Saturday 11th March - Go Ride & Youth Ride

BC Luke came to visit us today.  He used to be our regional Go Ride coach but he is now our Regional Development Manager.  He came along to see what we were up to, I think it's fair to say he was pleased with what he saw.

We had a good turnout with twenty riders signing on for Go Ride.  We ran 'thread the needle' as a warm drill, which was ambitious given the number and mixed ability of the riders.  It worked well with only one small blip, with two riders down but no serious injuries or damage, so everyone was back up and riding in no time at all.  

We moved onto the main focus of the session which was cornering.  We split into two groups to practise some mini cornering circuits individually and in pairs.  After a quick break we ran an Australian Pursuit on the grass circuit which saw some fierce head to head competition towards the end and some excellent dynamic planning in the form of course shortening from Calvin.

Luke joined Polly, Ellen, Dan, Hope, Eloise, Malcolm
 Christophe and Myself on a sunny ride.

We ended up with some team shuttle relays on the playground before tidying up and getting ready to ride off site with the older riders.  We all rolled out together, but had to stop quite quickly for our first puncture.  We watched as Christophe set about replacing his inner tube, Hope and Eloise helpfully timed him.  We sent Luke, Malcolm, Dan, Ellen and Polly ahead.

The route took us out along the Causeway and up past Bore Place to Bailey's Hill.  This was Eloise's first ride on the road with us, but I'd been reliably informed she was bike fit so it seemed like a good idea to give her a challenge.

Before long we started to longish climb to the top of Bailey's and both girls managed well.  We stopped briefly to catch our breath before pushing on towards the summit.

'helping' Christophe with his puncture

It was a relief to reach the top, especially with the promise of a mostly downhill return journey.  We lost Christophe on the way home with another small mechanical, but he was managing well when we returned to find him.  All in all a good ride and an especially good first Youth Ride for Eloise.

Eloise and Hope at the top of Bailey's Hill