The Principle That Changed Everything
Years ago, when I started writing and speaking about my 23 Principles, I never imagined those lessons would take me this far in life or lead me to the incredible privilege of teaching them through the MTB Girls Ride Club clinics.
What began as reflections after difficult rides slowly grew into something deeper. Over time, those moments turned into lessons about resilience, confidence, fear, and self-trust. They also became lessons about moving forward when life or the trail feels overwhelming. Moore Creek MTB Girls Clinic
At every clinic, these ideas are woven into the experience in a quiet but meaningful way. My hope is that riders leave with something lasting. Not just skills for the trail, but lessons they can carry into everyday life long after the ride is over.
The first principle is simple: Don’t Be Afraid to Ride.
Technical skills matter, but fear can stop us from using them. Many riders fear rocks, roots, steep descents, technical climbs, failure, or looking inexperienced. Fear tightens the body and clouds decision-making. It can also convince us that we are less capable than we really are.
Our brains are designed to keep us safe. Still, the mind plays a powerful role in shaping outcomes. The stories we repeat to ourselves on the trail often become the same stories we carry into daily life.
When we learn to work through fear instead of giving in to it, everything can change. That shift can transform not only the way we ride, but also the way we move through the world.
Accelerating the Fear-to-Fun Continuum
One of the biggest goals of this clinic is helping riders speed up what I call the fear-to-fun continuum.
Throughout the day, we’ll learn how to manage the mind so fear does not control the ride. Instead of getting stuck in hesitation, overthinking, or survival mode, riders will practice shifting into confidence, trust, flow, and enjoyment.
That process begins with Principle #1: Don’t Be Afraid to Ride. It continues through all 23 principles.
During the clinic, we’ll focus on several key ideas designed to help riders build confidence faster. The goal is not to remove fear completely. The goal is learning how to move through fear with awareness, skill, and support.
One of the most powerful parts of that process is the people around you.
Mountain biking brings people together through challenge, vulnerability, encouragement, and shared experience. Riders will learn alongside an incredible group throughout the clinic. Together, we create an environment where growth feels exciting instead of intimidating. Moore Creek MTB Girls Clinic
All of this takes place above Napa Valley in some of the most beautiful terrain in Northern California wine country. It’s a setting that reminds you to slow down, breathe deeper, and fully experience the ride.
Join Liz Donahey and Coach Kim Meredith
Join your coaches, Liz Donahey and Coach Kim Meredith, for this co-ed skills and mindset clinic. The experience is designed to help riders build technical confidence while also developing mental strength under pressure.
This clinic combines Liz Donahey’s 23 Principles with Kim Meredith’s skills coaching methodology. Together, they create a riding experience that connects movement, mindset, and performance in a lasting way.
Riders will learn how to move more efficiently on technical terrain. They will also learn how breathing, body awareness, emotional regulation, and mental focus affect performance on the bike and in everyday life.
Whether you are working through fear on steep descents, learning to corner with more confidence, or developing patience during technical climbs, this clinic is designed to help riders understand how physical and mental skills work together.
More Than Skills Coaching
Yes, riders will spend the day developing technical mountain bike skills including ratcheting, high-speed cornering, small circles, climbing efficiency, bike-body separation, balance, and body positioning. But beneath every drill and trail session is a much bigger purpose: helping riders develop confidence, focus, resilience, and trust in themselves.
The lessons extend far beyond mountain biking. Becoming stronger off the bike creates stronger riders, and becoming stronger riders often changes the way people show up in every other area of life — from parenting and relationships to business, leadership, and personal growth.
Why Moore Creek Is the Perfect Classroom
There are few better places to learn these lessons than Moore Creek Park in Napa County.
The clinic route winds through Chiles Creek Trail, Whiskey Ridge, Catacoula Trail, Conn Peak, Old Man’s Beard Trail, and Alta Hennessey Fire Road, covering approximately 15 miles with 1,800 to 2,000 feet of climbing. Riders will experience technical features, flow sections, climbs, descents, and multiple session zones where skills are broken down in real time in a supportive and encouraging environment. Moore Creek MTB Girls Clinic
Unlike clinics that focus on rushing through mileage, this experience prioritizes progression, understanding, and confidence-building. Riders will stop frequently to practice skills, ask questions, session features, and work through challenges together. The atmosphere is designed to remove ego from the equation and replace it with curiosity, growth, and community.
The Reciprocal Power of Riding and Life
One of the most powerful things about mountain biking is that no matter where we are in our riding journey, we are always both a beginner and an expert at the same time.
There will always be another skill to learn, another challenge to face, another obstacle that asks us to become more patient, more focused, and more resilient. That’s part of what makes the sport so transformative. The trail constantly mirrors life back to us. Moore Creek MTB Girls Clinic
The patience required to clean a technical climb often becomes patience with ourselves. The courage it takes to roll into a steep descent becomes courage in difficult conversations, career changes, or personal setbacks. The ability to stay calm under pressure while cornering at speed becomes the ability to remain grounded when life feels uncertain.
These are not separate experiences. They build each other.
That reciprocal relationship between riding and life is one of the core foundations of this clinic and one of the reasons so many riders walk away feeling changed by the experience.
A Community Built Around Growth
Beyond the riding itself, the MTB Girls Ride Club clinics are designed to create genuine connection and community. The day begins with introductions, movement warm-ups, and mindset preparation before transitioning into skills coaching and trail sessions throughout Moore Creek.
Riders support one another through difficult sections, celebrate breakthroughs together, and create an environment where progression feels exciting instead of intimidating. After the clinic, participants are invited to continue the connection over dinner at Sam’s Social Club at 7 PM, where the conversations, laughter, and friendships often become just as meaningful as the ride itself.
Don’t Be Afraid to Ride
At any given point in our mountain bike journey, we are all beginners at something and experts at something else. That never really changes, no matter how long we ride.
The trail does not ask us to be fearless or perfect. It simply asks us to keep showing up, keep learning, and keep trying again.
And sometimes, the most important thing we can do for ourselves — on the bike and in life — is decide not to let fear make the decision for us.
A few spots are still available for the MTB Girls Ride Club Coed Clinic at Moore Creek Park on Sunday, May 24 from 10 AM–2 PM.
We can’t wait to ride with you.
If you haven’t yet, registered, you sign up here there are a few spots left for you!
Link the graphic below to the reg page
https://vev.co/mtb-girls-ride-club-santa-rosa
