Saturday 30th April - Go Ride, Off Site Ride & Youth Ride

There was lots of going on today; some of our older riders headed off to Redbridge in Essex for a circuit race, meanwhile at Stocks Green we had a coached session running and a group of our youngest riders going off site for the first time.  To top it all the sun was shining, even if it was a little chilly.

Go Ride

Before we set off I tackled Franklin's Star War Quiz

Cycle-Ops in Tonbridge had offered to give us a small Frog road bike to be used by young riders in the club, they just wanted us to ride down to the shop to take delivery.  Each week we've been taking a different group of riders off site and this week it was the turn of our youngest riders.

Ready for their first off site ride

I'd chosen a simple route via Powder Mills into the back of Tonbridge Park, but this did mean negotiating a section of road before reaching the cycle path.  All our riders listened carefully and peddled smoothly with the result that we arrived together and at Cycle-Ops where we met Jake who presented us with the bike.

A quick pit stop at the swings to refuel with flapjack and jelly snakes (did you know it was Jacob B's birthday????) before we set off back to Stocks Green

At the swings before the return journey

On site Damian got to work, focussing on riding close and in contact with other riders.  A fun session as it includes some old favourites like Thread the Needle and Ride the Funnel.  Just in case they were finding this all too relaxing the middle of the session included an endurance block of continuous riding but the reward was finishing off with  the ever popular exercise Jail Break; a real test of co-operation and skill for the riders.  As usual they excelled and finished in time to greet the riders returning from Tonbridge.

Youth Ride
A good turn out for Youth Ride today with seven riders signing on.  Katy, Izzy and Sophia rode from Crockham Hill to start the ride so they already had ten miles in their legs.

We headed over to Plaxtol, with a choice of climbing Roughway or going straight up School Lane.  A pretty but challenging ride, tackled well by all our riders.

Both groups arrived back at base within a few minutes of each other, which made a great team photo opportunity.  Katy, Sophia and Izzy still had to ride home, making it Izzy's longest ever ride.

Next Week: Go Ride as normal at Stocks Green School 9.30am - 11am