Sunday 29th London League Cyclocross at Happy Valley

Round 7 of the London Cyclocross League took place at Happy Valley near Falmer hosted by Preston Park Youth CC.  It's based in a country park, so the grass is fairly forgiving (more playing field than farmer's field) so it's ideal for novice riders, but also good for those with some experience under their belts as it means the course can run fast for those with enough skill to do so.

It was a sunny day and we had a good turnout from the KVK: Albert, Hope, Ellen & Polly, plus Gareth and myself.  The KVG were out in force too with Lisa and Cathy joining Liz for a first and second race respectively.  As an added bonus, Toni turned up with a gang of young riders from various clubs, they'd ridden down from Hildenborough and beyond and spent some time spectating and catching up with friends before heading back.

Albert was first up and despite being gridded was disappointed with his result of 5th place, he was of course aiming for 1st ;-) (I don't seem to have any photos of his race I'm afraid).  He concluded that he does better when he's not gridded.............

Early on, Hope chasing Ellen

The Youth A/B race saw Hope, Ellen and Polly all racing together. Ellen and Polly had both recently returned from Iceland so were understandably feeling jaded, but Hope was on fine form as she demonstrated by beating them both!  Ellen put up a fight, but Polly resigned herself to defeat early on in the race.  Hope took 3rd in the Youth B Girls, and Ellen and Polly were placed 2nd and 3rd respectively in the Youth A Girls.   

Next up was Gareth, riding Trixie (her second race of the day), he got a cracking start and held his position well in the field while Albert and I ran from point to point, counting riders and shouting encouragement.  It's one of the best thing about cross, grown men and women being cheered on by their kids.  Gareth finished a respectable 25th (?) in a strong field of 69 riders.

Lap 1? Polly still ahead of Ellen

3rd Youth B Girl for Hope

The final race of the day was the V50M plus all the adult female categories, this includes me!  I started at the back but worked hard in the first lap to pass a few riders before we got to the trickier sections.  It worked which meant I didn't get help up in the wooded section or through the first few downhill bends and ascents.  I caught up with Liz and managed to pass her, only to be overtaken by her later in the race.  I managed to regain my position and finished about 12th Woman.

Ellen 2nd, Polly 3rd Youth A Girls

Me, demonstrating the zimmer frame push

Great turnout from the KVG

Saturday October 28th Go Ride & Youth Ride

Today say a record turnout of thirty one riders signing on for Go Ride, my predictions are becoming increasingly unreliable, I thought we'd be down on numbers because of half-term!

We kicked off with some games of Sardines on the infant playground which turned into a showcase of skilfull controlled riding (from my group at least).  After that we split into two groups and continued working on group riding skills.

We managed a quick biscuit break before moving onto the endurance section of the session where once again we asked riders to ride in small teams and work together, changing off the front each lap. The regular practise is obviously paying off as most of the teams managed to ride really effectively together.

Well done to everyone who took part and a big thank you to all our volunteers and parents for making it happen.

Older riders working on riding in contact with another rider

After Go Ride a small but select group of riders gathered to take on one of our regular routes "Old Fave".  The main climb on the ride is Col de Porc and we pass Larkins Brewery on the way back to The Causeway.  We did have a slight time pressure as I needed to get back to collect Polly.  The result was we rode the 16 miles hard/steady in 65 minutes with absolutely no talking from the regular chatterboxes!

Just ride at 14.8 mph if you want a quiet life with this lot!

Half Term fun at Herne Hill Velodrome - Wednesday 25th October

The school holidays are just an excuse to do more cycling really...........well it is for our most enthusiastic riders! Hope and Oliver signed up for a day at Herne Hill Velodrome, Hope sent me this report and Jez sent the photos (great team work ;-)) 

We set off early Wednesday morning for a Herne Hill holiday club session in the worrying rain. However, when we got there the sun had come out ready for us to get on the track. I was joined by Oliver in the track centre as we got ready excitedly to take part in a hard session. We were split into groups, me taking to the top fence and Oliver ready to start his track riding experience. The top group started pairs on the blue getting to know other riders (as always!) whilst Oliver quickly got used to the new style of riding. We continued through the day to lunch with group riding (Me pleased with a close to perfect stacking) and tough races. Next a nice lunch break followed by an activity used in the first step of Madison (dropping down from resting to a fast pace) which I was particularly looking forward to trying.

Hope

"Oliver is a new track convert and now asking when we can go back!"

Sunday 22nd October - Lee Valley Club Cluster & Ardingly London League Cyclocross

Today was a split shift with the option of Club Cluster at Lee Valley Velodrome for our older riders and a round of the London League at Ardingly.

Anyway, I headed to Ardingly (with Polly away someone had to race Trixie ;-)).  Ivo and Oliver were racing for KVK and although I missed them Jez took some photos.

Checkout the mud! Oliver rode well to finish 6th

Ivo (Gary in the background?) road well and finished 8th

I rode! It was tough, very muddy, I finished ;-) 5/10 in my age group

October 21st - Go Ride at Stocks Green School

The Rain Dance I performed at 7am this morning obviously paid off as sure enough the showers cleared through and the sun came out for Go Ride.  Plenty of riders signed on and we split into two groups.  I'm afraid there's a shocking lack of photo evidence to share this week, suffice it to say, everyone worked hard, we had chocolate biscuits and we didn't get wet.  That goes down as a successful session in my book ;-)

Our youngest riders getting used to adjusting their speed to match another rider

Saturday October 14th - Col de Coldharbour

We may need a new policy for our latest member

The Gang - having fun without me!

I was away today, but of course my faithful team covered my absence with their usual enthusiasm ( maybe everyone prefers it when I'm not around?).  Photos from Michele and Christophe, not much chat about the ride other than talk of a new member?

Older riders improving their navigation

Homeward bound

Sunday 8th October - London League Cyclocross at Herne Hill and Track Cluster at Lee Valley

Another busy day for the keen beans in the KVK! The early risers were Joel, Nico, Hope, Eloise and Dan who all headed up to Lee Valley, Claire sent me this report:

Riders up early this morning for the trip to the Velodrome were Hope, Dan, Nico, Eloise and Joel.  Delays on the road and dodgy alarms meant that there was a hint of panic as all our riders struggled to make it in time.  However, everyone was quickly organised and in their group ready to ride.  There was a good turn out this morning which meant that three groups were formed. Eloise and Nico were joined by Joel while Hope and Dan went into a group with slightly more experience.  They all took their turns to whizz around and try out various exercises such as lap changes, taking a lap and a brief attempt at stacking.  They all made good progress with the demands of track riding and were seen smiling broadly.  Joel did well on his first visit to the velodrome although I don’t think we have shaken his preference for his mountain bike.

Meanwhile, after a decent lie in, I headed up to Herne Hill Velodrome, not for track riding though, Herne Hill Youth were hosting Round 5 of the London League Cyclocross.  It was a beautiful dry, sunny day.  Oliver, Albert, myself and Gareth all raced.  Results are a little slow to be published this week, I wonder whether mine and Gareth's stunning performances have blown the system as currently both the Vet 40 W & M results are unpublished!  The boys did brilliantly though, with a pair of top 10 finishes :-)

Off to a good start, Oliver and Albert racing on the in field

Rapidly improving skills and fitness placed Oliver 9th in Round 5

Albert settled for the third step again today - he was keen to tell me this is not what he'd planned! I guess all the best riders are hard on themselves ;-)

The magic of cyclocross, Albert proudly supporting Gareth.

Gareth in cognito IN FRONT OF Southborough Wheeler

5th Place for me, £5 to spend on cake - woo hoo

Saturday 7th October - Go Ride at Stocks Green & Club Cluster at Cyclopark

Slightly more autumnal this morning but still relatively mild!  We had a split session today with some of our regular riders taking part in the Club Cluster Session at Cyclopark and our newer and mostly younger riders coming along to Go Ride at Stocks Green.  My sources tell me that 11 of our riders signed on in Gravesend and we had 13 'chez nous' so a grand total of 24 young people riding their bikes; absolutely brilliant!

Taking a break

Lots of coaches and smaller groups meant we had lots of time to practise some core skills.  We started off by practising getting out of our saddles and moving around on the bike, we followed this up riding one handing and progressing on to taking and returning an object from the coaches.  All the riders made good progress and everybody managed to ride one handed with both their left and right hands.  After lots of steady riding and concentration we had a quick break and got ready for our endurance block.  Toni briefed the riders and Luke took charge of lap counting.  Fifteen minutes of continuous riding taking in a few twist and turns saw everyone riding well and digging deep for the last three or four minutes.  Everyone agreed they were quite warm by the end and just a little bit tired!

Andrew challenges the riders to name some bike parts

We finished off with a few games of Sardines.  It was lovely showing our new riders how to play this popular game, they all took to it like ducks to water (or should that be fish??).

I'll wait to hear how everyone got on at Cyclopark.

Next week 14th October, we'll be riding off site, starting from West Wood Recreation Ground in Hildenborough.  Signing on 9.15am for a 9.30am start.  Please contact me if you'd like to join us.

Leon holds up the endurance scores for everyone to see!

Club Cluster at Cyclopark, lots of KVKs doing cyclocross with BC Luke

Sunday 1st October - Cyclocross at Happy Valley Brighton

Team photo (thank you Claire)

It seems like we really have got a foothold in the CX door (or should that be hurdle?) as once again we had a good turnout at Happy Valley.  Today's team was Ivo, Albert, Hope & Ellen.  I think this is our biggest CX team to date? Thanks to Gareth for the photos.

Post race conflab?

It's early days in the season, not too cold and not too much mud yet, so a great time to make your mark and get your tactics worked out.  Ride of day goes to Albert who overtake the three riders in front of him up hill and finally took 2nd place overall. It's was Ivo's first cross race and word is he took to it like a duck to water, being place 6th in the U10's.

It was a clean sweep for Inglis's. Ellen and Hope both had good races, a little sketchy on the details (sorry I wasn't there), both took third place respectively in the Youth A and Youth B Girls.

A technical course always suits the KVK, who are such skilful riders ;-)

Not sure there is a 2nd step but Albert is standing where it should be!

 Hope - 3rd place Youth B Girls (wot no step?)

KVK cornering at it's best!

 Ellen 3rd place Youth A Girls (wot no step again!)