Ladies, all the ladies

There's no doubt about it, women are different to men. This revelation helped me decide to spend my hard-earned cash on a week of women-only mountain-biking instruction, guiding and eating really nice food, in the Morzine region of the French Alps - famous for its downhill trails.

Women-only activity holidays/groups (Mtn bike/kayaking/climbing/skiing) seem to be a popular thing at the moment. But surely riding a switchback on a bike, boofing a drop in a creekboat or landing a helix in a playboat are the same for women and men, aren't they? So, why the need for 'separate' instruction? Well, I'm not sure they are always the same, the technical movements may often be identical to get to the same end result, but men and women will probably approach the learning of the new skills differently, and sometimes the techniques required are different. An example of this was something I was told, and observed on the course: that most women (certainly when they are new to biking) bike with their knees together - an extra something we have to overcome to allow our bikes to move more freely underneath us that men don't even need to give a second's thought about (when do men ever sit with their knees together!)

Knees knocking together!

One of the biggest reasons for me to take instruction from women was so that I could see another woman do the things that I wanted to be able to do. As I generally go biking with guys that are much better than me I often (wrongly) assume the things they do, and try to get me to do, are only possible if you are a strong guy. So, it was particularly useful for me to see a girl doing those things, and to see other females undergo the same progression as me at similar rates (a progression that would probably be at very different rates if I was with a group of guys who were similar level to me).

I particularly enjoyed figuring out how to initiate a manual with a group of girls, this was difficult for most of us but we were all able to watch and encourage each other as we tried to get the front wheel a couple of inches off the ground! It was great to be feeble together, without actually feeling feeble as we were all achieving the same result. If I were with a group of guys learning this 'move' I think I would feel intimidated/inadequate as the rest of the group would no doubt effortlessly lift their wheels a couple of extra inches off the ground. I am sure once we have mastered this trick our efforts will involve a more stylised technique than those of the men using brute force :)
I have finally learned how to go round corners and switchbacks - a good thing given the number we came across on the trails!

We tackled some great trails and got some great instruction on the way - although sometimes not as much as we would have liked. Due to a recent arrest of an English guide we couldn't break into small groups as we needed a French guide with us all the time. But even in the large groups we got demonstrations and throughout the week we improved our riding of roots, rocky sections, corners and berms.

In the second week we met up with our men at Les Arcs to try out our new found skills. We had a fantastic week with 12 of our good friends (some pictured above) tackling a whole bunch more trails. One of the biggest things I realised on this holiday was how lucky I am to regularly be able to bike with a group of girls. There are often at least 3 or 4 of us biking with the guys, which is great to keep you in company at the back of the group when most of the guys go steaming off ahead.

Remembering to keep my knees apart!

All in all a great couple of weeks. Unfortunately now we are back the only downhill we will be getting will have to be preceded by pedalling up - I was enjoying the use of those lifts. What's worse is Hurley is running in August and it would be rude to pass up the opportunity of paddling in the mild temperatures, in the middle of summer so at the moment the biking may have to wait until it gets a little drier.

Thanks to Ruth, Jez and Laura for the pictures.