Saturday 26th November - Off-Site Ride - Col de Coldharbour

At the pump track in West Wood, our start and finish point

The great thing about the dry weather we've had over the last few months is that the trails  in the woods are still very manageable even for our youngest riders, and so it was that we met up at West Wood before heading for the Col de Coldharbour.  To get to the woods, we must first negotiate the B245 and Coldharbour Lane, so very controlled group riding is the order of the day.  The last on road section climbs up from the Pooh Stick's Bridge, past Trench Farm and up to the top of the lane, where the road stops and becomes a track.  Shortly after there is a dog leg that we call The Chestnut Walk, that's an addition to the main route that continues up a partly metalled track through the woods to the top of the hill and our usual re-fuelling point.  Back on our bikes and one last corner of road to negotiate before we hit a downhill section through the woods to The Chocolate Box Cottage. 

Meeting up with the others at the top of the lane

Time for a biscuit!

 Next up is the single track section through the woods, down the hill and through the gate into the bumpy field.  The final challenge from there is the gradual climb up a wide but stony path back to Coldharbour Lane.  Once again, good controlled group riding is required to get riders safely down to the bridge and back up to re-join the B245, cross over and arrive back at the park.

Puncture repair at Chocolate Box Cottage

We had fourteen young riders sign on; seven Minis came with me and Michele, four Mediums joined Damian and Christophe and the three oldest riders headed out with Calvin and Juan.  All three groups did slightly different versions of the same route and arrived back at the pump track at pretty much the same time.  Great riding from all concerned; very impressed with my Minis, who really showed they could ride well in a  group on the lane and put in loads of effort on the climbs.  Eloise, Rosemary, Joshua and Oliver all added The Chestnut Walk to their route while Nico, Hope and Dan pulled the wool over Calvin's eyes by telling him they were tired and avoiding extra loops of the Col. You won't get away with it again though guys, he's got the measure of you now!

Thanks to all our parents and ride buddies for helping us to get fourteen kids out of the house and into the woods! Keep up the good work.

Next Week: Club Cluster Session at Cyclopark, Gravesend, DA11 7NP 10am - 12noon

The Minis, hiding in the barn

Sunday 20th November Lee Valley Velodrome, Cyclocross and Power Pack(?)

With three different sessions on offer today the KVK were spread between Lee Valley, Ardingly and Cyclopark.  Polly, Toni and Damian had opted for CX so we headed over to Ardingly, meanwhile Nico, Hope, Ellen & Hannah were at the Velodrome, I think Joshua was at Cyclopark (??).  

It was a big day for Nico and Hope as it was there first session at the Olympic Velodrome.  All our riders are eligible to take part in this once they are 12 years old.  All four of our KVRT riders currently race at LV and they all started with these cluster sessions.


Claire sent me these photos and a few quotes about the session.

"It was big smiles all round. Nico was a superstar and went for it - he got high up and above the advertising. He gave it some welly in the elimination race too and came off feeling sick!"

"Ellen and Hannah were looking like pros on their rollers and Ellen has got the hang of pedalling on the top tube". 

 "They picked up lots of tips for the elimination race and Ellen put in a cracking move but a lap too early then got recycled through the group and caught out on the inside again"!

Saturday 19th November Go Ride & Youth Ride

Calvin gets started with the briefing

I woke up to a frosty scene; bright and chilly, not always the best for bike riding but very inspiring in the otherwise dark days of winter.

Calvin was running the session today, working from a plan I'd prepared the day before.  Once we'd got ourselves organised, I was free to catch up with parents and in particular discuss with them how we can extend the coaching team next year.  It was great to have so many positive responses to my request for expressions of interest, looks like 2017 will be an exciting year for us.

Back to the session now.  This time of year, it's all about keeping moving.  The session focused on pace, moving all the time but at various speeds.  The first activity involved riders following a figure of eight course which required them to cross at in intersection.  The aim was to judge your pace to get through the gap and avoid stopping.  After a slow start, which lots of hesitation and confusion it started to come together and riders where slotting into the gaps and keeping everything smooth.  Next up, some work on gears.  Younger riders in particular struggle with gear changing, riders completed a series of short sprint heats, using a different gear each time. The aim was to get riders to 'feel' the gear rather than rely on the indicator on the handlebars.  After a short re-fuelling break we moved onto our endurance activity which involved a circuit including a sprint zone, dismount and hill run and a limbo challenge.  Riders collected a cone for each circuit they completed.  They's already been split into three teams, and the winning team was ??? 

We finished off with a few heats of Marymoor Crawl, the ever popular slow/fast race.  A great session, lots of good riding and lots of things still to work on!  Thanks to Calvin and the team for giving me a day off, I could definitely get used to it. :-)

Despite not running the Go Ride session, I was still last to be ready to ride with the Youth Ride.  We headed out in one group and clocked up 20 miles on our route Rabbit Ears.  Well done to Hope, as the youngest rider in the group she got a fairly good work out!  

Next week, we'll be meeting at West Wood Park at 9.15am for a 9.30am start and riding up Coldharbour Lane. Please let me know if you are planning on joining us.

Saturday 12th November Go Ride at Stocks Green

Kary was away for the weekend and the weather was duly miserable; not so the small bunch of hardy riders who turned up to our Go-Ride session, including new rider Ivo, who were all raring to go. 







The session continued our focus on cyclocross skills and there was much dismounting and mounting, pushing bikes up the mound and hopping back on, before working on our cornering with the well-established favourite, the post office queue. We finished off with some games of sardines (and Hope did not win all of them).  





As always, it is amazing to see just how much progress riders can make in a single session; really well done to all on some great riding.  Now we just need some more mud for the authentic cyclocross experience

Saturday 5th November Club Cluster Go Ride at Cyclopark

This weekend we were invited to take part in a Go Ride Club Cluster session at Cyclopark, organised by resident BC coach Jimmy McCormack and ably assisted by club coaches from Woolwich CC.  After a slightly hectic start we headed down to the bottom oval via the mountain bike trails before splitting into smaller groups to work on an essential cyclocross skill; mounting and dismounting.  Following on from that Jimmy gave the riders a sneak preview of some sections of the Regional Cyclocross course that has started to take shape at the park.  This also involved dodging riders from Club Cyclopark who were busy with their road session.  Great to see so many young people enjoying riding their bikes, even though it was extremely cold!

Towards the end of the session riders split into groups again and tackled some different sections of gradient, the older riders paid a visit to the Cyclopark equivalent of Big Bob at Herne Hill, maybe Towering Tina??  The session finished with a two team relay race, before we regrouped as the KVK and refuelled on jam doughnuts, kindly sourced by Michele.  Thanks to all the coaches and riders who made the session possible.  Next Club Club Go Ride session at Cyclopark will be Saturday 3rd December.  It should have a choice of MTB or Road sessions.

John Leitch's Power Pack 30th October 2016

Two opportunities to ride the tarmac in one weekend, someone is really spoiling us!  A great turnout from KVK today; Eloise, Hope, Mathys, Joshua and Albert all enjoyed the session at Cyclopark with John Leitch and Stephen Peate from Bigfoot CC.  Eloise is riding one of our club road bikes, don't forget I have a couple to borrow if you'd like to have a go.  The next Power Pack session is November 20th 2016 10am - 12 noon

Eloise, Hope, Mathys & Joshua

KVK line out, waiting to attack?

Eloise & Hope making contact

Claire's trusty chair in action :-)

Saturday 29th October Kent Velo Kids at Cyclopark

Hand on shoulder with added facial expressions

Club Cyclopark is the host club at Cyclopark, Gravesend.  They run their own Go Ride sessions most weekends but there is also a section of the circuit (the small oval and the hairpin) which is available for other local clubs to book.  It's a good opportunity for all clubs to take advantage of this amazing facility which sadly many people still don't know about.  We'd booked the circuit today and the aim was to work on some group riding skills with some cornering and racing thrown in for good measure.  Coach Damian took the lead as I'd managed to get myself double booked.   The first half of the session kicked off with some riding in pairs, progressing to fours and sixes.  Riders then had to 'thread the needle', which means moving from the back of the group through the middle to the front.  This requires good smooth riding from everyone, concentration and the all important communication.  After that we moved onto a few rounds of the game Jail Break; one rider is imprisoned by four other riders, the aim being to prevent the prisoner from escaping by riding close and preventing any gaps developing.  This all took place at fairly low speed so also required some good slow riding skills.  Before the break we moved onto some speedier stuff with a few laps to loosen the legs before splitting into two and going head to head in a classic Italian pursuit race.