Ride Bikes, Be Happy
Last year for Mother’s Day I treated myself to a LIV Ladies AllRide Mountain Bike Clinic, a weekend of skills, maintenance, and ride clinics taught by women for women. With the growing popularity of cycling, especially mountain biking here in Arkansas, more and more women are pedaling and searching for community.
From the LIV Ladies AllRide website:
What is AllRide?
verb AllRide (awl-rīde)
1. A word used to describe all types of people riding all types of mountain bikes on all types of terrain. We know the world will be a happier place if more people can find an outlet that takes them outside to experience the ride of life with vigor and enthusiasm. Riding bikes is good for the mind, body and spirit. AllRide is a message: We should ALL RIDE bikes and get the most out of life.
A friend who attended the clinic in 2017 strongly encouraged me to go in 2018. Her glowing reviews left no doubt that participating would make a huge difference in my confidence even after more than 10 years of mountain biking under my saddle. In turn, I convinced a friend who’d been riding just a few months to go with me. That’s one of the great benefits of the AllRide clinic, the entire weekend is modeled to meet every rider exactly where they are. All riders learn roughly the same skills, the difference is the level of performance, ensuring every rider from the beginner to the veteran racer to progress. Beginners might learn how to shift on flat ground, while more advanced riders learn efficient shifting in tight uphill turns; same skill, different performance level. Before the clinic weekend, the staff sends out a very detailed questionnaire to each participant to know what skills each rider has and what skills each rider wants to learn. The teaching staff stresses how important the questions are because they spend a lot of time going over every questionnaire to place each woman with the right group and the right instructor. They work hard to make every minute of instruction worth the time and money participants are spending with them.
Coach and patient teacher Lindsey Richter giving me what I asked for: learn to ride technical uphill sections better.
Learn more on the AllRide Facebook page.
Registration for this year’s clinic opens Tuesday, January 29th for the May 18th-19th, 2019 event in beautiful Bentonville, Arkansas. Register early, it will sell out.
