Saturday 27 July 2013

Power Pack 20th July

Unfortunately I couldn't make Powerpack this weekend but I bumped into one of the coaches this week who confirmed that he'd seen our "nippy girls", guess he must have been talking about Lottie, Ellen and Hope.  Well done girls, keep up the good work!

Tuesday 16 July 2013

Saturday 6th July

Four of our young riders tackled the Col de Mote this morning, we found a cool shady patch of grass to recover on at the top.  Road re-surfacing meant we had the top loop to ourselves before we headed back for the descent and back to Stocks Green. Back at school riders tested the propulsion properties of their water bottles.

Well done to Luke for his first ascent of Col de Mote.

Picture to follow.

Later that afternoon we headed down to the school to set out a mountain bike course using all the equipment we have. Starting on the field the course headed towards the north end through the trees, then into and out of the willow shelter.  Further down the field a set of tight bends preceded a turn before the adventure play equipment where Jacob had created a chicane section.  Finally riders were guided around the tyres and back to the start.

After a couple of warm up laps, we ran three events on the course, an individual time trial, a mass start race and a handicap race.  All the riders did amazingly with a good range of podium positions.

Pictures to follow.

Saturday 13th July

Morning ride out with Damian and Jacob

A group of six riders made the most of the fine weather to tackle the Col de Coldharbour on Saturday morning.  The group stuck together well on the ascent, with no stops required.  A brief break to take on water and it was on to the rough stuff.  With the sun beating down it was hot work and all were glad of the shade when the trail reached the woods.  Another bumpy ride over the rock hard “muddy field” and it was onto the bridleway for the dry and dusty climb back up  to the road before an excellent descent, with the riders lined out like the pro peleton descending a true Pyrenean Col.  
 
Well done all, particularly Sophia for a strong performance on her first Col de Coldharbour.

Tuesday 9 July 2013

Saturday 29th June 2013

I headed over the Kent College Summer Fayre this morning with Polly to run some taster sessions for the children there.  It was a successful session and lots of interest in KVK from the parents.

Meanwhile back in Hildenborough it was business as usual, Viv and Damian stepped in to lead the ride and this is Damian's ride report:

A small but select group of four riders met at Westwood to make the most of the fine weather and tackle the Col de Coldharbour.  Congratulations to Hope for her first non-stop ascent (it just shows what regular riding can do to improve performance) and to Ellen who looked strong despite spending Friday evening at Cyclopark racing.   It was  pleasure to find the off road sections dry and the pace was good.  A fallen tree across the path halted progress briefly before the riders swooped down the trail into the “muddy” field, which was not muddy at all, but rock hard and more like the cobbles of Belgium; fortunately no ones teeth fell out!!  A steady cycle up the bridleway and it was back onto the road for a speedy descent down the Col and back to Westwood.
 
Well done everyone and many thanks to Viv for stepping in to lead the ride.

Thursday 4 July 2013

Another week of racing for the Kent Velo Kids

Last Friday Hope, Ellen, Toni and Polly took part in the penultimate race of Team Darenth's Spring in the Park Series.  This week Sophia competed at Hever Tri and improved on her previous performance to take first place in her age group.  Fantastic performance from you all girls, well done!  Pictures to start with, full reports to follow.