Highlights from recent MTB workshops and events

The last couple of months have been huge and exciting from this end, with the biggest highlights being meeting and talking with so many riders at workshops and events: the DHaRCO x MTB Ladies Day Out in Sydney, a Refine Your Racecraft Workshop with the Hunter Mountain Bike Association here in Lake Macquarie/Newcastle, a Brainy Biking talk and a couple of panels at the inaugural Sea Otter Australia Summit in Batemans Bay on the NSW South Coast, and a career talk on thinking, working, failing, leading and resilience at the Developing Mountain Biking in Scotland Women in the Bike Industry Summit. That’s quite a list!

After one session, a friend said, “This is your dream, right?” I’d been so focused on delivering the sessions the groundingness of the comment caught me off guard.

When I first started Intelligent Action, I was looking for a way to continue the research, teaching, and presenting I loved from my academic life, but to share it directly with people outside of university walls. Not just mountain bikers, but especially mountain bikers.

The feedback from these workshops and talks over the last couple of months has been more overwhelmingly positive than I could have hoped for – confirmation that diverse types of riders and industry professionals are able to take this knowledge and run with it (or ride with it!) to respond to challenges of their own, my ultimate goal.

It’s hard to overstate how much I’ve loved what people have shared back from these events: Trailbuilders talking about how they design a trail for flow, or to make someone’s shoulders move in particular ways. Women who’ve worked so hard to empower others in the sport soaking up a moment that empowers them on their journey as well. Other coaches so genuinely curious to learn more about how to support the mental side of riding in their own clients, and the passion for coaching that spills out of them at the same time. Neurodivergent riders reaching out to share their own journeys in the sport and how central it’s been to the strategies they’ve developed for other parts of life. People getting in touch after a workshop or during coaching session, exploring different ways making something unconscious conscious, and sharing what this opened up for them.

As we approach the end-of-year-reflection season, I want to use this post to share a heartfelt thank you for what your interest, enthusiasm, energy and feedback continues to give me as well! I’m a big believer that it’s our communities that make us strong. I feel this again and again in my own life, and it’s really meaningful to share my professional work in ways that offer additional tools, strategies and perspectives to others.