Even the December weather couldn't dampen spirits on Sunday too much...... we even had one rider at Cyclopark in shorts despite her dad having full-length tights available in the car.... his daughter however said she didn't feel the need to wear them. Wow. There was quite a bit of wind but being dry was the main thing.
That said, I did one exercise where riders had to lift a bottle from the top of one box while riding past, then place it on a second box. At times the wind sent the boxes themselves skating along the tarmac surface, plus the bottles standing upright (in theory) had a desire to tipple over.
Despite all that we managed. We had a couple of riders who arrived at Cyclopark muddy as they had already been in action earlier in the day, they had done a cyclocross racing event down at Deal. One dad said that as they were on their way back to Hillingdon, they may as well stop on the way home.
A big thank you for that. Bee Gregory started on the 'London end' loop with the younger element and I kicked on the 'velodrome' loop with the older group. I've at last found a way to explain what is meant by the instruction 'up a gear' and 'down a gear'.... it came from another coach. So I got Dauphin Cycles to donate me a used back-wheel sprocket set and by holding it upright just like a Christmas tree I could/can explain what 'up' and 'down' means with zero confusion. Well not quite. I shouldn't get carried away.
Riders rode individually, changing gear according to the number I held up on a board in the centre of the circle. I reckon my maths was good and that they should end up each time when we re-grouped in the same gear as they started, that is to say in the middle of the block of gear.
Out of close on 20 riders, the first time we paused we had just three who put their hand up.... though several others couldn't remember which gear they had picked in the first place (perhaps the cold had been getting to their brains after all). The 'taking-half-a-lap' exercise to catch onto the back of the 'train' ahead was fine for the stronger riders, but one the younger ones got into the wind it was a tad too hard, so we switched to group riding instead and had four blocks numbering four to six riders in each, most with a couple of adults in attendance. That worked splendidly.
Some of the stronger riders stayed on the front all the time, as a pair, while in other groups there was a match of ability and a chance to rotate positions. There was some lovely close slipstreaming/sheltering while some groups travelled along the side of the oval loop where the headwind made things tough.
After the first hour, our lot moved onto the 'London end' loop we did a six-minute exercise where the entire mass of riders were trying to clock a large tally of total laps. We hit about 250 in six minutes. There was an uphill stretch and a downhill stretch, a passing side and a 'squeeze' side, so quicker riders learnt that they had to take the opportunity to overtake at suitable moments. I did wonder, the next time we do it, about asking for Specsavers for sponsorship money as the cones in the squeeze section went tumbling..... but slowly people got their eyes into better focus. Well done. Even some out-of-the-saddle riding on the uphill.
Next Session: Sunday 4 January starting at 1pm again. Other things - 1 On that date in January you can donate unwanted Christmas puddings into a box marked 'For John' and I will find them a good home even though I am an unregistered charity. Other things - 2 Here's a little something to inspire some of the mums who might be in need of a push to get on a bike....the lady you will see is called Lilly.
Don't expect this at Power Pack, mind.... I don't think British Cycling approves of us coaches having children cycling round in circles while holding their handlebars above their heads, separate from the rest of the bike.... something to do with bike checks... But there's nothing to stop Kent Velo Girls putting it on their own agenda. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQBbHzypBro All the best.