
Meet Henry Gilford, a Norway-based action videographer and mountain biker with decades of off-road cycling, cyclocross, freeriding, and downhill experience, sharing his passion and value for riders just starting out.
Explore mountain biking fundamentals with a focus on fun, adventure, and confidence, while mastering weight balance on downhill and technical terrain through route planning.
Learn about mountain bike subdisciplines: cross-country, downhill, all-mountain, enduro, dirt jump; choose the right bike for your goals, and master essential maintenance like brake pads, gearing, and tool kits.
Structure your mountain biking training by balancing fitness and bike handling, scheduling hard sessions with recovery, and tailoring the discipline-specific ratio from cross-country to downhill.
Explores finding training grounds for mountain biking by using Google Earth to scout trails, build routes, and dial bike settings like air pressure and suspension, with puncture repair steps.
Break mental barriers by assessing your skill level, warming up, and building confidence to tackle scary lines through visualization, staged entry, and commitment.
Master speed and flow in mountain biking by balancing control across terrain, using pumping and smooth transitions to navigate rocks, ruts, and jumps without sacrificing flow.
Progress to the next level in mountain biking by training with others, setting realistic, trackable goals, and using progress videos to monitor speed and improvement toward licensed competition levels.
Balance training and play to sustain motivation, listen to your body, and prevent burnout while improving technique, with recovery rides and fun sessions during the off season.
Mountain Biking 101 is your ultimate beginner’s guide to the world of off-road biking. In this course, you will be looking closely at everything you need to know to get started on your mountain biking journey. You will learn the very basics of training, riding techniques, and planning.
Here's what you will learn inside the course:
Basic bike handling, how to maneuver your bike over different surfaces, and the importance of shifting your weight. You will understand where and why you should shift your weight and the consequences by failing to do so.
The difference between the sub-disciplines, and you understand how to train for each one of them. You also understand the difference between the bike types and you know the different bike characteristics.
How to change brake pads, and how to change the inner tube. You are also aware of which tools to bring on your rides.
How to build a training program, and you know how to balance between hard efforts and recovery sessions.
How to use online tools, and how to plan your routes. You are also aware of how to combine several tools to build the best route as possible.
How to approach scary terrain, and you know how to break it down. You can spot the difference between the terrain of higher difficulty and terrain within your skillset.
How to achieve flow, and you understand the correlation between speed and flow. You are also capable of using techniques like pumping and bunny jumps to achieve or maintain flow.
You know what it takes to progress further, and you know the importance of listening to your body. You are capable of making wise choices about your health and training.
You are aware of racing categories, and you know about the different skill levels at each one of them. You also know how to approach a race and what to expect.
You understand how to balance your training, and how to structure a program avoiding you from burning out.
These are all elements of high importance in your pursuit of progression within the sport of mountain biking and are all subjects you are learning more about in the course.
About the Expert
Henrik Gulsrud is a Norwegian filmmaker and mountain biker with over 10 years of experience within the sport. Henrik was originally a road cyclist but turned towards the off-road scene about three years ago and never looked back. During his most active years, Henrik raced in the elite category nationally and abroad. Henrik started young, traveling the country with his father to participate in the national racing scene.
Henrik attended the University of Stavanger in 2017, majoring in media and television production. During these three years, Henrik worked exclusively on sports productions and shot a documentary about injuries in cycling, called Akilles.
Henrik is currently a freelancer, working with clients within the sports industry, also producing folders of stock footage based around action sports.