Saturday 31st May 2014 - Youth Ride, Go Ride and Ice Cream Ride

There was a good turnout for Youth Ride, despite the fact that most of the riders had raced at Cyclopark the evening before.  I had stressed that the ride was optional, but they all seemed to raring to go.  Luke, Calvin, Hannah, Polly & Toni were joined by Damian, Michele and myself.  

We tried to concentrate on spinning and Luke and Damian both sprinted past the rest of us in a ludicrously low gear along Lower Street (or should that be Lower Gear Street???).  Anyway we tackled one of our favourite routes, but in reverse so we came down Col de Porc and added a little bit extra.  Just over 17 miles at an average speed of 14.4mph.  Great riding from everyone as usual and well done to the adults for keeping up :-)

Later on there were a few familiar faces at Stocks Green for our Go Ride session.  We split our regular riders into two groups to work on group riding skills, whilst our two new recruits spent some time working on the fundamentals with Katie.

With two circuits to work on, riders got to grips with riding close and maneouvring in a group.  One of the circuits included some challenging corners which put even our most experienced riders to the test.  We also worked on changing position within the group whilst riding one handed, everyone agreed you really need to stay focussed for this to be successful.  We finished the session with a mass relay on the grass which gave the opportunity for teams to show off their transition strategies.

Sunday morning saw a group of 8 riders assemble at Hilden Golf Club to tackle the Weald ice-cream ride.  With the sun out and several of the riders having already ridden on Friday and Saturday the pace was relaxed.  Even so, the big climb up to the top of Bayley's Hill still presented a significant challenge but clearly the thought of the long descent and then a well deserved ice-cream helped to spur everyone on.

 In particular a special mention should be made to Hope for her first non-stop ascent and to Lauren, who chose this demanding ride as her debut ride-out and still made it to the top with a smile on her face - fantastic riding.  We made it to the ice-cream shop in time and relaxed on the village green which was sadly otherwise deserted despite the lovely weather before a leisurely roll back to Hilden.

Well done everyone on rounding the weekend off with such an enjoyable ride; I suspect that there were a few who spent the rest of the day on the sofa, but then, as any cyclist will tell you, periods of rest and recovery are very important.

Next weekend:

Friday evening - Spring in the Park @ Cyclopark
Saturday 7th June - Youth Ride 9.30am  - contact me to sign on
Go-Ride at Stocks Green 1.45pm - 3pm