Saturday 18th March Go Ride & Youth Ride, Sunday 19th Power Pack at Cyclopark

Go Ride
We've entered a new phase; with our founding riders and those that followed shortly after established as skillful bike riders, it's time to start on the next generation.  It's back to basics and time to provide lots of opportunities to practise skills and gain fitness.  Today it was all about slow and controlled riding, sometimes with one hand.

We kicked off with an old favourite "squares".  Riders have to negotiate a square of cones, passing their front wheel outside the cone and then their back wheel inside.  We set up a variety of different sized squares and before long everyone was having a go.  That was just a little skills exercise.............

Our warm up activity was another one of my old favourites, I call it "mirror", it's an oval circuit with a channel running through the centre.  Riders set off in pairs down the channel, diverging at the end and rejoining at the other end.  The idea is to keep an eye on your partner, match their speed and re-enter the channel at the same time.  We added in high fiving as an intro to one handed riding, before moving onto monster bottle pick.  That's the same as normal bottle pick but with bottles and teddies and sticks and off the box, off the floor etc etc etc.  The thing is just to keep trying new things, harder things, different things.  All the time improving control, just not really noticing.

We needed a break from skills so we had a biscuit - picked up from a helper/box of course, before moving onto our endurance challenge; 15 minutes continuous riding with a few lumps and bumps.  Just something to get the blood pumping before our final team challenge.

We finished off with team challenge bottle pick, I remember that because my team won and we definitely did not cheat (well that's my story and I'm sticking to it).

Another great session watching our brilliant riders become better and fitter bike riders, doesn't get much better than that ;-).

Youth Ride
Moving swiftly on, just a few Youth Riders today (KVRT were racing at Lee Valley), I had to turn Dan away as I was short on adults (partly because it was KVG training camp week).  Nevertheless, Luke, Hope and Eloise joined myself and Christophe on a 16 mile loop called "Kite"; lots of tail and just a small diamond kite at the top.  It was sunny, we were on our bikes, no tears, no punctures, it doesn't get much better than that ;-) (hold on I've already said that once about today).

 It was a good day, the only bad thing that happened was that the automatic gate at school wouldn't shut when I left :-(.  Never mind, it's not a bike riding thing so nothing to worry about.

Ready to head back down the Col de Mote

Sunday 19th March - Power Pack at Cyclopark
Looks like everyone had a good time at Power Pack today, both our club Isla bikes got an outing,  Christophe sent me these photos.

Saturday 11th March - Go Ride & Youth Ride

BC Luke came to visit us today.  He used to be our regional Go Ride coach but he is now our Regional Development Manager.  He came along to see what we were up to, I think it's fair to say he was pleased with what he saw.

We had a good turnout with twenty riders signing on for Go Ride.  We ran 'thread the needle' as a warm drill, which was ambitious given the number and mixed ability of the riders.  It worked well with only one small blip, with two riders down but no serious injuries or damage, so everyone was back up and riding in no time at all.  

We moved onto the main focus of the session which was cornering.  We split into two groups to practise some mini cornering circuits individually and in pairs.  After a quick break we ran an Australian Pursuit on the grass circuit which saw some fierce head to head competition towards the end and some excellent dynamic planning in the form of course shortening from Calvin.

Luke joined Polly, Ellen, Dan, Hope, Eloise, Malcolm
 Christophe and Myself on a sunny ride.

We ended up with some team shuttle relays on the playground before tidying up and getting ready to ride off site with the older riders.  We all rolled out together, but had to stop quite quickly for our first puncture.  We watched as Christophe set about replacing his inner tube, Hope and Eloise helpfully timed him.  We sent Luke, Malcolm, Dan, Ellen and Polly ahead.

The route took us out along the Causeway and up past Bore Place to Bailey's Hill.  This was Eloise's first ride on the road with us, but I'd been reliably informed she was bike fit so it seemed like a good idea to give her a challenge.

Before long we started to longish climb to the top of Bailey's and both girls managed well.  We stopped briefly to catch our breath before pushing on towards the summit.

'helping' Christophe with his puncture

It was a relief to reach the top, especially with the promise of a mostly downhill return journey.  We lost Christophe on the way home with another small mechanical, but he was managing well when we returned to find him.  All in all a good ride and an especially good first Youth Ride for Eloise.

Eloise and Hope at the top of Bailey's Hill 

Thursday 9th March - London Youth Track League

Warming up for the last London Youth Track League event of 2016/2017

What happens to Kent Velo Kids when they grow up?  U14's who want to race can join our Kent Velo RT, the kit uses the same colours as the KVK but has a racier look and fit.  Polly, Toni and Ellen are all racing for Kent Velo RT in 2017.  Hannah has now joined LivAWOL as a Junior, but still rides with us from time to time.

Once they are fourteen our members can start the British Cycling Young Volunteer programme and go on to help out at club sessions and pursue coaching qualifications if they wish.  Calvin is currently our most active Young Volunteer, regularly working with riders at Go Ride and helping out with off road ride outs.  We can occasionally tempt him out on the road and he was recently spotted at the Velodrome!

Our older riders are one of the club's greatest assets; they inspire the young riders and keep the adults on their toes.

Saturday 4th March Go Ride & Youth Ride

Go Ride - I had a slight feeling of deja vu as I loaded the van on Friday night with all the equipment for the session I'd planned for a few weeks earlier; one that I had to cancel due to extremely low temperatures, but hey, it's a good core workout moving those planks ;-) and I knew Calvin would be pleased to see all his favourite props.

Super low riding from Jacob

Ewan needs to get a bit lower!

Calvin has this under control..........

Super out of the saddle riding from Ewan

Obstacles are not problem for Joel

The focus of the session was riding over varied terrain and trying to get riders to get out of their saddles to gain better balance and handling over obstacles.  We started with some gliding practise, leading onto superman poses.  Several of the riders really embraced the idea of getting off their saddles and getting their backs low and flat, it's not easy so every little improvement is a big achievement.  Next we split into two groups, with the older riders working on Post Office Queue with Calvin and the younger riders using the lumps and bumps and the end of the field with a limbo thrown in to encourage them to move around a bit.  When we'd got the hang of that we swapped over and I took the older riders up to the end of the site to practise rolling off the stage, and getting the feel of the effect of moving their body weight when tackling drop offs.

Everyone lending a hand on the obstacles

Concentration...........

Izzy Looking perfectly balanced

During the biscuit break an impromptu limbo competition materialised, with a perfectly orderly queue forming around the playground, it was quite a sight!  It gave Calvin and Luke a chance to set up some wooden obstacles on the main playground.  Once that was done we set the riders off on a giant circuit taking in natural lumps and bumps of the site, the Post Office Queue and of course the planks, ramps and see-saws.  It was all hands on deck as our youngest riders approached the obstacles with a total lack of fear.

All in all a good session; lots of progress made on confidence and handling and plenty of good riding on show throughout the session.  Thanks to all our riders, coaches and volunteers for contributing to a fun morning.

Youth Ride - Luke, Dan and Nico all joined me for a 30k ride,  a shortened version of one of our favourite routes; Castle Chaos.  It was a smooth ride, with no complications, so well done boys excellent riding.

Next Week Saturday 11th March: Go Ride at Stocks Green School. Sign on from 9.15am
Youth Ride 11.30am Please contact me to sign on - road bikes only

Saturday 25th February - Ride Out - Col de Coldharbour

Michele, Calvin and Claire took charge today as Damian and I were at Newport Velodrome with Toni and Polly.  They went for a tried and tested formula; meet at the park, go for bike ride, come back to play at the pump track.  No need to re-invent the wheel ;-)

Words by Claire, pictures from Michele:

In the end we had three good groups made from 15 young riders and lots of adult helpers. The weather was overcast and a little chilly but everyone was enthusiastic about getting out. The fast group raced off first and had already completed their first loop by the time the middlies made it to sweety time at the top of the hill. They dashed off for another loop as well as going up and down the hill before making their way back to the pump track. Meanwhile, the middle group were relishing the off road riding. The young riders sought out all the muddiest patches of the path and the field although not all the adults followed their example. We finished the loop more quickly than expected so also had time for the path up and back before returning. The youngest group had a difficult start with a mechanical problem for Dylan but they were able to salvage it so that he could continue with the ride. They made good progress and were the first to arrive back to play on the pump track

Saturday 18th February - Puncture Repair

As usual the day we have an indoor venue the outside weather is very clement!  We were low on numbers for the session; quite a few of our members seem to still be on holiday but this meant more one to one tuition on removing wheels and tyres and replacing tubes.  

Hope gives Dan a hand with a tricky tyre

Added to this a few challenges including the "quick tube change" and memory game made for a very relaxed morning and a good chance to catch up and sample the delightful baking brought along by the riders.

Jez also had a go at riding the rollers, we look forward to hearing about your progress Jez.

Fining holes in inner tubes needs good hearing!

Saturday 11th February & Sunday 12th February

Saturday - Winter mornings are hard work, so in an attempt to get ahead I diligently packed the van on Friday evening, including some planks and see saws which are always popular.

It was dry when I woke up but a quick check on the outside thermometer comfirmed it was 1 degree, and with a chilly wind, feeling glacial.  With a heavy heart I cancelled our Go Ride session, sometimes it is just too cold for even the hardiest of riders. All I had to do then was unload the van!  That serves me right for being organised.

Sunday - Club Cluster at Lee Valley Velopark

Polly, Toni and Calvin made it up early on Sunday for the Club Cluster session at Lee Valley, once again I seem to be low on photo evidence.  Working from memory, Calvin gave us all a slight fright by not quite slipping down the banking on his first lap round the track.  To be fair he hasn't ridden the track for a while, but as the King of slow riding he held it together well and we all breathed a huge sigh of relief. The session focussed on omnium events and included riding behind a human derney and a individual TT.

It doesn't seem to matter how early you have to get up or how many times you've been here before the velodrome is still a magical place, must be a little bit of all those Olympians spirits in the air.

To take part in on of these session you need to 12 years old and belong to a Go Ride club e.g KVK.  Sessions get booked up very quickly so you need to book on as soon as they become available.

Details of upcoming dates to follow.

Ellen, Polly, Toni and Hannah all gained track skills and experience at Go Ride Cluster sessions, they are all now racing regularly at Lee Valley