Saturday 26th September Go Ride & Youth Ride

I can't quite believe it now but when I woke up this morning I felt tired and not quite my normal bouncy self. Seven hours later and I'm feeling on top of the world, this is what happened in between times......................

Go Ride - Twenty riders signed on this morning, including five new riders who had been subject to my guerilla marketing campaign. This involves me accosting parents I see out riding with their kids with a shout of "Kent Velo Kids, look us up", it seems to be working so I shall persist.  We were light on regulars as Claire, Hope and Ellen were supporting Chairman Malcolm in the Hever Tri, Katy, Sophia and Izzy were involved in non bike stuff and Hannah was racing at Lee Valley.

Anyway Damian headed off for Col de Coldharbour with Freya, Luke, Ben and Albert with Jacob and Gareth lending a hand.  This ride is an old favourite of ours and a great way to build fitness as it is pretty much all up hill on the way out and all downhill on the way home.  They were speedy so stopped at the pump track on the way home.

Meanwhile back at school, Michele and I worked with the riders on straight lines and lots of one handed riding.  We progressed onto taking an object from a helper and then from boxes.  Lots of great concentration and focus from all the riders.  Polly took the riders for a spin round the site before we had a quick biscuit break.  After the break we did some team relays and sprints on the field.  Faaz had been working with Polly and Toni on his riding and joined the other riders for the last part of the session.  Thanks to Neve's mum who reminded me to take a picture!  It was Neve's birthday and she had a bag of sweets to share with everyone.

Youth Ride - just a short 14 mile route this morning with a small but perfectly formed group of riders.  The main objective was to avoid Hever Tri so we headed off towards Plaxtol and back down Mote Road.

We got back to the news that Hannah had raced well at Lee Valley, ending up in a bunch sprint and taking 5th place (TBC).  Still waiting of news of Malcolm's Tri, but it was sunny and saw their car heading home around lunchtime so can only assume all went well.

Next Week: Saturday 3rd October - Go Ride at Stocks Green school, MTB skills (including planks and pallets)

Sunday 4th October - Thanet RC Oktoberfest races at Cyclopark.

Saturday 19th September

U8's - U16's smiling in the sunshine at Fowlead Country Park

No Go Ride today as we are off to Fowlmead to take part in The Vuelta de Fowlmead, organised by Thanet RC. You know that saying "a picture tells a thousand words"?  The only one that's missing here is the one of me smiling like a Cheshire cat just thinking about our amazing riders :-)  Great work from everybody today, I even got to see Hope's autograph book!

U10's Girls Podium - Hope in 3rd position

Another one for the trophy cupboard!

U14's Girls and Boys line up together 

U14's podium, Polly 2nd, Toni 3rd

 U14's Ellen 5th, Sophia 4th

U16's podium - Hanna 2nd

U16's series podium - Hannah 1st

Pre-race photo - Izzy, Hope, Sophia & Ellen

12th - 13th September - Go Ride, Youth Ride & Lee Valley Velodrome

Go Ride - slow riding techniques

Sixteen riders signed on this morning for Go Ride including ten new starters.  Maybe our new start time is paying dividends?  We started off warming up on site, riding a few circuits and practising dismounting and saddle push.  Once everyone was sorted, six of the more experienced riders headed off with Damian, Katy and Jane to tackle Col de Coldharbour.

Safely back from Col de Coldharbour

On site we made excellent progress with our slow riding techniques.  After a quick break we used "Chase the Snake" to practise our bunch riding on the playground together with some sprint efforts, before heading over to the infant playground where Claire & Toni had set up a set of tight bends on the playground linked by a loop of the field.  This was a good opportunity to put some of the techniques we've been focussing on into practise.  To round up the session we sneaked in a quick game of Sardines, before it was time to go home.  Great riding and some big improvements in slow riding and cornering today, sadly I forget to capture much on film :-(  Just managed a quick snap before all the riders had left.

Go Riders, including some new and familiar faces

Malcolm organises the riders for me.

Youth Ride - Bore Place & Baileys
Eight riders this morning for Youth Ride, it was nice to see Catriona back after the holidays (and Chris too of course :-)).  Our routes took us along the Causeway and up the lovely Hale Oak Road, where we split, older riders continuing the climb up to Sevenoaks and the younger ones headed back to Hildenborough via Weald.  Another dry and trouble free ride, long may they continue.

Back at base (minus Izzy & Catriona)

Sunday 13th September - Lee Valley Velodrome

Catriona & Sophia passed their Stage 3 track accreditation.

No Go Ride next weekend (19th September) we are off to Fowlmead.

Next Go Ride session Saturday 26th September.

Next day we were up at Lee Valley for a Club Cluster session on the track.  Damian was coaching and I ended up helping out on the team pursuit session along with several of our parents who are now much more experienced at held starts.  Catriona and Sophia joined the Stage 3 accreditation group and successfully completed the session and the assessment so now all our regular riders are signed off for Stage 3 and just waiting to complete Stage 4.

Go Ride and Youth Ride Saturday 5th September

Go Ride - cornering technique
This was our first session back after the summer holidays so it was good to see our returning riders looking fit and healthy and ready to get on their bikes.  Fourteen riders signed on for the session which focussed on cornering technique.  We split the riders into two groups; older riders tackled a course on the grass while our younger riders got to grips with some tight turns on the tarmac.

Youth Ride - Plaxtol Up and Mote Down (20 miles/12 miles)
Ten riders signed on for the Youth Ride, they split evenly between the two rides and headed off towards Plaxtol, splitting at Ivy Hatch  where the medium group returned via Mote Road and the longer group made a loop down to Seal.  Everyone was in good spirits and fitness levels seems to have survived the holidays!

Great work from everyone day, look forward to seeing you next week.

Next Go Ride Session: Saturday 12th September 9.30am - 11am

Saturday 25th July - Last Ride Out before the Summer

8 KVK left Hilden in dry, sunny weather - such a relief after Friday's drenching.  A steady ride up Lower Lane and then Egg Pie Lane got us to Weald in no time, but it was not time to stop for an ice cream yet (to Izzy's disappointment); instead we took on the off-road (technical?) route up Bailey's Hill to get properly warmed up and to really earn an ice cream.  Everyone made it and was rewarded with the fun of free speed as we rolled back down the road to Hale Oak Road.  A little section through the woods brought us back to Weald and the village green.  Now it was time for an ice cream.  We then rolled back to Hilden the way we had come and it was (truly) all down hill - well ok then, apart from the uphill and flat bits!

Is there an ice cream shop round here?

 Well done Izzy, Sophia, Tom, Ellen, Hope, Calvin, Toni and Luke  - good riding (and thanks to Katy, Malcolm and Heather). Hope you all have a fabulous summer.  Don't forget to spend lots of time on your bikes ready to hit the road pedalling in September:)

Saturday 18th July - KVK at Cyclopark

Today it was the Stocks Green School Summer Fayre so we de-camped to Cyclopark for the morning.

We had a good session on Circuit E and it was great to see all a couple of the club bikes in action.

KVK Camping Weekend 10-12th July

We headed down to Nethergong Farm at Upstreet near Reculver on the East Kent Coast for a weekend of camping and bike riding.  Everyone finally arrived on Friday evening despite delays caused by Operation Stack, family pets and school choirs.  A tasty Spag Bol supper courtesy of Katie and Clare went down well before settling down around the camp fire for marshmallows.

Saturday dawned bright and sunny.  After a hearty breakfast we loaded up and parked at Reculver for the start of our first ride to Broadstairs.  It seems there is really very little need for handlebars between Reculver and Minnis Bay.  Our first stop was for coffee and milkshakes and a quick cooling dip for the legs.  Onwards to Broadstairs where we lunched on sarnies and chips and caught the beginning of the afternoon concert at the central bandstand.  The return journey was always going to be harder (more of a headwind this way).  We stopped once again at West Bay for ice cream and milk shakes before tackling the final windy section back to Reculver.  Tired but happy it was back to the campsite for an evening of badminton, barbecue and a few beers (adults only of course).  

Sunday called for a shorter ride than originally planned as all those things that needed to be done back home started calling.  We headed back up to Reculver but set off to the West towards Herne Bay and Whitstable.  We stopped short of Whitstable at Tankerton where the kids proceeded to bury each other in the stones.  Next it was back to the campsite where we managed to produce quite a feast from left over barbecue and cooked breakfasts, the challenge was to eat all the food we'd brought with us.  A great team effort on clearing up (food, tents and bikes) left us ready to leave by 3pm.

We were very lucky with the weather, the company and the location and this definitely goes down as one of my favourite weekends of 2015.  Thanks as ever to our parents and riders who entered into the spirit of the weekend to make it a truly memorable and successful event.

We started our rides from Reculver Country Park, Ellen, Polly, Hannah, Toni, Sophia, Calvin, Luke, Hope, Izzy, Catriona, Kary, Katy, Claire, Malcolm, Chris, Damian and Nick (Not shown Alison, Roger and Michele)

Reculver to Broadstairs - virtually traffic free all the way

No hand required!

Preparations underway for our Saturday evening barbecue

Katie's tabbouleh

Nick, Roger and Damian at the grill stations

Born to camp, Calvin's first real camping trip.

Poetry in motion

Forget bike riding it's all about the beach

Smiles all the way for Ellen and Catriona

Camp Gnome courtesy of Alison

Saturday 4th July Go Ride Racing

For our Go Ride Racing on the 4th July we took advantage of the nice short grass and focussed on track style events.  Without a doubt the favourite event was the Italian Pursuit where we invited parents to join in.  Nail biting stuff, definitely one we'll do again.

Italian Pursuit race for U8's - U50's!

Friday 3rd July Spring in the Park 8 Final Race

Another enjoyable evening of racing at Cyclopark for our regulars with the added excitement of on the night prizes and trophies for series winners.  Many congratulations to Calvin, Hannah, Ellen, Sophia, Catriona, Hope, Polly and Toni who have raced regularly throughout the series.  Albert and Nico also tried a few races, hopefully they have the bug too.  Many thanks to our loyal band of supporters including Izzy.

KVK have dominated the U14 girls throughout the series

Hannah has experienced the highs and lows of racing in the U16's

Clean sweep for the On The Night Podium (Toni, Polly, Catriona)

Clean sweep for the Series Trophies (Polly, Toni, Sophia)

Did someone say "photo shoot?"

Catriona demonstrating her prowess on the rollers

The man they call 'Clive'

Post race, Hope and Izzy watch the racing

Sophia, Ellen and Catriona impress with their technical abilities

Saturday 27th June - KVK at Bedgbury

We met up at Bedgbury to explore the trails.  We split into two groups; some tackling the family trail and some the red route.  After a successful morning we enjoyed a picnic at the visitor centre before heading home for a relaxing afternoon.