Go Ride Saturday 18th June

Today we put together a big multi skills circuit on the playground and the riders went round and round and round and eventually we had to tell them to stop because it was home time.  Great to everyone having so much fun on their bikes.

Taking a break in the playground shelter after alot of bike riding.

After Go Ride our Youth Ride headed off.  Two new riders joined us this week; Dan and Kieran.  We headed up towards Weald where the older riders tackled Baileys Hill and we took in the Mur de Weald.  Congratulations to Keiran who made it to the top without stopping.

Next week we will be heading over to Bedgebury for some XC racing - see you there!

Go Ride Saturday 11th June

We practised track style riding today and finished with some Devil races.  Toni acted as the pacer, Polly helped Damian track centre.

Spring in the Park #5 - Friday 10th June

Tonight was a special night; Hannah let me take a photo of her :-)

Eastbourne Festival of Cycling - Sunday 5th June

Our riders came home from Eastbourne with big smiles, great sun tans and impressive results:  Calvin 14th, Hannah 6th, Ellen 5th, Hope, Toni & Polly 3rd.  Here's what happened:

The day dawned bright and sunny and we were off to the seaside!  Excitement mounted as we spotted other cars loaded with bikes that were heading the same way.  That is until we realised the Inglis's were in front of us.  Fortunately fate was on our side, a road closure ahead meant everyone had to turn around so we ended up in front.  We arrived on Eastbourne seafront to clear skies and amazingly a handy parking space. Once unloaded we headed towards King Alfred Lawns and 'pitched' our rollers.  Hannah, Toni, Polly, Ellen, Hope and Calvin were all racing along with plenty of SDWs including Jack and Marc.

Race preparation well under way

The first race to start was the U14's.  The nature of the course and the large field meant they'd organised a rolling start, or almost organised it.  As there was no sign of the planned motorbike, the commissaire Paul Tunnell jumped on a bike and led the riders around the course for a lap, then they were off!  The technical course suited Ellen and Polly who both handled the corners well.  They both rode well, making ground during the race and despite excellent riding both got stranded on their own with the leading bunch of boys hot on their heels by the last lap.

The U16's race followed directly afterwards, Hannah, Toni and Calvin made up our team for this race.  They'd located the motorbike this time so the riders were led around the course by a rather noisy (and smelly) bike which struggled to negotiate the corners.  They came through the start line and the race was well and truly on and straight into the first hairpin bend.  Calvin and Toni were well positioned and soon found themselves in group of eight or so riders racing confidently through the corners and making gains on the straights.  Hannah had missed the early acceleration and found herself in a smaller group working hard to make ground.  There was great excitement when the leading boys lost his wheel on our corner with one lap to go, went down with a bang but jumped straight back up and hopped back on his bikes, inciting enthusiastic cheering from the crowds.  An exciting race that ended with all riders safe and sound and pleased with their performance.

Megan (Woolwich) and Hannah on our corner

Our final racer was Hope; we'd started to realise that this was a good course for the KVK and given that I've seen Hope cornering on the playground with speed, skill and determination I figured this could be her moment.  With the race underway and all our supporters at the second hairpin we started giving Hope a few tips; attack, attack Hope. It took a few laps but she finally plucked up courage and passed Freja (TRC) on the hairpin and pulled away in the straight.  Soon she was just behind another female rider in pink kit.  Once again we shouted and once again Hope responded.  Everyone was very excited to see Hope making good progress through the race field and we kept shouting encouragement as she held her lead over the riders she'd passed.  We were pretty sure she was 3rd but we had to wait for the results to find out for sure.  In the mean time Michele was very excited about the Penny Farthing race................

Spot Hope

Calvin and Toni

First time on a penny farthing for Calvin

When those amazing bikes and riders had finally stopped racing (whoever would have thought they could ride for that long), we headed over to the lawns for the results.  Toni, Polly and Hope all had their positions confirmed as 3rd, everyone else had to wait.  Michele and Calvin were despatched to buy chips, everyone else headed down to the beach for a paddle or a swim (just me and Polly).  After the best chips ever (or maybe it was just because that water was SO cold) we headed back up to the lawn and Michele revealed a burning desire to ride a Penny Farthing; ten minutes later she was climbing up into the saddle and being helped along the promenade.  It transpires that your legs have to be long enough to reach the pedals, so for that particular bike Michele still has some growing to do but Calvin managed admirably - I wonder how Santa will squeeze a Penny Farthing down chimney this year???  A lovely way to end a day at the seaside seeing Calvin and Michele cycling high along the seafront.  Thanks everyone for contributing to such a memorable day.

Saturday 4th June - Penshurst Ride Out

We met at Tonbridge Park and split into three groups; big, medium and mini riders. Damian headed off with the 'Bigs', I followed on with the 'Mediums' and Michele and Claire left last with the 'Minis'.

The trail is quite overgrown in parts and I was glad of my long trousers! The wider sections provide a good opportunity for riding close to other riders and the few steep ascents are a good test of suitable gear selection.  I stopped with my group before we reached the concrete road and had a quick energy boost of Percy Pigs, before heading back via Hayesden play park.  The new play equipment was still protected by fencing so we will just have to go back to check it out again soon.

Great riding from everyone, see you next weekend at Go Ride.  Usual sign on time 9.15am for a 9.30am start. 

Breaking News - Kent Velo Race Team Storm It In their Debut Outing

On Friday our new Kent Velo RT race kit arrived; within an hour all our four signed up members had appeared on my doorstep to collect it!

This has been the culmination of discussions, negotiations and deliberations between the coaching team, the parents and the riders.  

So while this was a quiet weekend for the younger members of the club, two of our committed older riders were busy taking their next steps into the world of bike racing.

Toni raced at Winchester in the ........., while Hannah barely recovered from her recent crash headed up to Morecambe to take part in the North West Youth Tour. A podium finish for Toni (or is that actually a park bench finish??) 2nd Girl, while Hannah competed in all four of the weekend's stages and was placed 42nd in a strong field of 60 riders.  Great start girls, keep up the good work.

Spring in the Park #4 - 3rd June

This evening's weather was not quite as pleasant as previous weeks; gloomy with a light drizzle.  Our hard core racers weren't deterred though, Toni even came straight from a day at Redbridge.  

The team tonight included Albert, Hope, Ellen, Polly, Toni & Calvin, with Betsy supporting her brother and Michele providing post race nutrition (marshmallow crispy cakes).

Great results from all our riders tonight: Albert 2nd, Hope 5th, Polly 4th, Ellen 7th, Toni 5th & Calvin 21st.  See you next week folks!

Betsy giving her brother Albert a hug after his race.  Albert changed his tactics this week and finished 2nd in the U8 boys race