Saturday 29th October Kent Velo Kids at Cyclopark

Hand on shoulder with added facial expressions

Club Cyclopark is the host club at Cyclopark, Gravesend.  They run their own Go Ride sessions most weekends but there is also a section of the circuit (the small oval and the hairpin) which is available for other local clubs to book.  It's a good opportunity for all clubs to take advantage of this amazing facility which sadly many people still don't know about.  We'd booked the circuit today and the aim was to work on some group riding skills with some cornering and racing thrown in for good measure.  Coach Damian took the lead as I'd managed to get myself double booked.   The first half of the session kicked off with some riding in pairs, progressing to fours and sixes.  Riders then had to 'thread the needle', which means moving from the back of the group through the middle to the front.  This requires good smooth riding from everyone, concentration and the all important communication.  After that we moved onto a few rounds of the game Jail Break; one rider is imprisoned by four other riders, the aim being to prevent the prisoner from escaping by riding close and preventing any gaps developing.  This all took place at fairly low speed so also required some good slow riding skills.  Before the break we moved onto some speedier stuff with a few laps to loosen the legs before splitting into two and going head to head in a classic Italian pursuit race.

Lee Valley Youth Track League #1

Today saw all four of our Kent Velo RT riders racing together which was a very impressive sight!

Ellen and Polly joined Toni and Hannah at the Lee Valley Velodrome for the first on ten track league races over the winter.  Hannah and Toni are old hands, having competed last year but this was the first time for Polly & Ellen.  

Fantastic racing from all our riders with good results - available here https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_RrU0MnitCcdm1zMzluNThqclk/view

Just a few pictures, you really have to be there to get the buzz!!

Polly (92), Ellen (102), Toni (113) & Coach Damian

Hannah (101), Josie (VCL)

The race programme

Saturday 15th October - Bedgebury Forest Ride Out

We all headed up to the water tower to start our rides. Three groups; Big, Medium, Mini.

Minis headed off with Michele and Andrew; Thomas, Charlotte, Dylan & Ewan

Mediums came with Me and Katy; Joel, Eloise, Hope, Nico, Oliver.  We ended up doing the whole red trail

Dan, Polly, Calvin and Luke tackled the red trail with Anna, we met up with them at the end of Cake Run

And there was real cake because it was Luke's birthday! We all sang to him and ate cake ;-)

Joel found a perfect post ride recovery spot to enjoy his cake.

Saturday 8th October & Sunday 9th October

So here's the thing, I woke up, I felt exhausted and it was forecast to rain (heavily), just another Saturday morning then! As usual things just got better, and better............

Go-Ride - I'd planned to do the giant Y cornering session.  We split the riders into two groups and headed our separate ways.  Damian started on the course proper and the riders were soon taking the pin end turns at speed and in small groups.  I seemed to have a fairly boisterous group of riders so nothing for it but to tire them out on the grass too.  Toni and Ellen attempted to be human cones on a simple two pin end course, that did however prove quite challenging for the riders.  We progressed towards an Australian Pursuit style race.  Some super impressive riding combining skill and endurance.  Rider of the week definitely went to Thomas for steadfastly resisting being overtaken!  It never did rain and Damian told me he'd been really impressed with his group; we know from experience that the skill involved in these tight turns will stand the riders in good stead in the future if they get into racing.

Moving swiftly on to Youth Ride.  Damian & Sarah headed out with Toni and Calvin, on a longer hillier ride, meanwhile Dan, Nico, Luke, Hope, Polly headed out with myself and Ruth.  We re-ran (rode?) the route we've called Whale, hopefully one day these guys will be able to navigate themselves.  No accidents or incidents, possibly slightly less moaning about hills but definitely not less talking! Luke sat on the front with me at the end and we blasted back along the causeway, great to see the young riders really coming into their own.



Sunday 9th October - London League Cyclocross at Happy Valley

Polly, Toni & Damian have all raced the LondonXLeague

Some of our older riders (some of them much older ;-)) have been checking out the cyclocross scene this year by competing in the London League http://www.londonxleague.co.uk/ .  Toni and Polly are half way through and Damian has just launched his cycle racing career last week at Sumner Ponds.  Cyclocross racing is a winter thing, courses are mainly on grass/trails with man made obstacles such as hurdles thrown in.  You can take part on a mountain bike, cyclocross bikes themselves look like road bikes but have nobbly tyres (Isla/Frog bikes can be made into cross bikes just by switching the tyres). The bunch quickly gets strung out so it's easy to get lost in the race.  These races have a great atmosphere, and it's common to see parents and kids competing on the same day.  We'll have a chance to practise some cyclocross terrain and techniques at the Go Ride Cluster session at Cyclopark on 5th November and then put them into practise at the Regional Champs to be held at Cyclopark on Sunday December 4th http://www.londonxleague.co.uk/2016/08/south-east-east-championship-20162017-sun-4th-dec/

Saturday 1st October - Go Ride and Youth Routh

After a great run of good weather it finally looked set to change today, which is a shame because Go Ride is much more fun when it's dry, the biscuits stay crunchy!

Inspired by our recent exploration into the world of cyclocross racing and in preparation for our next trip to Bedgebury the focus of today's session was riding out of the saddle over varied terrain.

We kicked off with a little warm up on the Tight Turn Challenge, then split into two groups and used the banks at each end of the site to create a mini circuit to practise riding out of the saddle and cornering.  I added a limbo bar at my end and Damian threw in some planks and pallets next to the stage to make things a little more challenging.  We swapped ends and Damian did some wide sweeping corners with his group. I discovered that as the minimum age of our riders has fallen, some of them can actually fit in the willow tunnel now!

Time for a break before moving onto to mounting and dismounting practise, we set up some cones and tried using some hurdles for the first time.  After some practise we set the riders off in head to head heats, pairs to start with and then fours.  Several heats left the riders begging for mercy, so I made a note to definitely repeat this session again!

Heavy rain drove us into the shelter so we did a quick fire quiz on bike part names.

We were having a break before moving onto our closing relay, when the heavens opened and we headed for the playground shelter.  It really was very wet so we ended with a quick quiz naming parts of the bike.  A great session with lots of skilful riding.  See you again next week at Stocks Green for some more fun.

The Youth Ride looked as if it would be rained off, but Malcolm was keen, which made Ellen say she'd ride and basically shamed everyone else into saying they would too.  We set off in heavy rain, it did clear briefly but basically it rained most of the time we were out, finally clearing as we hit the Chiddingstone Causeway, homeward bound.  Great, fast ride with some big hills, thanks Malcolm for making us do it.

Whale + The Toys Hill Loop

Sunday 25th September - Power Pack at Cyclopark

Today saw the first of three Power Pack sessions scheduled this side of Christmas.  Maybe I'm feeling over sentimental at the moment (Son No.1 just left home for Uni) or more likely I'm acutely aware of the impact this session had on our riders in the early days but either way, a few hours spent at Cyclopark with John Leitch always gives me a warm fuzzy feeling.

The eclectic mix of riders, from the super experienced and successful to total novices turning up for the first time all have one thing in common; they love riding their bikes, and it shows.

Today was great as we had six riders from KVK, three experienced and three totally new.  Toni, Ellen and Hope were representing the old guard, whilst Mathys, Eloise and Joshua were the new kids on the block.  To top a great day off, Christophe sent me these thank you photos for the loan of the club bikes.

Saturday 24th September - Tonbridge to Penshurst Ride Out

Fantastic turnout this morning for our first Ride Out of the new term.  Twenty young riders signed on, with an assortment of parents and volunteers to keep them company.

We split into three groups; Michele took our youngest riders: Franklin, Cayden, Thomas, Dylan, Alex, Leo & Betsy.  The stronger riders went with Calvin: Freja, Dan, Kieran and Joshua.  Everyone else joined me: Oliver, Lucy, Anna, Zara, Rosemary, Caitlin, Eloise, Albert and Fred.

The park was busy with runners when we set off, Calvin left first, followed by Michele, my group left last.  We quickly caught up with Michele as we headed out of the park and into the woods.  The recent good weather means the path is still dry and fast rolling, so before long we had reached Barden Lake.  We formed up to make a large group and were lucky to make it the half a mile along the lane without meeting any traffic.  The next challenge for my group was the steep embankment next to the lake.

 

On top of the world! Great climbing from everyone to make it to the top of Penshurst Hill, Albert seems to be having a nap!

 Everyone got a run up and pedalled hard to make it to the top before whizzing down the other side.  We could see Michele's group behind us now so we pushed on toward Penshurst.  I gave everyone the option of riding to the top of the hill or half way and then set Hannah off first, closely followed by Albert. We met Calvin's group coming back down, and when we reached the halfway point everyone decided to carry on.  Fantastic to see all the riders at the top, relaxing and taking time to refuel.

Back at the park!

Energised by fruit jellies we headed back to Tonbridge Park at top speed and arrived back just within the schedule at 11.25am


Fantastic riding from everyone as usual.  Many thanks to all the parents and volunteers who made it happen.  Next week, we'll be back at Stocks Green, hope to see you then.