Pure Body Balance Holistic MTB Retreat

Cornering technique with Katy

In my experience the Universe provides what you need, when you most need it. So it was no surprise to me that a couple of days after collapsing at Milland (see Southern Enduro Round 4 blog) Katy Curd said that a space had become available on the Pure Body Balance Holistic MTB Retreat at Forest of Dean (FOD). Run by Adrian Stokes and Karen Maidment (Pure Body Balance Centre for Wellbeing) the weekend addresses all aspects of your riding: how you move on the bike, how the bike works inc a suspension set up class with Jake Ireland from Sprung Suspension Workshop, Katy coaching on how you ride and finally your mental game and attitude. For someone who’d just realised she really did need to listen to her body more and to figure out how to work with it, not against it, this was perfect!

Yep, it's autumn

I snuck in a quick ride at FOD before arriving at the retreat on Friday afternoon but pushed my timings to the limit so turned up at the retreat in bike gear and covered in mud! As I walked in a lady turned to me, laughed and said ‘Hi Vicky, you’re wearing my daughter’s shorts!’. Not your usual greeting but I was indeed wearing her daughter’s shorts, having bought them second hand from MTB Chix facebook group! A great ice-breaker and totally indicative of the fun, open and direct approach we all brought to the weekend. Over Karen’s delicious fish pie that night, the 9 of us (including my friend and Southern Enduro competitor, Katie) laughed, swapped stories and bonded.

Bikes parked up in the games room

Tucked up in the den later on, Adrian and Karen introduced us to the six foundation principles of health – breathing, thinking, sleep, movement, nutrition and hydration. These really are the core of their work and to get the most from MTB (or life as it’s otherwise known) you need to understand and balance them all. Possibly the most powerful message from the evening, for me, came when we were each asked to say one word that describes the feeling we get when we ride MTB. Between us we were unanimous: joy, laughter and enjoyment! When you hold that as the focus of your riding, it becomes far harder to give in to the negative self-talk about why you’re not doing something well enough. That may be a drop off or trail feature. The willingness of the group to be open, honest and vulnerable was so impressive. It helped us all get the most out of the sessions.

Adrian, Kathryn, Alison and Jo

Karen started talking about nutrition by pointing out that we don’t look the same on the outside, so why should our bodies function the same on the inside! It sounds flippant but it’s true and we need to start seeing food as fuel but stop expecting a one-size-fits-all solution to nutrition. After struggling with energy during rides, a couple of weeks ago I tried a pre-ride meal based around proteins and fat, with very little carbohydrate and the improvement in my energy levels was massive. Karen agreed that it’s often a case of trial and error to find out what works and encouraged us to think about how we feel 1-2 hours after a meal to work out if it’s good for us. Breakfast on Saturday was a bacon sarnie and I discovered that it does not work for me as a pre-ride meal, so I was touched to see that for breakfast on Sunday, Karen had made my riding wonder meal: avocado, eggs, bacon and apples!

Lisa, Katie (Southern Enduro friend) and Karen

Adrian’s approach to exercise is built around primal movements that we all need for everyday life in conjunction with specific exercises to help you on the bike. Saturday and Sunday mornings both started with a pre-breakfast circuits class to show how you can use the gym to improve specific riding techniques and strength – this wasn’t a chill in bed kind of retreat! For example, kettle bell swings are great for helping you get the right position when doing a manual and also for learning how to soak up impacts on the bike. Holding a straight arm plank while sliding your legs in and out under you is perfect sprint training.

Kettle bell swings

Helps with absorbing impacts

However, my favourite exercise was standing on a bosu ball in attack position, holding handlebars while Katy and/or Adrian tried to through you off! It wasn’t just because it made me howl with laughter but because it teaches you to use your core for balance whilst keeping the rest of you relaxed so that you can lighten the bike and skip over roots or rocks.

Strong core, relaxed arms and grip

Adrian is one of the UK’s only ELDOA practitioners – a form of stretching that works on the fascia (the ‘skin’ that links every organ and element in the body). Complimenting Karen’s yoga class, the ELDOA session pushed our stretches further and resulted in a sense of release and strength. Even after one class it was possible to see that regular ELDOA sessions would help a rider to feel stronger and more in control of their body.

Jake, Sprung Suspension Workshop

Suspension setup is often looked at as a bit of a black art, and with high and low speed compression and high and low speed rebound adjustment available on some dampers it's no surprise. Jake's suspension class helped dispell some of those feelings and he showed us how to set up both our suspension forks and rear shock for our weight and the particular riding conditions. It really highlighted just how much small changes could make differences, even as a non-professional rider. .

Katie (Southern Enduro friend) checking her suspension

Much of Saturday and Sunday Katy was coaching the group in FOD. As always Katy delivered great coaching tailored to all our needs, but it was the addition of Adrian and Karen’s work on positive thinking that had the biggest impact for me. I have been working on my mind game with drop offs recently and my aim for the weekend was to progress to non-rollable drops. Woohoo, Reader, I achieved it!

Non-rollable drops - check!

More than that, I finally pumped my way round an entire pump track – the one at FOD is not short! I have been working on this skill since first trying a pump track with BenBikes at Hadleigh Park in January and being a heart-on-my-sleeve kinda gal I promptly burst into tears!

Pump track heaven!

Unfortunately for us all the weekend’s course finished around 3pm. Not one to leave when there’s the offer of a cheeky extra ride, I headed over to the enduro trails at the far side of FOD with Katy and Adrian on Sunday afternoon. Wow! They are so fast, technical and fun – with my laughter ringing out through the trees, racing to see if I could catch a glimpse of Katy ahead of me, it was a great way to end the weekend.

Delicious lunches at Pedalabikeaway

Holistic has been a buzz word over recent years but it is apt here. Adrian, Karen, Katy and Jake showed us that by weaving their fields together you can come out a better and happier rider! By the end of the weekend I was knackered but felt I’d learned and achieved so much and made another bunch of awesome riding mates – cheers everyone!

www.purebodybalance.co.uk

www.katycurd.com

www.sprungsuspension.com