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!
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| Ivo,Oliver, Albert & Betsy - Post Race |
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| Front line on the grid for Ivo |
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| Betsy getting a good gap |
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| Ivo working hard through the woods |
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| And the U12's are off! |
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| Oliver chasing hard |
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| Albert digging deep |
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| Olvier taking Betsy's podium for her, 1st U10 Girl |
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| Well deserved podium for Ivo in U10's |
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!
