Barefoot Triathlon Squad Skills Day

24/6/13

I don’t think us Melbournians can complain too much about the recent spout of frosty mornings.  The day’s sunshine more than makes up for the many layers of clothes required to get out the door.

Yesterday I had pleasure of enjoying the trails out at Lysti with a group of enthusiastic triathletes. Steve Foster runs a highly successful Triathlon squad ‘Team Barefoot’, based down the Mornington Peninsula.  The team is made up of a group of elite level triathletes as well as many age groupers.  The name Steve Foster may ring a bell to many of my blog readers, as his name certainly dominated the triathlon scene back in the 80’s and 90’s.  He was multiple Australian Champion as well as being very successful internationally.  While Steve still races at the highest level in his age group, these days’ he puts much of his energy into coaching.  I can certainly vouch for his awesomeness as a coach, having spent several years under his wing as a junior triathlete back 10 years ago.  To this day, I still use many of the coaching principles he taught me.

So, Steve had asked me if I’d put together a MTB skills session for the Barefoot crew.  Little did I know how popular the day would be and before I knew it a group of 15 had signed up for a couple of hour’s skills-focused trail riding out at Lysterfield.  Luckily for me, I had Ed come along to lend a helpful hand.

I was pleasantly surprised by the level of skill in the group of ‘so-called beginners’.  I guess the most pleasing to me though, was the level of enthusiasm.  All were eager to give each of the obstacles a go and took on any helpful advice given.  This made teaching easy and the progression from start to finish of the ride was quite evident. It’s always a good sign when everyone had a smile on their face at the finish including myself!

Nice to finish off a fun day on the trails with a coffee at Trailmix!