Saturday 10th March - KVK @ Herne Hill Velodrome

Raring to Go!

As ever it was a privilege to be back at Herne Hill and in the capable hands of coaches Tony, Josef and Roger.  I'm delighted to say that we filled our 22 places with half kids, half parents which is really what we are about at the KVK. With a few exceptions everyone was new to riding a fixed wheel bike but once we got the bikes sorted out, our experienced coaching team had everyone riding on the Cote d'Azur, starting and stopping at the fence.  As it was pretty mixed session we decided to run an "induction" style session; so running through the basics and giving everyone a chance to ride high and ride fast at the end.  

Once the riders had mastered stopping on the bottom fence it was time to attempt the top fence, this is a little more tricky and you've got to get up the banking and slow down enough to grasp the rail.  There were a couple of less successful attempts but on the whole everyone made a good job of it.

Starting and stopping on the bottom fence

Next up was adjusting the gap between you and rider in front.  Josef called out an animal ranging from rhinocerous to rabbit and riders had to make a gap of the same size.  It's all about letting the riders practise holding their position with their legs rather than their brakes.  Being KVK riders everyone listened carefully and put the tips and advice from the coaches to good use.  After a short break it was time to try riding the coloured lines; black, red, blue, ghost and fence, were all conquered.  As the riders' confidence progressed they got to try a few more drills; squaring the oval first and then half lap changes.  Their final challenge was Stacking.  By this time we were down to twenty one  riders, so we had three groups of seven.  Stacking requires the riders to ride along side each up up the track.  At a designated point the rider at the bottom of the stack drop back slightly and climbs up behind their stack, the rest of the riders shuffle down and repositioning rider becomes the highest rider.  This requires lots of skill, concentration and team work.  Everyone was brilliant!

Top fence mastered!

To finish off we split into two groups for a head to head English Pursuit.  The two teams line up on either side of the track and race each other, relay style.  This gives everyone the chance to ride one lap as fast as they possibly can.  Even though they won by a good margin the winning team didn't even gloat, I think that everyone was too exhausted.

Back at the containers we helped put the bikes back and shared some cake with Jago who was celebrating his birthday.  Herne Hill, bike riding, cake eating, let's face it life doesn't get much better than this!

Once again many thanks to the fabulous team at Herne Hill for making us so welcome and looking after us so well, looking forward to our return trip in September.

Holding a wheel

Stacking - 7 deep!

With the fab new stadium in the background

 OUR FAB YOUNG RIDERS: Zara, Daniel, Oliver, Jago, William, Ivo, Thomas, Alfie, Hannah, Charlie, Hope & Pip. OUR FAB MATURE RIDERS: Malcom, David, Heidi, Gavin, Andrew, Cathy, Gary, Richard, Nicola and Jez

More stacking