NOBL Gravity Jump Clinic
August 2022 marks two years of NOBL HQ moving from the lower mainland to our new home in the Comox Valley. With COVID restrictions lifting and bike-related events back on track, we thought this season was the perfect opportunity to start building relationships with other local businesses and to put down some roots in our beautiful new community!
Partnering with Gravity MTB was an obvious place to get started. Local owners Chad & CJ Hendren have a roster of forty coaches that offer a wide variety of mountain biking instruction for all skill levels, from kids camps and intro to riding classes to race preparation, private lessons and everything in between.
With some of the NOBL crew set on conquering Cumberland’s infamous jump line Six Pack, we set out one sunny spring afternoon with our hearts full of courage and Gravity owner Chad Hendren leading the charge toward more (and safer) airtime!
“I was both excited and nervous heading into the Jumps Clinic hosted for the NOBL team by Gravity MTB. Our ultimate objective was to head to Six Pack in the Cumberland Forest, a trail with jumps I knew to be quite large and with gaps. Chad was a stellar coach and broke down the progression of jumping skills into digestible steps.
We started with body positioning and tire lifting drills in the park, moving next to the staged hopper and then headed to the trails to session smaller jumps on 4 Pack (Six Pack’s “little sister”) to really start applying the skills we learned. Then it was time for Six Pack, where Chad gave me the confidence to give the last, intimidating jump a go. After an initial run and then a tow-in from Chad I was able to clear the jump! We took several runs sessioning the last jump which gave me confidence to hit it solo.
This Jumps Clinic really ignited the drive to keep hitting the smaller jump on 4 Pack during my own rides and to progress with confidence to hit others of a similar size. Since the lesson I’ve been able to tick off a few other jumps in the trail network that I hadn’t before.”
Victoria Leeson