This Saturday is the third Saturday of the month, but as is usual in the holidays, we will be running one of our “Family rides” in place of the regular session, so adults can also attend and join us for a ride around the reservoir. Please do remember to bring a drink!
This will be at Grafham where we will ride the 8 mile off road circuit. We will meet in the car park by Grafham Cycling to leave at 10am and there is no charge to attend – just the cost of the car park! We plan to split into probably two groups, one with James and one with Simon.
As I am not around this weekend, there WON”T be an Alconbury session that day. the next Alconbury session will therefore be on 1 March at 2pm.
Previous session
The last session at Hinchingbrooke Park had to be cancelled due to the park being waterlogged. 🙁
At the last afternoon road session at Alconbury Weald, we looked at echelon riding on the main runway. Echelons are used to shelter from the wind when riding in groups and fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on your point of view), there was plenty of wind to shelter from! Some of the younger riders focused on their starting whilst the older ones rode a square trying to shelter from the wind and by the end of the session, we saw significant improvement in the skills being practiced and the communication skills of the riders.
Cyclocross
It was the last cyclocross race of the Eastern League yesterday, 9 February, with CC, Holly and Sophie providing a St Ives CC youth team competing against 15 other teams. The organisers at Mistley had set out a great course, which although quite different to the last round held there, still provided plenty of challenges. After an exciting start that saw plenty of crashes on the first few corners, everyone settled down into a steady rhythm. The youth category covered both U14 and U16 boys and girls so with that kind of competition, the girls battled well to finish 14th overall. Afterwards, Holly picked up her medal at the awards for finishing 3rd overall for the season in the U14 girls, whilst CC and Sophie finished 6th and 8th respectively (out of 14). Well done to all!
More info available, including final league standings are on www.easterncross.org.uk.
Next session
ONE session this weekend on 15th February:
- Mountain bikes: Grafham Cycling at usual time of 10am – 11.30 am
Future dates
1 March: We will be back to 2 sessions again, one at Hinchingbrooke Park (assuming it has stopped raining by then) and one at Alconbury. I may well be on my own so we will need to check in for that as places will be limited to 20.
Membership
You don’t need to be a St Ives CC member to come to St Ives CC Go Ride sessions, but you do need to be a member of the club if you want to race in club kit, including attending time trials. Membership runs from 1 January each year and forms are available in the membership section. There are also other benefits including discounts at Grafham Cycling.
Kit
I have two items of kit remaining in stock – one pair of 146 shorts and a small skin-suit (by small I mean small – definitely U12 or a small U14!). There will be a kit order going in soon so start thinking about requirements for the new season now. There also seems to be a healthy market in second hand kit developing as our riders keep growing so let me know if you are buying or selling!
Upcoming racing
This Friday, 14 February, Malcolm Jacklin at Fenland Clarion is running another of his popular nights of junior Go ride races at The Embankment Athletic Track on Bishops Road, Peterborough. These are suitable for all abilities of riders including novices, and every rider will get a minimum of two races which will be run in age groups. Ideally a bike that is suitable for riding on the grass is helpful. For further details see the British Cycling website, or contact Malcolm on Helen.malc@ntlworld.com.
Also, don’t forget the MSG season starts soon for Mountain bike racing in the Eastern region – check out www.mudsweatgears.co.uk for more info.
If you fancy some road bike racing, we will be hosting two rounds of the six round ERYCS series this year – 14th June will see criterium racing on closed roads in St Ives and we hope to host another round at Alconbury Weald as we did last year.
And finally…
Gearing
A number of people have asked me about gearing for bikes. If you intend to race, U16 and younger riders have to restrict their gears and many bikes, even children’s bikes, do not have the correct gearing when you buy them. This results in gears that are too hard for younger riders to push and furthermore means that you end up having to adjust the gears so that some of the rear sprockets are effectively blanked off, reducing gear choice for the riders.
The solution is to replace the cassette that has the correct gears already in place. Following a request, Grafham Cycling are getting in some 9 speed and 10 speed cassettes with the correct gearing. Call the shop for more information.
