This Saturday brings us just past the half way point on this term’s Go Ride sessions at Hinchingbrooke.
Last week
The groups (Atherton, Boardman and Cavendish) continues to work well. I took the A’s and James worked with B/C.
A group rode up the far ascent close to the A14, working on some sprint starts whilst making their way over to the car park before descending the long single track where they joined the B/C group. Once at the bottom, we set up a loop such that by the end of the session, riders should be able to ascend in the saddle and descend shallow slopes competently. The key here was understanding the impact made by subtle changes in body position, selecting the right gear before ascent and how to change down gear effectively if you do start to get stuck ascending. We set up a sharp U turn at the bottom of the hill to encourage and spoke about line choice.
At the end, we held two rounds of 2-lap races on the circuit we had set up for the above session, with the fastest time of the two being used to rank riders. Sophie punctured her own bike on the first race, but Sam kindly lent Sophie hers for round 2. Whilst Sophie was fastest in round 1 by some margin, lack of familiarity with her replacement steed slowed her down somewhat in round 2. Sophie’s first round was good enough to give her third place overall but Ryan and Molly really stepped up the pace in round 2 They were very very close, but Molly just edged ahead by 0.1 seconds. Molly and Ryan are both turning into strong riders so I think we will start to work on some longer races in A group to start building up some stamina.
Meanwhile B/C had a shorter ride up the hill away from the base up into the woods, taking a right turn and heading through the car park and down the fast single track. They had some good riding, and noticeably the riders are getting stronger each time and finding the climbs a less of a struggle. Once at the mounds at the bottom of the park, we set up the bottle pass in an open area with the riders taking a circular route and using one straight to collect the bottle from James and then pass it on to Terry and Simon. We had a few spills, but found that we had a vast improvement from many of the riders, especially Emma, and then Dom. Flo struggled at the start, but made a great effort to improve, with Harriet and Poppy doing very well.
We then moved on to the limbo and the riders had great fun, some of them swiping the bar off with the back of their helmet as the looked down, or crashing into the support pole because again they weren’t looking! but improvement was made, with smiles all round, although I will have to say that crash of the day went to Emma with some epic dismounts during the day! x
Rider of the week
Zach rode well, but was without doubt hindered by the limited gear changes available on his bike. His dogged determination to succeed earned him rider of the week in the Athertons this time. Meanwhile in B/C, Poppy really shone out in the limbo, showing fantastic technique and ability, and claiming rider of the week.
Race update
There are a number of Go-Ride races coming up on the calendar, but most are quite some way from us unfortunately. Just in case you are travelling the country, the events can be found on http://www.britishcycling.org.uk/events?…tegory=41.
The next “relatively” local race is on Sunday 26th Feb in Ashby de la Zouch, approx. 80 miles away in Leicestershire.
The next most local is probably the Hinckley Flyers Go Ride MTB XC race (60 miles away) or the Essex Roads event near Basildon (SS15 6EE) which is held on 17th March at 12.45 so currently clashes with the Go Ride session – it would be a bit tight to do both. This would however be a great opportunity to have a go on a closed road circuit as a time trial (where you race against clock to set a fast time) and these results are then used to handicap the riders for a bunch race afterwards. We can talk about whether we could bring the normal session forward and the logistics of doing this on Saturday if enough people are interested. You can compete on any pretty much any bike – it does not have to be a dedicated road bike.
We will be organising our own race later in the year as we did last year at Hinchingbrooke. Meanwhile the Mud Sweat and Gears series (http://www.mudsweatgears.blogspot.com) starts on 1 April 2012 and is more of a mountain bike race.
Next session
As usual, we will meet just the other side of the zip-wire from the cafe, since that gives us some protection from the elements. Please remember to bring a water based drink and a helmet. If this is your first time with James or myself, we will also need a signed parental consent form, copies of which I always have.
We will continue to hold these sessions on the first and third Saturday of the month. Therefore, the proposed dates for the remainder of this term are as follows:
3, 17 March 2012
