Saturday 4th May 2019 - Kingdom, Penshurst Go Ride

Coaches Jez, Gavin, Andrew and Michele were on hand for today's new slightly later session.  The focus of the day was cornering.  I'm looking forward to hearing all about how they got on and of course seeing some much improved cornering from our riders.  In the mean time here's some pictures to give you an idea of what we do:

Next week, Saturday 11th May we'll be back at Stocks Green in Hildenborough at the usual time, 9.15am sign on for a 9.30am start.

Saturday 27th April - Col de Coldharbour Ride Out

So, as usual we met at West Wood at the pump track.  It was great to see a good turnout of kids and adults; Harry, Reuben, Matthias, Oliver, Ella, Hannah, Hannah, Alfie, Thomas, Zach, Jess,Bronnie and Alice. We split into two groups, but I made the mistake of underestimating Ella's determination to beat her tired legs :-) By the top of the lane, she'd pushed the pace to catch the group ahead.  We were all relieved to see her join the others and settle back into a more relaxed pace!  Great riding Ella!

The rest of us set off, while Calvin's group battled with Harry's pedal, it seems to have a habit of falling off?  We made short work of the remaining section of Col de Coldharbour, returning via the woods and bumpy field, then settling into a good rhythm with a well ordered chain gang back up to the lane.  We were making such good progress we decided to repeat the loop.  By the time we made it round again there were a few spits and spots of rain falling, a great incentive to high tail it back down the lane to the park.

Brilliant riding from some of our younger riders, and hopefully some lessons learnt about pedal threads. Next week we'll be at Kingdom, but at the later time of 10.15am for a 10.30am start.  See you there!

Saturday 20th April - Bedgebury Boars Go Ride Racing

The Boars are a very friendly club and our riders always enjoy their races. The course uses the area around their Go Ride HQ.  I did a few practise laps with Iris, she kept me going through the scary forest!

We had a good little team with Iris, Betsy, Alfie, Oliver, Harry & Albert. Jez and Gavin raced too.  I had to shoot off, so had an excuse this time!  Congratulations to all our riders, who as ever did themselves and the club proud.

The next race is on 18th May, so time to get yourself organised if you fancy a go.
Full details here: https://www.boarsonbikes.co.uk/xc-racing/ or ask one of the team.  We usually meet at Quench around 9.15am to head up to the race start area.

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Iris & Betsy lined up with the U8s

Betsy collecting Iris's medal in the U8 Girls 

After an early unscheduled dismount in the U8's the organisers let Betsy race in the U10's

Betsy won the U10 girls !

Alfie raced for the first time at Bedgebury and finished 7th in the U10's - Great Work Alfie!

Oliver, Harry and Albert all raced in the U12's, finishing, 18th, 11th & 8th respectively

The fun starts for Oliver now as he gets ready to cheer Jez on in his race!

Gareth looking relaxed despite a stressful start to the day!

Just caught a glimpse of Gavin before I had to head off.

Full Results Here: https://www.boarsonbikes.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Final-Result-BFCC-XC-Series-2019-Event-1-20-April-2019.pdf

Next Race: Saturday 18th May

Kingdom Go Ride - 23rd March 2019

One of the things I love about Kingdom is it gives us a chance to try new and different things with our riders. That gives them new and different ways to impress the coaches!

We tried a track drill today down on the natural velodrome.  We split riders into teams of three or four, with two of riders resting 'high' and two racing as a team 'low'.  Throw into the mix the slightly organic nature of the velodrome and the varying abilities and speeds of the groups and the likelihood of this succeeding seemed very low!

Enter the KVK..............it took a while but after a few attempts all the groups managed to communicate effectively and pace their efforts to get their riders working as a really efficient team.

The yellow team got their act together quickly

Close the gap Finn and look behind you Zach!

Calvin seems pleased with part of the session :-)

Happy bike riders

That was the highlight of the session for me.  I think the kids really enjoyed practising pushing another rider up the hill, or maybe I just imagined that :-).

We finished off with a team relay; you can never go wrong with bibs, bells and flags.

Next week we'll be running some more fun racing at Kingdom, Penshurst.

Saturday 16th March - Go Ride Stocks Green

Our first 2019 session back at Stocks Green, total skills attack! This is the playground bit of Playground to Podium/Life Long Bike Rider begins..................we like to think we are pretty good at both ;-)

Sunday 10th March - Herne Hill Velodrome

It was a VERY windy day, you can't see it in the photos, so chapeau to all our riders who battled the wind to stay upright (mostly ;-)).

Coach Josef gives the riders a welcome briefing

Saturday 9th March - Kingdom Go Ride

The focus of this week's session was cornering.  Definitely some photographic evidence that the team stuck to the plan in my absence ;-)

Calm before the storm; one of the perks of being first on the scene.

Coach Gavin showcasing his cornering skills

Ivo and Oliver looking good

Relay Time!

Next Saturday our Go Ride session will be at Stocks Green School, Hildenborough.