Saturday 18th October Ride Out and Go Ride (Quick Start & Regular)

We headed back to Tonbridge Park this weekend for a ride along the cycle path to Penshurst.  It is very energising arriving at the park as it is buzzing with activity; the Park Run is just finishing and lots of youngsters are arriving ready for football.  Today there were a few canoeists launching from the slipway as well, a real hive of activity.  We headed out through the car park and joined the trail by the Rugby Club.  The recent rain had created quite a few puddles and patches of mud are emerging, good job we will soon be switching back to the road!

We made good progress towards Penshurst Place and the Col de Penshurst.  Sometimes we race to the top, other times we just ride.  Today we partnered up and simulated helping a team mate out by pushing them up the hill.  There was some light pedalling and some great team work but everyone made it to the top.  Not as easy as they made it look but a great skill to have in your armoury.

Nice work from Malcolm and Sarah

Izzy & Katy

At the top

Level pegging as the climb begins to kick up

Next week we'll be heading out to Ightham Mote to check out a new shortish circular route with a few challenges.






























Go Ride attracted another good turnout and we also welcomed Helen from KVG one of our recently trained Level 1 coaches.  Tape and stakes was the order of the day, Damian, Helen and I had laid out a Y shaped course to challenge the riders with.  We started off by splitting the circuit and working on key cornering techniques; speed, pedal position, line and head/body positioning.  Before long everyone was getting round the corners much faster.  We messed about with some standing start pairs races straight into a pin end bend, this quickly shows up the riders with the strongest competitive drive (and also a few cheaters :-)).  Finally we joined the two ends of the circuit and ran some team pursuit style races with teams of 3 & 4.  We finished off with an Italian Pursuit race with two teams of 7, the most exciting race of the afternoon and one which clearly showed the value of effective and consistent cornering especially as the course conditions changed during the session.  By the end of the race those corners were very slippery!!

Next Week:

Ride Out; New Route via Ightham Mote, please contact me to sign on. MTBs/Hybrids only
Go Ride: Regular and Quick Start 1.45pm for a 2pm start.

KVK Defy the Weather Forecasters Once Again!!

Ride Out
Rain and lightening hanging around early in the morning threatened the latest assault on Col de Coldharbour but with faith in the forecast that promised it would dry up Hope, Ellen, Calvin, Sophia and Hannah took on the challenge.  A brisk ascent of  the Col left the riders needing to strip off layers as the temperature rose.  The rain may have gone, but it meant that the previously dry dusty trials were now muddy (although the "muddy field" was still relatively firm; its epic, bog-like mud no doubt awaits us later in the year), leaving Hannah wondering about the choice of a white jersey.  However everyone coped well with the tougher conditions and we were back at Westwood in no time, helped it has to be said by the fact that for the first time in what seems to be ages, we escaped without any punctures.




Go Ride In the afternoon, the Go-Ride and Quick Starter sessions went ahead; a terrific downpour just before the start threatened to make it a miserable session but again the weather was with us and the rain stopped and the sun came out.

With Kary away on a MTB coaching course (we look forward to exciting new MTB sessions in the near future)  Katy and Claire took the Quick Starter session and Young Volunteer, Jacob led the regular Go-Ride session (with Damian assisting).  This session concentrated on practicing picking up items (of diminishing size) from the crates (and the floor) and requires the riders to move about on their bikes, retaining balance and control.  There was a noticeable improvement from everyone during the session as confidence grew which made the relay races at the end of the session very keenly fought both between the rival teams and within each team as riders battled to see who could pick up  the smallest items.

Well done everyone, great riding but keep practicing; the challenge is to pick up a dust cap from the floor!

Quick Start Session with Katy & Claire
Six riders braved the showers on Saturday to come and learn about riding in a group. They made a good start in riding around an oval in pairs. However, they were reluctant to talk to each other so we set them the challenge of finding out a little about their partners. Soon there was lots of communication and gradually the riders were getting closer to each other too. The sun came out,  jackets were stripped off and before the end of the session, the riders were looking happy and confident riding closely together. Great progress so well done!

Next Week:

Saturday 18th October
Ride Out - Col de Penshurst.  Meet at the wooden bridge, park side, Tonbridge Park.  Ready to ride 9.45am Please bring jacket, drink, pocket snack & packable waterproof.  This is a trail ride, be prepared for muddy puddles :-)

Go Ride - Regular & Quick Start. Sign on from 1.45pm for a 2pm start. Finish at 3pm.  Suitable for MTB and hybrids only

4th & 5th October Busy Weekend for Kent Velo Kids

Our Saturday morning Ride-Out headed took in the Col de Coldharbour as a little warm up before we tackled the Col de Mote.  Perfect conditions, dry and mild with very few pedestrians, horses or farm vehicles meant we had a pleasingly uneventful ride!  No punctures either.  Total ride was 10.5 miles.  Now I know that this was a first ascent of the Col de Mote for Heather and Tom, not so sure on some of the others.  Calvin rode from Mote Road up and back to Hildenborough in lowest gear, so a great cadence workout for him and I suspect some workshop time for the bike!

We had a quick pitstop at Ightham Mote, but everyone seemed to have way too much energy to need a break and the log jumping was definitely not on the risk assessment so we called it a day and headed for home.  Great ride, well done everyone. Next week back to the Col de Coldharbour (with extension(s) of course).

Can't believe they didn't ride their bikes along the log!

Luckily no broken ankles :-)

By the afternoon the weather had changed and although it looked like me might get away with a dry Go Ride session we did it fact get drenched!!  Great work from all the riders and coaches who pressed on undeterred by the chilly, wet conditions, good training for the Spring Classsics.

Damian took charge of the Quick Starters this week:

Saturday afternoon was soggy and chilly, a bit of a shock after all the fine, dry weather, so a massive congratulations to the five Quick Starters (Tia, Maya, Freddie, Pip and Zara) who turned up to develop their cornering skills.  After a quick session in the shelter drawing on the playground with chalk to consider the "racing line" through a corner we braved the rain to work on riding through  a series of gates, looking for the smoothest line, and focussing ahead not on the cones.  We then put into practice the racing line we had drawn in chalk, starting wide, "hitting" the apex and exiting wide.

After that we moved on to a challenging 180 degree hairpin turn around a cone, remembering to look through the corner to where we wanted to go, adjusting speed as necessary and keeping our inside pedal up.  Great improvement from all after just a few attempts meant we could finish off with some "pin end" races, with a pair of riders racing against each other around to cones, but facing penalty points for hitting the cones or failing to make the turn within the allowed width of the "road".


Great riding from everyone, despite the cold and the wet.  Everyone stayed upright and showed great improvement, getting to grips with the various elements of good cornering: speed adjustment, smooth flowing lines, looking "through " the corner at the exit rather than at the corner and getting that inside pedal up to avoid grounding it.  Brilliant!   Sorry there's no photo, everyone was keen to get into  the dry at the end (including me).

Kary worked on points of contact with the older riders:

This session was all about riding your bike with less points of contact than normal.  I had invited riders to bring road bikes if they have them, we also had the club road bikes out for others to try.  We started off with a quick warm up "Simon Says" style with hands on helmets, out of the saddle, one handed etc.  Then we moved on to riding through a narrow channel one handed and pushing a partner round a slalom course.  This session provides a good opportunity to progress towards riding none handed, made more challenging by the small space we were working in.  Our next challenge was to take off a piece of clothing whilst riding, we used high viz bibs for this which led to cries of "can I have one, can I have one" which is not normally a phrase I hear when the bib bag comes out!  Our final challenge was for each rider to remove their bib, stow it about their person and ride through the feed zone to pick up a jelly bean.  Some big improvements in handling and control with one and no hands, well done everyone.

Next week, Saturday 11th October

Ride-Out: Col de Coldharbour 9.30am Westwood Recreation Ground.  This is a 5 mile route suitable for MTB or hybrid bikes.  It uses bridlepaths and a quiet lane.  All riders must have a drink, packable jacket, small snack and an inner tube.  We will carry tools. This is an ideal route for your first Ride-Out.

Go-Ride, Quick Start & Regular Sign on from 1.45pm Stocks Green School. Session runs 2pm - 3pm This session is suitable for MTB or hybrids.

PLEASE CONTACT ME TO SIGN ON FOR A RIDE OR SESSION. 

Saturday 27th September - Is it me or does everyone look happier than usual???

I took the weekend off and handed the reins over to Damian and the team............this is what happened!

Ride-Out Report

Seven riders (and an equal number of adults) set out from Westwood on Saturday morning.  We welcomed Tom for his first ride out with the KVK (and Heather, Toni and Luke's mum).

Everyone stormed up to the white house (no not that White House) without difficulties and those still feeling strong took on the diversion before regrouping at the farm and a fast flowing ride through the trees and into the (still) very bumpy field.   For the second week running a puncture extended our rest at the gate to Horns Lodge Lane.  This time it was Katy.  With that repair underway Toni managed to get a puncture whilst waiting!!

With everyone finally back on two (inflated) wheels we took a steady ride back to Coldharbour and a well organised decent to Westwood for  few goes round the pump track 9icluding some of the adults with varying degrees of success).

Good riding everyone, especially Tom (and Heather). Next week we take on the slightly more challenging Col de Mote!!


Saturday Go-Ride

With Kary away for the weekend it was slightly disconcerting to find that that she had arranged for the police to be in attendance for our regular Go-Ride session.  Fortunately they were only there to security mark people's bikes if they wanted to do so (which many did) and not to keep us all in order.

A good group of 12 riders, including some new faces (welcome Scott and Bailey) joined us for the session which focussed on riding slowly.  After working on some different techniques for slow riding (including standing up and part pedalling) and some slow races we had a go at track stands (Luke was so pleased to do a demonstration).  Some good improvements all round but it is definitely a skill that is worth practicing whenever you have a few minutes (and crucial for a strong Sumo performance).

We followed it up with riding slowly around an obstacle course, in pairs initially, then as fours and finally as one big group with the lead pair swinging off the front at the end of each lap before rejoining at the back.  Some great improvement by the end as riders realised that it is important to concentrate and communicate when riding in such close proximity to other riders.

Finally we ended with  few games of sumo as riders put their new found slow riding skills to the test.

Great riding everyone, and keep practicing.

Next Week Saturday 4th October
Ride Out: Col de Mote - two separate start points make this either a 5 or 10 mile ride, suitable for MTB's & hybrids. Please contact me to sign on.  Long route 9.15am Westwood, shorter route 10am Mote Road.

Go Ride: 1.45pm - 3pm Quick Start and Regular Riders. Please contact me to sign on.