Saturday 12th March - Go Ride at Stocks Green School & Newport Youth Track Omnium

 Following on from last week's ride out, and ahead of our Hill Climb Challenge in two week's time, we focussed on using gears this week.

After a quick warm up of Sardines, we spent a few minutes looking at the different kinds of levers used to change gear as well as cassettes, derailleurs, cables and chain rings.  Alfie won the prize for best grasp of cycling vocabulary; unfortunately for him the prize was just a pat on the back!

We spent a fair bit of time doing sprint heats, where all the riders started in their easiest gear. The winning rider in each heat stayed in the same gear, whilst all the other riders moved up into a harder gear.

The actual results from this activity are often quite confusing; it certainly highlights the different strengths and weaknesses of each of the riders. By the time riders were in their hardest gear we gave them a held start, which was a new experience for some of them. It was good to see our older riders helping out by acting as holders for the younger riders.

By dictating the gear selection riders get to use gears that they wouldn't always naturally select and the rider who wins each sprint varies a bit more than it would if they got to choose their own gear.  All in all a good activity to highlight to riders that they have more than one gear and they can benefit from using them!

Final endurance block linked the two twisty sections at either end of the site. Riders needed to use their low gears in the technical bits and we encouraged them to 'gear up' on the back straight. Coach Gavin confirmed that he heard lots of gears crunching on that section (maybe we will have to work on smooth gear changes next week...)

It was a fun session, riders worked really hard and used their gears well. We were so busy we didn't even have time to crack open the Custard Creams until the end of the session!

Meanwhile, Kent Velo Youth rider Harry was competing in Newport at the 2022 Youth Track Omnium Series. Harry got off to a good start with a win in the sprint event. There are five rounds in total ahead of the National Final, we'll be watching his progress and wish him good luck with the next Round at Herne Hill(?) after Easter