Well, well..... three events to fit into a single weekend... wow....
 
Things ran fairly smoothly, I would have said totally smoothly if It hadn't been for the one car that rolled in at Furzefield school, the driver thinking she was  'early' for a 12 noon start only to discover everyone else had been on the go since 11am and we were already at the half-way stage.
 
Never mind.... there was a bonus in that we'd previously agreed one of the road bikes on loan... and in fact they got two (I'm not quite sure how good that is when you've got a squad of not two but three nimble lads to keep under control.... watch this space as they say...there could be a squabblefest.
 
Saturday morning at Preston Park Brighton
 
The Brighton coaches Tony and Andy were all smiles for our fourth visit of the year - probably because I'd turned up with the £36 we took last time when they were all away on a New Forest trip.
 
Preston Park sessions on Saturdays are splendid for all our riders to knit in with an endless selection of their riders of a matching ability, to merge in with others of a similar age and similar skills.
 
The moment of the morning for me was a long exercise that ended in a race and with half a lap to go it was neck and neck between a Palmer Park lad and Louis McLeod who was at least a stone lighter than his opponent.
 
I'd say that the finishing sprint resulted in Louis flying along the fastest he's ever gone in his life.... and unnervingly close to his rival. 
 
He was inched out by less than half a wheel.... but it was what the other lad said that was so lovely.
 
"I tried to dupe Louis into doing too much work on the front in the last lap or so, but he saw through it, so I had to think of something else," he said.
 
 You get a gold mark from me for that, Louis... well done.
 
Furzefield school session -Sunday morning
 
Even though we had 11 riders heading off for Horsham in the afternoon, we still had 18 at Furzefield... four of them down for a double shift.... splendid.
 
It was an easy number for me, I just signed in the masses and let Maria Balbi and David Burnham get on with the coaching.
 
I'd never realised we had so many dads who brought chunks/bits of their bikes along to fiddle about with... I'd say mend but that might be bending reality.
 
And Maria seemed to get mums up and organised more than ever happens with me.... and with younger riders weaving round cones there was a call for all sorts of support.
 
Final race - younger ages - three laps - handicap
 
1 Finlay Willsher
2 Alex Vincent
3 Ellen McLeod
 
 
Final race -older ages - eight laps - handicap
 
1 Elliott Vincdent
2 Louis McLeod
3 Matthew Burnham
 
Go-Race at Horsham - Sunday afternoon
 
Where is it? How do I get there? Well the location took us some tracking down but that didn't stop handfuls of Raiders turning up.
 
I left home at 2.30pm and cycled down and found the relay race in full swing....and lots of happy faces.
 
Another dad takes the plunge - our next coach
 
Stephen Golliker had been about to commit to taking up coaching for a few weeks now and thanks to Saturday's visit to Preston Park, and some insights from their trainee coach Alison, Stephen has taken the plunge.
 
His questison is: anyone know of First Aid courses in the area?
 
Development plan for Raiders
 
If you have anything to say then fire it over this week.... so we can get a meeting set up soon after that.
 
Green Jersey winner: Elliott Vincent for his win in the final race at Furzefield
 
Elliott was on the rack right from the word go as the strong pack who set off last were all elbows and acceleration and it was all of three laps before the two strongest riders in this tussle emerged.
 
Thereafter the pair were battling it out, both convinced they could get the better of the other... and in the end Elliott stylishly romped home first. Well done.
 

Photo: 

Maria's gang find a new direction 16-10-11

Submitted by admin on Wed, 19/10/2011 - 06:07

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Event: 

Raiders session 16 October

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