Shifting effectively to ready yourself for the upcoming climb, cornering at speed, or drinking while pedalling, are just a few of the basic skills the seasoned cyclist takes for granted.

Moving into my 3rd season leading the TREK Women Who Ride Clinics, I felt as though it was time to broaden my bag of tricks. The clinic is growing, and so is the skill set of the awesome crew of women that are now dedicated to the sport and to the clinic.

As I do, I scoped out some certification courses and stumbled across the National Coaching Certification Program Cycling Course: Community Cycling Initiation, taught by Fred Zottl, whose teaching strategy was very well received (thanks Fred!).

The 2 day intensive course just wrapped up, and I am now, officially, a NCCP Cycling Coach – Woohoo! As always, I am pumped to start sharing my knowledge.

Thanks to the resourceful training materials provided, I am actually excited to start the lesson planning process for the 2013 season (yes, this sort of stuff excites me, don’t judge).

I will be touching on The 12 Basic Cycling Skills in upcoming blog posts, so stay tuned!

The 12 Basic Cycling Skills:

1. Braking
2. Straight-line riding
3. Tight turns
4. Gearing and cadence
5. Cornering
6. Front wheel lift
7. Pick up and drop an object
8. Hill climb
9. Hill descent
10. Mounts and dismounts
11. Bumping and buzzing
12. Riding a drop off (

If you can ride a bike, have interest in improving your basic cycling skills (listed above), and/or want to understand the steps to entering your first race – I am your girl, or “Coach” should I say?!

Contact me: meaganbroughton@gmail.com

Specials thanks to: Fred Zottle, Brendan Arnold, National Coaching Certification Program, and The Ontario Cycling Association, Highlands Nordic.