Hope you all had a great summer and enjoyed some of this fine weather out on your bikes if you weren’t watching the Olympics and Paralympics – both fantastic events that have indeed lived up to inspiring a generation.
I’m dead excited to get back to this as we had ANOTHER great result last weekend at the Tour of Britain. We were delighted to be invited by British Cycling to compete and St Ives Cycling Club U12 girls took a silver medal at the British Cycling Go Ride racing at the first stage of the Tour of Britain, which finished in Norwich Showground on Sunday. The team of Sophie Saberton, Holly Hoy, Sam Harding and Lotty Wylde placed the second fastest time against five other teams from the Eastern region, finishing only a fraction behind Colchester Rovers CC. The medals were awarded by Nigel Mansell, president of Team UK Youth and former F1 World Champion. Good, eh? As the only all girl team, they did a fantastic job against some strong competition and did the club proud!
I was on the course helping and the noise and support from the cycling fans was just immense. All the riders from all teams handled the pressure of racing in front of an adoring crowd incredibly well and it was great for them to receive their medals from such a huge name on the main podium.
Race update
Cyclocross season is starting to get into full swing now. With courses fairly similar to our Hinchingbrooke Park circuit used for the MTB race, but with a few more hills, it is great fun and good value racing throughout the winter. You don’t need a special bike to race – you can use a regular mountain bike – and a few races are relatively local to us here. This Sunday, 16th September, there is an Eastern League race in Chelmsford but Ashwell (just down the A1) is on 29 September. There is also a race at Grafham later in the year hosted by St Ives CC. More info can be found here.
There are other races too, as close as Shefford and Peterborough. Keep an eye on upcoming events on British Cycling’s website here and let me know if you are entering any – we love to know about what our riders are up to.
This weekend
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.
Please remember to bring a helmet and water based drink with you!
We will continue to hold these sessions on the first and third Saturday of the month. Therefore, the proposed dates for the 6 sessions this term are as follows:
September 15
October 6, 20
November 17 (nothing on November 3rd as half term)
December 1, 18
See you Saturday!
