by Nuno Luz
Just before the very last race of the 2026 Gorrick Evening Series, I was able to take part in a Mini XC Racing coaching session that club member Will Matthews (who happens to be a qualified British Cycling coach) had kindly offered.
The aim was to look at:
- Improving cornering technique to gain those precious seconds
- Basic understanding on reading the terrain
- Tackling more technical features such as drops and steps
- Have some fun!
Myself and Robin met up with Will on the Monday at 6pm at Highlands Farm, near Frimley Green. It was a hot evening, but the sun was starting to set and it was cooling down, which helped 🙂
First we did a warm up lap, to get our muscles ready and joints well oiled, and this gave Will an opportunity to follow us and see where there was some room for improvement.
After a quick lap, there was a particular section of the course that provided the perfect opportunity to tackle some of our knowledge gaps. It was a fast section coming into a couple of twisty turns, a tight left with quite a few exposed and tricky roots leading to a tight right hander between two trees.
Line choice here was crucial, not to overshoot our braking, riding into the roots without losing control, and avoiding colliding with the trees, and to get on the power quickly enough as soon as we were done negotiating this tricky section.
Will first made us try without any tips or advice to see where we could improve, and it was clear there was a lot of room for improvement!!
After watching, Will mentioned to me what could be improved, and it was basic but very important advice that breaks down the moment into important steps:
- Braking: good and timed braking is essential. Brake too late, and you will miss the best line and lock up your wheel and lose time. Brake too little, and come in too hot and lose control. The idea is that you brake just enough to slow you down without locking up your back wheel and at the same time focus on the following step.
- Looking ahead: always look at where you’re going, don’t just focus on your front wheel, lift your eyesight and look a good 10 feet down the track. This will allow you to look at the next section, get on the brakes with enough time and prepare your body position as needed.
- Shifting & prioritising the exit: at the same time that you’re decelerating, you want to get ready to be on the power. Will pointed out I was not shifting down and preparing to pedal in the right gear, losing precious time and energy after negotiating the section to then shift down, do a couple of pedals and finally get into optimal gear and power. This is inefficient, and you should always try to shift one or two gears down depending on how slow the corner will be and the speed you come into it.
- The line: we also spent some time at looking at the best line for this section. The “Outside-Inside-Outside” rule was followed, where you enter the corner wide, and then cut across the middle – which was advised given the massive tree roots that could easily make you lose control – and exit wide and ready to put down power.
Will then demonstrated how to do it, buttery smooth and fast! And then myself and Robin did our best to replicate. Spoiler alert – it did work! 👏
Next we went over to a steep track section with some tricky steps, where some of the steps were almost a drop and we had to negotiate a tree and then use a nice berm to shoot out.
We all had a really good time coming down and discussing lines, the benefits of having a dropper post, and just going up and down to test new lines. In the end Will found a very good line on the left side which was fast and would help you to better align with the berm at the bottom.
The next features were a couple of drops that presented different challenges. One was easily rollable and open, and at speed you could do a little jump. I tried and really enjoyed it as it was quite easy.
The other one was at the end of a slight downhill, and presented a slight bend and a tree. A bit steeper, but a gradual ramp was quite helpful if you didn’t want to go too fast. If you did, you would have to quickly set up for the tight left between the ferns.
Arm positioning was key, making your arms wide and slightly lower, ready for the drop. Air time can be slow time, so you want those wheels to be on the ground and ready to pedal as soon as possible.
There was even time for Will to show us a secret passage in one of the sections which was not so obvious while you’re racing. As long as you’re between the lines, look at options, and sometimes the best line is not always the most obvious. This was the case where if you took the high line behind some ferns, you would avoid a slow bombhole and most definitely help preserve some much needed strength.
After all the great tips and runs through the tech sections we had a couple of laps around the track and decided to call it a very productive day!
Absolutely enjoyed it, great also to have a chat with Will and Robin and chat about bikes and bike racing.
I do absolutely believe the tips really helped the next day, having them fresh in my mind as I was doing the final Gorrick Evening Series race and remembering what we had discussed. Putting it into practice in a competitive context was just amazing and paid off with me getting third position.
Thank you Will for showing us some of these pro tips. Looking forward to the next one!
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