September 2007 — VOLUME 5 ISSUE 9
Top coaches and kids rip it up at camp
Freeride film superstar Matt Hunter brought his smooth mountain bike methods to Sun Peaks last month.
Featured in such big-name films as The Collective, ROAM, the New World Disorder series and Stripped, Hunter’s known internationally for his style on the biggest lines on natural terrain, as well as his ultra-friendly, laid-back attitude.
He was matched here by local pro-downhill racer Justin Terwiel, who has his own film credits for Stripped, as well as the film Local Yokels, but is best known for his well-rounded, high-level background of BMX and downhill mountain bike racing.
Together the two teamed up to deliver Matt Hunter Freeride Camps, a five-day mountain bike camp for riders from the ages of eight to 15. The 13 participants were split into two groups, one consisting of riders who had never downhill mountain-biked before, and the other more experienced riders. Riders learned everything from the basics of bike set-up, to braking and cornering, manualling, jumping, and riding style, while riding in every condition.
After training with the world-class likes of Shaums March and Dustin Adams, as well as coaching ski racing for six seasons, Terwiel’s developed into a tactician in the sport, with the ability to inspire his disciples—something that showed in the progression the kids made. By the end of the week, the younger group was challenging black runs, doing tabletop jumps and looking like experienced riders.
“We had kids who, coming in, had never ridden on dirt, and by the end of the week were riding with control and confidence on expert runs,” says Terwiel.
And some of Hunter’s renowned ability to read terrain and judge commitment lines, when failure’s not an option, must have rubbed off too. After five days, the rider’s movements mirrored those of their coaches, and so did their smiles. The older group progressed to cleaning gap jumps, committing to challenging expert lines, and riding with style, some of Hunter’s objectives starting off the camp.
“I want to teach riders to ride faster and smoother, and how to read the terrain. I want every person who comes out to have a lot more confidence with their riding,” noted Hunter.
Those goals were clearly met, says Terweil.
“We had kids who came in as intermediate riders, and gained the confidence to safely clean nearly every feature we came across on the hill. These are young riders mostly on junior hardtail bikes we’re talking about, challenging features a lot of adults on full-suspension bikes wouldn’t think about doing because they haven’t acquired the foundation skills required to progress to this level.”
Acquiring those skills in a safe and systematic progression was key to the camp, as was enjoying the action, so much so that many of the riders are already talking about returning next year.
“It’s amazing how much these kids progressed in a one-week period, and how much fun we had in the process. We started the kids with the basics and worked up as they were ready. Progressing in this way and controlling the environment, we were able to see huge gains while keeping the kids as safe as possible. I can’t wait to see what we can accomplish next year,” enthuses Terwiel.
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