Sunday 25th October - Club Cluster Lee Valley Velodrome

An early start for our older riders this morning as we headed for the Olympic Velodrome for our 8am session (yes 8 am).  Helped slightly by the clock's changing, we all made it in good time and really appreciated the light traffic on the way into London.

Damian was coaching the intermediate group today, together with our riders there was definitely a feeling of KVK takeover.  I know I am slightly biased but our riders are so impressive; they ride well, are impeccable ambassadors for the club and look amazing :-)

Calvin, Toni, Ellen & Polly practising held start for Team Pursuit

Catriona (rider 2) conquering her dislike of held starts, ably assisted by Terry.

The great thing about the early start was we were home in time for an early afternoon nap or to cook the roast.

Next Week: Saturday 7th November Go Ride at Stocks Green.

Saturday 24th October Bedgbury Forest Single Track & Family Trail

Fourteen youngsters and assorted adults get ready to ride.

This is always a popular session but it was great to see a record number of riders turning up on a slightly miserable day.  Fourteen young riders with an assortment of mums and dads set off from the car park to tackle either the single track or family trail route.  Cayden's response when he saw the first hill was "my bike is not going up that hill", but he seemed to manage it anyway.

Bumped into this lot between sections

Michele was determined to try her new hybrid on the single track, so I led out the family trailers, some time since I've ridden this route and it brought back many happy memories of days spent here with Jacob & Polly (wonder if I still have that photo of Polly riding in her pyjama top and school shoes?).

We met up with the hard core at Louisa Lake for a quick break and a biscuit.  Fortunately neither Betsy, Cayden or Thomas slipped under the sign so before long we were back on our way and heading for the playground.

What a great morning of riding; Well done to Ben, Joel and Lucy who all tackled the single track for the first time, but especially Michele who did it on her hybrid.  Cayden, Serena, Thomas and Betsy, thanks for giving me the chance to climb the butterfly climbing wall.  Polly, Ellen, Toni, Luke, Calvin, Albert & Catriona excellent riding as usual.  Looking forward to next time already.

Next Week: No sessions 31st October, see you again at Stocks Green on the 7th November.

Saturday 17th October Go Ride & Youth Ride

Go Ride
Today we started work on our group riding skills, lots of riding close and contact and only a few crashes!  We finished off with a game of jail break, no photos but I did get to practise my bandaging :-)

Confident controlled riding from these four!

Ellen helping out with some of our younger riders

Youth Ride

Lower numbers than normal today, Calvin and Toni were at the Lee Valley doing their Young Volunteers course and Hannah was at RSR.  We managed 19.5 miles at a good pace, taking in our old favourite Col de Porc.

Next Week: Bedgbury Forest, meet at 10 am in the car park.  Option of single track or family trail rides.

Sunday 4th October - Oktoberfest at Cyclopark - 3rd Place in Team Competition

Barking and Dagenham, Thanet RC and Kent Velo Kids take team trophies.

Hope just back from U10's Podium!

Albert with the Oktoberfest Trophy that we won at Cyclopark on 4th October.  We were third team overall. Hannah, Polly, Toni, Hope, Albert (Calvin and Sophia not in this photo)

Warming up: Sophia, Toni, Polly

U14's Race Start: Polly, Sophia & Toni

U14's podium. Toni, Megan (Woolwich CC), Polly

Saturday 10th October 2015

Go Ride
Another great turnout enjoyed some late Autumn sunshine.  After a warm up in small groups led by some of the more experienced riders, and a rider briefing the session was again split into two.

The more experienced riders were with me, continuing with our introduction to some basic mountain biking skills; this week we focussed on "power assisted front wheel lifts" (or as the riders preferred "wheelies") and back wheel lifts.  Its fair to say that everyone found the techniques a challenge, but with some expert pointers from Jacob and Gareth (Albert's dad) everyone made progress.  The key to all these techniques is practice and after a biscuit break we got the pallets, see-saws, planks and limbo out and built a course for riders to practice their skills and take on new challenges.  Even some of the riders who have been coming to Go-Ride for years found a new challenge in track standing on the (balanced) see-saw. There was a clear improvement all round, but remember to keep practising.

The younger riders also joined in at the end of the session and it was exciting to see so many young people riding their bikes and having fun.

Youth Ride


This weekend again saw two groups head out. The riders on the shorter route (Hope, Catriona and Luke) headed out via Leigh to Bore Place and then into Weald village (via the very steep, if short, leg breaker that is the Mur de Weald)  before heading back towards Stocks Green whilst the longer route riders (Ellen, Hannah, Calvin, Polly and Toni) took on the additional challenge of Baileys Hill and the ups and downs of St Julians and on to Igtham, before racing down Mote Road and Riding Lane.  Despite the ominous clouds the weather held and everyone enjoyed a trouble free and dry ride; how many more we will have we shall see (thoughts inevitably turned to the impending "mudguard season" and overshoes)

Youth Riders

More Youth Riders!

Saturday 3rd October Go Ride & Youth Ride

Go Ride - Twenty nine riders signed on this morning which makes it our busiest regular Go Ride session since we started in 2012.  Very exciting to see lots of new riders alongside our regulars and of course for our more experienced teenagers to have the opportunity to help out!

We ran out of time we were having so much fun!

All our riders were on site today, we split into two groups to work on MTB skills, mainly focussing on body position; the older riders experimented with the effect of shifting their weight around to try and get their bikes on, off and over various obstacles while my group focussed on some core techniques including riding out of the saddle and ducking down low to get under the limbo bar.  We finished the session with a giant obstacle course which included planks, see saws and pallets.  Lots of extra helping hands made it possible to station marshals at all the tricky points allowing all the riders to have a go.

Youth Ride

This is still a challenging turnaround after Go Ride but once again we did it! Seven riders signed on for Youth Ride with two routes to choose from: In Search of Henry VIII 22 miles and in Search of Sidney 14 miles. With no incidents or accidents we made good progress, the Henry VIII ers clocked just over 17 mph.  Both rides took in Grove Road in Penshurst we've found to be both an excellent training hill and a good indication of fitness and progress.

Next Week Saturday 10th October - Go Ride sign on 9.15am, Youth Ride 11.30am - contact Damian to sign on dwilkes@winterscott.co.uk

Sunday 27th September - Lee Valley Velodrome Club Cluster Session

Today was a big day for those riders who have regularly been attending these sessions as they were being assessed for their Stage 4 Track Accreditation.  This is basically like a driving test for track cycling, once accredited, riders can compete in track racing at indoor velodromes all over the country. The assessment is under test conditions, so once it is underway they are briefed on the drills they need to complete but they can't ask any questions they just have to get on and ride.  Starting with some basic techniques each block of the assessment progresses towards the highly skilled moves of stacking and rider slalom.  This last one is where the rider from the back of the line literally weaves in and out of the other riders to get to the front as quickly as possible.  Toni is our quickest rider slalomer and the only one who says she loves it!

Distinctly nervous riders ready for their Accreditation briefing. L-R Calvin, Toni, Polly, Sophia, Catriona & Ellen

Three hours later the same riders (plus Hope minus Ellen)  looking a lot more relaxed! 

Newly accredited riders Sophia, Calvin, Toni & Polly. Catriona needs a little more practise before she has another go at Stage 4.

Ellen making a quick getaway with her recently acquired accrreditation!

Sophia, Toni, Calvin, Ellen and Polly successfully completed their Stage 4 Track Accreditation and join Hannah as our track accredited racing team - bring on the podium :-)

These sessions are available to riders from Go Ride clubs aged 12 - 18 years old.  Please support these sessions and help us maintain access to this amazing facility for our young riders.

Upcoming Dates

25th October 2015, 8am-11am (top group will have team pursuit focus - bring tri-bars if you have them)

22th November 2015, 8am-11am (top group will have keirin focus)

20th December 2015, 9am-12pm (time TBC) (top group will have elimination race focus