Saturday 22nd December London League Cyclocross at Somerhill School Hosted By Southborough & District Wheelers

The team was somewhat depleted today; Gareth didn't make it with Betsy & Albert and Hope had to reluctantly admit that she wasn't fit to race after a week off school so we were down to what was left of our regular team, Ivo and Oliver plus some enthusiastic newbies in the form of Zach and Daniel.  I also spotted Isaac and Iris who came to spectate.  Polly was racing too for KVRT and the KVG/KVB were pleased to be fielding nine racers, their best ever!  To check out cyclocross and the Kinesis London League follow the link HERE

Oliver mixing it up with the race leaders

A good start for Ivo in U10s

Daniel tackling his first cyclocross race

Zach uses his legendary skills to pass the opposition

Some familiar faces on the podium ;-)

Oliver, always a keen spectator!

All adult female categories race together: Polly, Liz, Cathy, Cherry and Lisa & Lucy

Top team from KVG/KVB!

Saturday 8th & 9th December: Go Ride & London League Cyclocross Racing

Saturday 8th December - Go Ride Planks & Pallets at Stocks Green School

This is always a popular session with the kids, if a little nerve racking for the parents and volunteers!  With twenty two riders on site we are reaching capacity at this time of year, but we didn't let that put us off.

I'd assembled a good selection of pallets, planks, logs and of course the legendary see-saws in the playground.  To get the riders warmed up, I headed to the back of the site where we set up a quick warm up circuit including some tight turns, mounting/dismounting zones and a limbo bar to negotiate after the lump.  Meanwhile Calvin and his team set up two sets of obstacles to challenge the riders.

The two main aims of this session are 1. Build Rider Confidence 2.Have Fun. With this in mind we let the riders self select which circuit they wanted to tackle.  Then we set to work.  Calvin guided riders  in his group through a careful assessment of the skills required to complete each section before having a go. Working on tarmac and in a relatively small space means that skill and control are paramount as oppose to speed and nerve, although a certain amount of bravery is always required when riding over tricky stuff.

Meanwhile our younger riders were also tackling various obstacles, working up to a pallet drop off and a see-saw.  Vicky and Matt stepped in to encourage riders over the see-saw while providing a reassuring catching service for any riders who needed it!

All in all a very successful session.  Nothing builds confidence like achieving something you thought you couldn't and riding your bike over planks and pallets is always fun.  Added to that there were no major injuries, just a couple of bruises and a decent graze, all of which were quickly sorted with ice packs and chocolate biscuits.

Thanks to all the volunteers, parents and riders who made this session work, Calvin really enjoyed it!

PS - we didn't take photos of all the obstacles ;-)

Sunday 9th December - London League Cyclocross at Frylands Wood

Thanks  to Jez for sending me photos from the race, I'm sorry I couldn't be there :-(

Team KVK 'cross attended a very wet and muddy Frylands today. Great performances from Albert, Betsy, Oliver and Ivo.

The racing was followed with much bike cleaning and cheesy chips! 

Ivo,Oliver, Albert & Betsy - Post Race

Front line on the grid for Ivo

Betsy getting a good gap

Ivo working hard through the woods

And the U12's are off!

Oliver chasing hard

Albert digging deep

Olvier taking Betsy's podium for her, 1st U10 Girl

Well deserved podium for Ivo in U10's

Saturday 24th November - Penshurst Challenge Ride

This Saturday we met at Penshurst Place for our off site ride.  Whichever way you ride from there it's up a hill, so everyone had the opportunity to challenge themselves. The climbs on offer were:

• Penshurst Place to Top Of The World - Col de Sidney
• Ensfield Road to Top Of The World - Col d'Ensfield
• Penshurst Village to James Bond Barn - Col de Porc (off road)
• The Pond to Kingdom - Col de Kingdom

The weather was murky and not very inviting.  Nevertheless eleven hardy KVKs and assorted parents turned up and we split into groups.

Harry, Oliver, Lucy, Alfie, Zach, Gabriel, Elliott, Darcey, Jess, Ems & Ewan.

Great riding from everyone and congratulations on conquering those hills!  It wasn't a great day for photos, so just a few to prove we actually did it!  Next time, it'll be further and/or faster :-)

Harry and Oliver made it up to Kingdom

Lucy arrived shortly after due to a delayed start :-)

Johnny's penalty for late arrival was repairing Harry's puncture!

Riders led by Gavin returning from Hayesden after their final climb: Col d'Ensfield

Ewan still smiling, not sure about James!

Jacs & Ems bringing up the rear

Saturday 17th November - Go Ride at Stocks Green School

Today we were all set for a 'Skills Fest' at our regular venue Stocks Green School.  This is where all our riders start their journey with us, gaining and honing basic skills which lay the foundations for them to become great bike riders.

After a quick warm up on the infant field, which involved a combination of sprinting and recovering based on Gary's whistle blasts we split the riders into three groups, with each group heading off to work in a different part of the site.

Getting the hang of limbo

Down at the far end on the lump we focussed on body position, using the limbo bar with a straight, flat run up and progressing to a trickier course with twists and turns and up and downs.  Where the limbo pole ended up depended on the skill of the riders.

Andrew giving his riders some tips on cornering

Carving turns on the main playground

On the big playground nearest Sign On, we set up a large course of curving turns with a return lane to one side of the playground.  This setup lends itself well to a fun cornering session which gets increasingly pacey as riders gain confidence.  Calvin took the opportunity to re-run the old After School Club days with an individual TT for all the riders in his group.

More cornering, this time in groups

Time for a mid session break on the tyres

Finally, on the infant playground we worked on Slow Riding.  Running heats of Slow Races and trialling Sumo Team Challenge (with very mixed results), I'm not sure anyone had a go at Batons & Bases, I think they just find it too hard!

Our youngest riders getting ready for a Slow Race

With Damian working as Rider Whip, we managed to use all our time very effectively, he ensured that riders and coaches stuck to the planned timings; a very useful service!

As always, it was good to see the riders improving and some of our newer coaches finding their feet.  Another session ticked off in the countdown to Christmas, it's great to still be outside, riding bikes at the end of November, long may it last.

Next week we are riding off site, meeting at Penshurst Place.  Contact me to sign up.

Saturday 10th & Sunday 11th November 2018

This weekend was all about getting muddy!

• Go Ride at Kingdom, Penshurst
• National Trophy Cyclocross hosted by Crawley Wheelers at Ardingly

Go Ride, Kingdom, Penshurst.

We are still really getting to know the site at Kingdom and exploring all the possibilities it has to offer.  This week we spent more time at the top of the circuit on our 'Start Loop'.  First of all we ran Marymoor Crawl races, in waves, ending at Andrew's Finish Line.  That gives us a good run off and return/recovery route which brings riders back to the start to race again.  

Marymoor Crawl racing: Harry, Oliver, Albert & Mathias

Next up Lucy, Ella and Betsy

After that we worked on riding over bumps, which was just that for some of our younger riders but progressed to bunny hopping for a few of the older ones.  After a quick biscuit break (Maryland Choc Chip Cookies this week ;-)) we split into three groups and practised mounting and dismounting.  Our final challenge of the morning was a set of three full on hill efforts on Heart Break Hill.  I think it's fair to say that all the riders worked really hard today and are thoroughly enjoying stretching their legs in Penshurst.

Albert practising his bunny hops

Briefing before the hill efforts, preparing the riders for pain....

Darcey, Huw and Fraser racing hard

It must be biscuit time, everyone is very attentive!

National Trophy Cyclocross

Well done to Hope who competed in this weekend's National Trophy. Thanks to Claire for her report on the weekend. Results are now confirmed; Hope finished 13th in a field of 30 of the best U14 Girls in the country. Nice Work Hope ;-)

Hope headed down to Ardingly on Saturday afternoon for the open practice session.  After heavy rain through the night and with more showers forecast, she wasn’t sure what to expect.  The course was muddy in places but was holding up well and apparently the muddy bits just make it more fun.  She was definitely having lots of fun and spent two hours practicing the tricky technical sections as well as riding laps.  She had a dramatic unscheduled dismount at one point but after that very close inspection of the mud, she was soon up and riding again.  We eventually left when the riders were all kicked off the course because it was getting dark.  After a busy evening trying to get everything clean and ready to do it all again on Sunday, we went to bed listening to the sound of more heavy rain.




So, by Sunday morning and despite some bright sunshine, conditions had changed and some parts of the course were virtually impossible to ride.  She set off gleefully to check it all out though and came back from the practice laps with a race plan.  She lined up at 11:15 after everyone had observed the silence of Remembrance Sunday.  She carried that moment of calm onto the start line but once the whistle was blown, the calmness was gone.  She was determined to get a decent start and gain places in the dash to the first corner.  By the time I saw her at the first technical section she was looking strong and confident.  Hope likes mud and she tackled it bravely, letting her bike find its own course and only slipping over once.  From the look of her though, you would have thought she had laid down and rolled in it! It was a tough course and the heavy conditions zapped her energy so she had to fight hard on the last lap.  She came over the line exhausted and barely able to speak but she was still smiling.  Provisional results put her 13th and she is pleased with that.  A good result in a tough race.

November 3rd & 4th 2018

This Weekend:

• Go Ride at Stocks Green School
• East Kent Cyclocross - Deal

Go Ride at Stocks Green School
A good turnout today for our coached session at Stocks Green.  We kicked off with a simple warm up, that gave riders the opportunity to get moving, test their one handed riding and have the opportunity to practice the slow riding techniques we worked on last time.

The main focus of the session today was riding in straight line; more difficult that it sounds.  We split the riders into three groups and started with the basics before throwing in some extra challenges like riding one handed, looking behind and negotiating a narrow channel of cones.  Riders also got an opportunity to challenge themselves to some none handed riding, with varying levels of success!

Harry goes for the tricky 

Endurance + bottle/teddy pick

Taking and delivering an item is always a popular activity.  I'd brought along a good selection of items, ranging from teddies for our youngest riders to dust caps and coins to challenge the older riders.  After everyone had had a chance to practice with various items we took a break and set up our endurance activity.

This week we made the endurance block a team activity, with riders selecting and picking up items each time they completed a full lap.  The items had to be deposited in their team's box.  All the items scored points and were added up to come up with a winning team.







It worked really well, with riders having to ride, and think and execute tricky manoeuvres at the same time.  All the stuff that goes to make a great KVK rider ;-)

Coach Michele works her magic, assisted by Tonis

Coaches Jez & Andrew in action

Well done to everyone who took part today and a big thank you as ever to all our volunteer coaches and helpers.  Next week we'll be at Kingdom, Penshurst.

East Kent Cyclocross - Deal
A small but perfectly formed KVK team took part in the East Kent Cyclocross.  A successful morning's work as Albert and Ivo both took 2nd place in their respective age categories, while Betsy bagged a 3rd place in hers.  Polly was the only Junior Girl, so got the podium all to herself!