This Saturday is the third Saturday of the month, so Go Ride is on at Hinchingbrooke this Saturday between 10.00 am and 11.30 am – please note that as mentioned last time, there is NO session at Alconbury.
Previous session
At Hinchingbrooke we covered skills including riding across a balance beam and bottle pass, whilst at Alconbury we focused on sprinting, ending with a timed 50m sprint from a standing start. The 50m sprint exercise is driven by requirements for riders aspiring to attend BC Regional School of Racing (“RSR”) sessions in the future 2015, when we will have an increasing number of U16 and second year U14 female racers in the group.
Given the increased demand for limited places on RSR, BC have published guide times for a number of exercises, to help determine whether riders are ready for RSR. This involves gold, silver and bronze targets in 50m sprint times from a standing start, maximum speed on a roller rev out, a 10 mile TT on rollers and a 1 km dustbin, where riders have to complete an 8 lap figure of 8 circuit.
MTB
Holly and Molly have been accepted onto the first MTB RSR of 2014, to be held at Codham Park this coming Saturday, 15 March. This is ahead of the first Mud Sweat and Gears event of the year, to be held at Rendlesham Forest on Sunday 16 March. Rendlesham Forest is a new venue for MSG so all the racers are looking forward to this. Check out http://www.mudsweatgears.
Road circuit
CC, Holly and Molly attended a road circuit RSR at Kent cyclopark on 18th February, where I assisted. Over the course of a very full day, they covered c. 50 miles in close group riding, attacking, cornering and braking, ending off with a workshop on how to look after and maintain the bike.
We have agreed to host one round of the ERYCS race series at Alconbury again this year, to be held on 16th August. We will also have youth racing at the St Ives crit race on 14th June as part of that series. Both will have U8, U10, U12, U14 and U16 categories and as Alconbury was represented well last year (see my previous reports for details), it would be great to get even more red jerseys out there this year.
The St Ives crit race will be very exciting to either watch or participate in so I would love to get a good turnout for these too. Both are available to enter now on the British Cycling website
Next session
ONE session this weekend on 15th March:
Mountain bikes: Hinchingbrooke Park at usual time of 10am – 11.30 am. As it is getting warmer, its even more important to remember to bring a drink!
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 in the membership section. There are also other benefits including discounts at Grafham Cycling.
Kit
A kit order is just being prepared so going in soon so let Mick Hodson know soon if you need anything – details are on the club kit page.
Upcoming racing
This Friday, 14 March, 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.
Gearing
As I mentioned last time, 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 now have the 9 speed and 10 speed cassettes with the correct gearing in stock. Call the shop for more information, or drop me a line.
Mountain bike sell off
We are selling a number of our mountain bikes to be able to reinvest. James has posted details of these on the St Ives CC forum so please check this out of you need to buy a new bike! Before you ask, the club Luaths are not for sale but Holly’s Luath 700 is if you want a road bike for age 11-13.
And finally…
The Grand Depart trophy has been doing the rounds in recent weeks. I hope to see photos in the local papers this week as a result.
