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.