I Love My Job

A recent email that made my day:

Dear Gene,

I hope this message finds you doing well and on your way to a speedy
and complete recovery. I am thankful you were willing to continue with our class despite the challenge of your broken foot.

It has been nearly a month since I finished your camp in Fruita, Colo.
You were absolutely right when you said if we practiced your drills
off the trail, we would notice the difference on the trail. I have
spent the last couple of weeks practicing the drills here on the
streets in my neighborhood. The drills returned my best dividend today when my mountain bike camp classmate, Jerry and I went for a two hour ride on the trails here in Sedona. I was amazed at the difference in my riding ability. Today's ride was the best ride I have ever had since I first bought my mountain bike two years ago. Your superb instruction in teaching how a bike turns made the ride fun and exhilarating. I rode faster, smoother, relaxed, in control, and had fun.

The confidence in my ability to handle the trail and its features was
the highest I have ever experienced to date.   I successfully climbed
several hills that I had previously failed to climb, I could almost
hear your assistant coach Andy's voice in my ear repeating all of the
tips and techniques needed for the successful climbs. I remembered
Andy telling us. "To look to victory," as I rode through the trails
technical features that I had never cleared before. It was great fun
to enjoy steeps and drops that had previously intimidated me into the
hike-a-bike mode. I am absolutely thrilled with the new found
confidence in my riding ability. The best thing about all this is that
I have even more room for improvement. You have made a believer out of me with all you taught us. Am I perfect in my riding? Absolutely not. Can I become a better rider? You bet, thanks to you, your coaches, and the superb course.

As you can tell, I am very grateful for all your class did for me. I wish I would have taken the course before I even thought about taking a bike on the trail, but it is never too late to do the right thing. A classmate struck up a conversation with me last week while we were attending IMBA's trail building class. She said she had moved to Sedona recently and was having a difficult time riding our trails compared to where she had come from. I immediately referred her to BetterRide.

Joe Vernier, Nov. 27th, 2009