NEMBAfest Women’s Skills Clinics

I had never been to a NEMBAfest event before but only two weeks before the event I was asked if I could do some clinics for women. I was happy to oblige and give back to my mountain biking community.

A huge thank you to all the women who registered for the NEMBAfest Women’s Skills Clinics. There’s obviously a big need out there.

Sure was hot and dusty!  So glad to have those shower trucks available. With the ratio of men to women estimated to be 3:1 at the event, it was nice to see the line of 20+ men waiting to take showers and the line of only 2+ women.

The volunteer fundamentals clinics I conducted were Saturday and Sunday from 10:00-1:00.  There were a total of 54 women who registered for the free clinics and the waiting list for each clinic was in effect the previous weekend. Thankfully, I got some assistance Saturday morning from Tina Dwan who has assisted with the “Ride Like A Girl” series at NEMBAfest for many years.  And Sunday Ruth Wheeler and Anne Shepherd helped me out.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t get all 54 women into the clinics, but I was able to help 36 women improve their mountain biking skills that weekend.  And to me that’s a big success!

After reading their registration information I realized that many of the women wanted more than just the fundamentals.  I was already going to be there at Kingdom Trails so I figured I’d add another clinic to help meet their needs.

Some of the participants took me up on a fee-based “Maneuvers” Clinic Saturday afternoon in which we worked on maneuvers like…

  • Two different ways of doing front wheel lifts
  • Rear wheel lifts
  • Timing the two lifts together to get over obstacles without touching the obstacle
  • Cornering techniques
  • Pumping to increase speed, flow and FUN
  • Steep descents, turns and bridges from up on the ledges

I’ve been asked to do the same type of fee-based clinics next year so the NEMBAfest Women’s Skills Clinics aren’t limited to just the fundamental skills.

Looking forward to going back next year and I hope I see you there!

Coach Margie Bowen