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| KVK riders at Lee Valley give a perfect demo of stacking at the South East Club Cluster Session |
Sunday 15 March 2015
Saturday 14th & Sunday 15th March
Friday 13 March 2015
Saturday 7th March - KVK at Herne Hill Velodrome
always a gamble on the weather front but this time we came up trumps! Our coaches for the afternoon Peter and Tony got everyone fixed up with bikes from the container and we moved quickly onto the track. Novice riders started on the safety zone with Tony, while our intermediates got straight on with warming up, riding in pairs above the blue line. Once everyone had mastered the fixed wheel, no brakes thing we moved onto a drill called squares and circles; riding on the white line in the straights, then driving on up the banking in the corners, this required lots of skillful riding, with everyone riding at different speeds there was overtaking and undertaking to do and of course lots of observation required. With everyone riding confidently we progressed onto chaingang style riding, stronger riders were able to push on and by the end of the block some natural splits had developed.
We finished the session with a couple of scratch races and a team relay. Great riding from everyone and makes my day to see our young riders challenging their coaches; we know we've done a good job when we can nolonger keep up with them :-)
Monday 2 March 2015
Saturday 28th February
I missed these sessions as I was away but it looks like everyone worked had and had fun. Kary
Mud Glorious Mud - MTB Ride Out
A small group set off in misty drizzle to tackle our old favourite, Col De Coldharbour. Things went well with a steady ascent to the end of the lane but than Nico's dad got a puncture - secretly I suspect most were glad of the rest before tackling the first of the muddy sections. The recent heavy rain had certainly made things "interesting" but all made it through. With some firmer ground under wheel the pace picked up before the descent into the "muddy field" - it has that name for a reason and it certainly lived up to it today, sucking momentum and trying to drag riders to a stop for the dreaded foot down in the mud - several fell victim and received a muddy boot. With back wheels spinning and riders fighting for grip it was an epic struggle, but eventually everyone made it through to the welcome relief of the graded bridleway for an largely routine return to base, except for the new game of lifting the front wheel up and dropping into the puddles to see how much of splash could be made (or who could be splashed!).
Well done Hannah, Calvin, Polly, Nico, Toni and Luke (and Juan and Michele of course) for a fun ride. Hope your kit comes up clean.
Go-Ride - Group Riding
With the miserable weather it was great to have seven hardy souls turn out for our afternoon session which focussed on group riding. After a warm up of chase the snake we worked on riding close to another rider and riding in contact, before moving onto our oval and riding as a group. As confidence grew amongst our younger riders we moved on to thread the needle, firstly with a single rider coming through and then pairs, before singling out and having a rider slalom through the line of riders to the front. It wasn't long before everyone got the hang of it. Jailbreak follow and it was fantastic to see the younger riders ordering the older riders around, making sure they didn't let the prisoner escape - in fact security was pretty tight with few escapees and some fabulous close riding and not a single crash - and the older riders helping the younger ones where needed. Brilliant.
Well done everyone, a great session and a special mention to Sammy, Tilly and Freddie for making such amazing progress over such a short time.
Sunday - Power Pack
Some of our youth riders were at Cyclopark on Sunday afternoon for John Leitch's Power Pack session working on their through and off skills, bunch riding and fitness in what was quite a busy two hours of riding, with a very fierce wind proving a genuine Belgium experience. Everyone appeared to enjoy themselves though and put in some strong performances but were glad to get back to the café at the end to shelter from the wind (oh and to drink a milkshake or two - strictly for recovery purposes of course). Well done Hannah, Calvin, Ellen, Hope and Toni.
Mud Glorious Mud - MTB Ride Out
A small group set off in misty drizzle to tackle our old favourite, Col De Coldharbour. Things went well with a steady ascent to the end of the lane but than Nico's dad got a puncture - secretly I suspect most were glad of the rest before tackling the first of the muddy sections. The recent heavy rain had certainly made things "interesting" but all made it through. With some firmer ground under wheel the pace picked up before the descent into the "muddy field" - it has that name for a reason and it certainly lived up to it today, sucking momentum and trying to drag riders to a stop for the dreaded foot down in the mud - several fell victim and received a muddy boot. With back wheels spinning and riders fighting for grip it was an epic struggle, but eventually everyone made it through to the welcome relief of the graded bridleway for an largely routine return to base, except for the new game of lifting the front wheel up and dropping into the puddles to see how much of splash could be made (or who could be splashed!).
Well done Hannah, Calvin, Polly, Nico, Toni and Luke (and Juan and Michele of course) for a fun ride. Hope your kit comes up clean.
Go-Ride - Group Riding
With the miserable weather it was great to have seven hardy souls turn out for our afternoon session which focussed on group riding. After a warm up of chase the snake we worked on riding close to another rider and riding in contact, before moving onto our oval and riding as a group. As confidence grew amongst our younger riders we moved on to thread the needle, firstly with a single rider coming through and then pairs, before singling out and having a rider slalom through the line of riders to the front. It wasn't long before everyone got the hang of it. Jailbreak follow and it was fantastic to see the younger riders ordering the older riders around, making sure they didn't let the prisoner escape - in fact security was pretty tight with few escapees and some fabulous close riding and not a single crash - and the older riders helping the younger ones where needed. Brilliant.
Well done everyone, a great session and a special mention to Sammy, Tilly and Freddie for making such amazing progress over such a short time.
Sunday - Power Pack
Some of our youth riders were at Cyclopark on Sunday afternoon for John Leitch's Power Pack session working on their through and off skills, bunch riding and fitness in what was quite a busy two hours of riding, with a very fierce wind proving a genuine Belgium experience. Everyone appeared to enjoy themselves though and put in some strong performances but were glad to get back to the café at the end to shelter from the wind (oh and to drink a milkshake or two - strictly for recovery purposes of course). Well done Hannah, Calvin, Ellen, Hope and Toni.
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