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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