Saturday 29th February - All Off Site - Except We Weren't...............

This was the second time in our ambitious four week block that we had to change our plans..............I rode the Penshurst Trail on Friday afternoon, while it was rideable, the standing water and mud pools meant I was really wet thirty minutes in and that was before the rain started, without unscheduled dismounts or a puncture!  By the time I got home I was colder than the last time I swam in Chipstead Lake in January ;-). I knew I had to call it, these are not the sort of conditions that make for a fun bike ride.

So I made the decision to cancel early; Friday night I put the call out to train indoors and send me the photos.  Here's what happened...........

Harry still trained at the Cyclopark Development Centre session - BBBBRRRRRRRR - Chapeau Harry!

Hannah & Iris got their running shoes on..........Iris got a 5km PB 

Ivo was warming up at Redbridge (AKA HoghillI). Note close proximity to Inglis's hamper :-)

It was a tough day out at Hoghill for Ivo, he fought hard in the wind and uphill and just missed a podium spot, finishing fourth.  Hope had a top step sort of day. Woo Hoo!

Back indoors, Alfie showing plenty of commitment (more than the cat)

Oliver, putting his roller skills to good use

Thomas training with tunes.....

Betsy aiming high in Yellow

Albert going full gas

Gareth training to keep up with almost teenage son???

Sunday, indoors at Lee Valley.  It's early but it's warm and dry :-) Ivo, Harry, Lucy & Fin at Club Cluster

Lucy headed off to Hillingdon after the track.  I'm reliably informed that she had a great race, managed to stay in the bunch and finished 2nd Girl.  That's her second, second place in two weeks! Go Lucy!

So all in all a good weekend for all our riders who really wanted to get on their bikes (outdoors or indoors).  Next week we'll be joining other clubs at Cyclopark, Gravesend for Club Cluster.

Saturday 22nd February 2020

It actually seemed windier to me this weekend when I looked out of my window this morning; I decided against packing the feather flag ;-)

A few more riders this morning took us to fourteen in total and lots of enthusiastic parents.  I'd set up a couple of U turn challenges on the playground, so as they arrived, riders got started on these. As riders get fitter and stronger it's easy to overlook the value of including skills in coaching sessions, we try to continue to give our riders the opportunity to practise the basics, we just have to keep making them more difficult!

As planned, we split the riders leaving our oldest and youngest members on sight to work on everything "cornering".  Meanwhile our mid age/size riders headed off site towards the Col de Coldharbour.  I'd warned them there would be mud but they seemed unperturbed.

Everyone made easy work of the climb, use of gears is getting better.  We had a very short stop at The White House, for a readjustment of clothing and a quick drink (note to self need to practise drinking on the go) before heading off down the bumpy track.




 This is where the mud started; once we'd made it through the thick mud on the approach to the five bar gate we had to negotiate a deep puddle, then it was up the hill. We practised our U turns again on the track approaching the chocolate box cottage and threw in a little hill effort before sending James and Hannah off ahead to check out the bumpy field.

Once they'd given us the all clear, everyone headed off down the hill and made it through the gate, through the mud and eventually to the other side of the field.

Refuelling took place at our traditional pit stop area; Jelly Snakes and chocolate Hobnobs were the order of the day.

We managed a bit of team TT format riding on the way home and of course a couple of laps of the pump track in Westwood.  All in all a good morning's bike riding.  Back at Stocks Green, there was just time for a quick photo then everyone headed off for the rest of their weekend.  I'm just waiting for a full report on the coaching session ;-)

Next week the plan is for everyone to ride off site, in small speed/endurance based groups.  Subject to the water levels on the Penshurst trail we will head that way.

15th February, KVK defeats Storm Dennis

Ok so plans had to change this morning; an Amber weather warning and predictions of dangerous gusts meant we decided to keep everyone on site.  Despite it being the first weekend of half term we had our usual enthusiastic bunch of riders, undeterred by the windy conditions.

We kicked off with a Club Run Pairs drill.  We'd split the riders into two groups; the riders working on the smaller playground worked really hard on keeping their group together and there was lots of communication.  On the main playground, the need for speed, eclipsed technique, so a good start but some more work needed!

Tight and tidy, great group riding

Need for speed getting in the way of skill ;-)

We moved onto slow and one handed riding as a warm up for teddy and bottle pick activities.  It was a good job the winds didn't develop as forecast, we would have been chasing bottles around the playground all morning.

Skills like this take a lot practise and there is always a way to make it more challenging, so time sped and it was soon time to move onto some endurance riding.  

We set up a circuit that included a dismount zone and a feed zone, where riders had to take a bottle and deposit it in a box.  Successful riders gained a point for every bottle they managed to land safely in the box.

After 15 minutes, many bottles had been 'picked', some of those made it into the box.  The sludgy surface had caught a few riders out, so there were quite a few muddy leggings about the place too!

Hannah reveals the bottle scores.............

A good test of speed and skill. After 15 minutes these were the scores:

1st Place - Oliver 9 bottles
2nd Place - Bronnie 8 bottles
Joint 3rd Place - Zach & Jess 7 bottles
Joint 4th Place - Fin, Ivo, Wilbur & Fraser 6 bottles
Fifth Place - Alice 4 bottles
Joint 6th Place - Thomas & Ewan 3 bottles

January 2020 - All Systems Go

New Years Day - Madison Cyclocross at Herne Hill

Ivo and Oliver teamed up for the News Year's Day Madison Cross at Herne Hill and bagged a spot on the podium - a great way to start the year.

Saturday 4th January
We kicked off 2020 with a trip to Bedgebury to ride the trails.  It was a small but perfectly formed group of hard core riders.  Apparently the bike washer was out of order, something they only discovered after the ride ;-). It was great to see Calvin back from Uni too.

Meanwhile our Cross Racers were competing at Ardingly......

Sunday 5th January
Club Cluster at Lee Valley Velodrome - a few hardy souls got up for the 8am start, it's always worth it and you can go back to bed later in the day if you get yourself well organised!

Indoor Sessions: replacing an inner tube and indoor training tools
January 11th, 18th & 25th.

We really enjoyed our morning at Ightham Scout Hut, taking wheels in and out and switching over inner tubes.  Jez had our club pressure washer in action.  It gets taken to cyclocross races and makes an appearance at Go Ride sometimes to get the worst of the mud off the kids' bikes before they go home.

Enjoying a workout on turbo trainers

For our second and third session we were at Weald Memorial Hall, trying out turbo trainers and rollers.  Gavin had a great little set up with a darkened part of the hall where he managed to project a training video onto the wall to give our riders a taste of indoor training on a turbo.  It was very popular and a great intro to training indoors.

The rollers were also a great success; we were lucky that Hope could join us for the first session to show us just how good you can get!  Then it was down to practising............

By the second week, everybody had managed to ride unassisted and progress was being made by the minute.  We ended the session with riders lined up across the hall, all riding smoothly, and demonstrating their skills from tentative one handed riding , all the way through to removing a jersey while on the go and riding none handed with just one leg.  All in all a very successful and enjoyable session.

By the end of our second session everyone had made huge progress. 

Hannah nails it with encouragement from Damian

Sunday 26th January London Cyclocross League Round 13 (final round)

Albert, Betsy and Ivo completed the last round of the London Cyclocross League at Redbridge

Weekend 5th & 6th October

It was a busy weekend! We had riders and graduates at all these events/sessions.  I just need to find some photos and fine tune the details!

Club Cluster at Cyclopark - Oliver, Harry & Alfie.  In the company of National Champion Ben Tulett

KVK at Herne Hill Velodrome - 9 kids and 5 adults

Track Club Cluster at Lee Valley Velodrome - Lucy and Harry

London League Cyclocross at Lingfield - Oliver, Ivo, Betsy & Albert

National Cyclocross Derby - Hope

Next Week: Saturday October 12th, we are meeting at Tonbridge Park for our off site ride along the Tudor Trail.

London League Cyclocross at Leeds Castle Kent 29th September 2019

The team today was: Betsy, Ivo, Oliver and Harry. Hope was racing for JRC.

Leeds Castle course is brutal and the weather usually does it's best to match.

Unfortunately I was otherwise engaged so, couldn't stand in a wet, muddy field for 3-4 hours, but hey that's life :-)

Top step for Betsy in the U10 Girls

Full race report to come................in the mean time, congratulations to our intrepid riders; welcome to the fold Harry.

Youth B Boys - Harry 17th
U12 Boys - Ivo 6th, Oliver, 13th
U10 Girls - Betsy 1st

Hope had a great race finishing 1st in the Youth A Girls. Without that white stripe to wash Claire had a great result too ;-)

Next week, Lingfield, if you want to find out more or have a go, talk to one of the team and/or check out the London League website. HERE

Saturday 28th September - Go Ride Kingdom - Good to be Back

It seems like a while since we've been at Kingdom and it was great to see the venue thriving and the site and surrounding roads busy with runner and bike riders, all enjoying being outside on a beautiful autumn morning.

Having said that, we did get off to a slightly slow start; everyone's journey to Kingdom had been delayed by the riders competing in the Hever Triathlon.  I'm really not sure about riding your bike in a swimsuit, but it takes all sorts I guess ;-)

Of course we do have quite a few KVK's taking part in the event; Fin, Zach, Ella, Albert and Betsy (and maybe a few more? Do let me know)

Down at the natural velodrome, Coach Damian giving the riders a de-briefing after our Trains and Stations drill

Tackling corners on a less than ideal surface.

We spent the first part of the session, riding the Start Loop and trying to get the riders dialled in to the surface conditions.  It's been dry and smooth for a long time now at Stocks Green, so the path at Kingdom with it's damp, slightly loose rough surface heightened the need for some good cornering technique.  We practised a lot, which is basically how you get better.

When the riders had finally had enough of that (despite there still being room for improvement ;-)), we headed down to the natural velodrome in small groups.  Once again the surface conditions together with the gradient took a few people by surprise and there were a couple of unscheduled dismounts.

After a quick biscuit break, we divided the riders into small groups and set about getting to grips with Trains and Stations.  This is a tricky drill, once again there is a lot think about, not just riding your bike.

It was good to see the riders getting to grips with working as a team, with lots of good communication going on.

We finished off with Back to Front efforts in teams to the top of Heart Break Hill.  It was a tough session and gives us plenty to work on in the coming weeks.  Well done to everyone who persevered.

Meanwhile, in a field near Milton Keynes.............Ivo re-fuelling after racing cross