
Maneuvers consist of:
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Basic tricks such as Timmy Turn Bars, Taking a hand(s) or foot/feet off, E.T.’s, UFO’s ect.
I like the distinction between basic skills and maneuvers. It helps visualize the progression from practicing foundational skills to learning maneuvers that utilize these skills.
What are the biggest mistakes you see when teaching maneuvers to experienced riders?
Great question! As stated in my book, riders who struggle here are usually still “In-The-Box” riders. These riders need to learn how to loosen up and use their body more, which requires reducing fear and improving confidence. I call this “The Dance With the Bike”.
Coach Levi teaching braking basics.
A bad habit for jumps is riders lift their bike with their muscles, like a bunny hop. Don’t believe me? Watch a Pink Bike “Friday Fail” video and check out all the yankers! Riders need to understand that the jump is designed to put you in the air, so you don’t need to yank and pull. Lifting on the bike creates bad habits, horrible posture, and not using the entire benefit of the take off of the jump.
I have invented a tool for riders who are experiencing extremely fast progress with their jumping skills. It’s a portable bump jump. It’s used to help riders with mastering bunny hops and timing when it comes to the wheels properly going into the air. My favorite thing my bump jumps help with is posture. When riders have better timing they get better posture. When they get better posture, jumping is more comfortable. The tool can be stored in a backpack and used anywhere… and is indestructible. When I invent things, I make sure you just have to buy one. Riders can email me at leviweert@gmail.com to find out how to get one. Stock is extremely limited. They sell out as fast as I can get them made. Most customers are on a waiting list for the next round to be made, which is why it’s hard to find on my website.
I’ve taken lessons from you and know you’re a big advocate of practicing between rides and lessons. What are the core mountain bike drills that riders should practice regularly?
I recommend track stands, movement drills like shifting body weight forward and back/ side to side along with other similar moves, and stationary hops. Really, any practice outside of rides and lessons will help with progression. Be a kid and try a few tricks; it's not that bad.
Repetition is just as critical as choosing a drill to practice. It’s important to remember how we develop skills: 10,000 tries, more failures than successes. Progress should be slower than you think it will be. Having the power to visualize success over failures is key!
My clients who do their homework and give me ten minutes a day of practice are easily light years ahead of those who don't practice between lessons. Riding at home is the link between you and your desired skills. This is why I make myself available virtually between lessons and create content that riders can use anytime. Check out my videos 10 Easy Flat Ground Bike Tricks and Shred Academy: Episode 5 on Mobility for some easy flat ground tricks that you can learn at home as a couple of examples.
Another important point: all of these drills should be practiced with platform pedals! I have no idea why most clipless riders will never ride on platforms for any reason whatsoever. Huge mistake! The only riders falling over in my class are the clipless riders and I can keep up with all of my clipless friends on uphills. When it comes to slow speed tech riding, you’re very likely to fall over in clips rather than just dabbing a foot… embarrassing, and sometimes painful. In my opinion, you don’t gain much of anything by riding with clips, unless you’re competing in high level racing.
If you’re adamant about using clips, I still recommend that you master a lot of the skills and maneuvers we’ve talked about using platform pedals first. This will help you develop good habits and ultimately ride more safely with clips. Braydon Bringhurst serves as a great example of how this can be done. He knows how to ride on platform pedals, but mainly rides with clips and absolutely crushes everything. If you’re not familiar with Braydon, you’ve probably still heard of the Whole Enchilada trail in Moab; he did what no one else on Earth has done and rode it backwards!
Listen, unclip, master the drills, clip back in, and watch how much better you are at using those expensive shoes (winter is great for this; ride platforms over winter).
I think riders hesitate to take lessons for many reasons – cost, lack of support, mindset – and often need that one thing to push them over the edge. In your opinion, what is the best way for someone new to mountain biking, or an experienced rider who might be thinking about taking a mountain biking lesson, to take action?
Riders new to mountain biking should start by inserting themselves into the community. As a coach, I hear a lot about customers' first time experiences in bike shops and bike purchases. I have seen so many new riders get steered the wrong way, a bad deal, or sold the wrong bike for their needs. Involving yourself in a group discussion on a page like Facebook’s Boise Mountain Bikers will get you started in the right direction. Riders chime in and help answer questions, tell you what and who to avoid, and recommend reliable sources.
I think you will find the MTB community is ultra supportive. If you get someone snooty who makes you feel bad for lack of knowledge and experience, you've found someone extremely rare. Keep looking and you will quickly find people who will help you willingly… even go riding with you and show you the trails and the basics. It’s as easy as I make it seem.
Riders considering mountain biking lessons should also contact a coach for a free consultation. In my experience, most riders are less willing to commit without first consulting a qualified coach. Everyone’s journey and goals are different, so it’s important that riders talk with a qualified mountain bike coach before investing in lessons.
Levi, it’s been great talking with you. What is the best way for riders to contact you and learn more about what you’re doing?
Thanks. I appreciate the time. The best way to contact me is via email at leviweert@gmail.com. All the courses and products I offer are on my website at www.leviweert.com. Riders thinking about lessons can get a free consultation by using the contact form on my website. I’m always happy to message, phone, or if you're local to the Boise area, meet in person.