Saturday 29th March 2014

Youth Ride, Quick Start, Ride Out & Powerpack

Once again there were lots of youngsters riding this weekend; KVK hosted a Youth Ride, Quick Start Go-Ride coaching, and an off site mountain bike ride.  Some of our riders attended John Leitch's Power Pack at Cyclopark as well.  So well done to everyone who took part in a session. Rider of the week goes to Polly who rode all three sessions.

Youth Ride - Luke, Sophia, Toni, Calvin, Polly and Hannah all rode towards Plaxtol on the Gover Hill loop ride.  Calvin and Toni had tackled the hill before but it was a first for Luke, Sophia, Polly and Hannah.  A tough climb but a great view at the top.  We rode just over 15 miles at 12mph.  Well done to everyone who rode.

Ride-Out Col de Coldharbour - Veterans of the Col de Coldharbour were reminded just how tough a climb it is for the first time when some of our newer riders joined us for their first Ride-Out.  Well done to Lotte, Sebi, Ben and Max for their first ascent of the Cold de Coldharbour

Quick Start Go-Ride - Another Saturday afternoon, more gloriously sunshine and another vey well attended session, including another new rider, Sammy.

Rider of the week Polly

Quick Starters, showing all the skills needed to ride in the peleton.

We continued our work on group riding, moving on from riding in pairs to riding in a larger group.  With Go-Ride regulars Toni and Luke setting the pace, two groups of seven riders circulated the track focussing on maintaining a regular gap to the rider in front.  Visible improvement was quickly apparent as riders learnt to concentrate and to adjust their speed as necessary.  With improving confidence we combined the two groups so that the entire group of 14 riders were circulating together in two lines, maintaining gaps both to the rider in front and the rider to the side. Magnificent.

A short refreshment break allowed time to set up two identical courses involving a balance beam, corners and a slalom section.  Riders first tackled the course in pairs, trying to keep together throughout.  We then moved on to riding in fours and finally in groups of seven.  The slalom section proved the trickiest; it is important to remember to leave space for the rider next to you to get round the cones, so if you are on the outside do not cut in too close, but stay out wide.

Overall some really good skills were displayed for a first attempt at what is a tricky skill.  Well done to all.

Some brief thoughts:


*         Think about the rider around you - what are they doing and have you left them enough room.

*         Concentrate; by anticipating what is happening around you, you can adjust your speed in a controlled manner avoiding sudden braking (which might cause the rider behind to crash into you!)

*         Stay relaxed and keep talking to the other riders.

Well done everyone - for those on holiday next week I hope you have a really fantastic break; I look forward to seeing everyone else next week at the usual time - sign on from 1.45 for a 2pm start (3pm finish)