Hi everyone
We had lots of handshakes and 'Happy New Year' moments yesterday... plus a glorious break in the weather which resulted in dry tarmac from start to finish which meant we could do tight cornering and bike weaving at speed..... with a couple of riders even stripping down to short-legged trousers... I never expected that.
Also, we had a surge of newcomers.
Spencer Harradine, lead coach and by definition the man with the biggest foot at Big-Foot club, had stirred his mob into action big-time and we had loads of them on parade, from several pip-squeaks up to 18-year-old Michael Chambers who had come expecting to watch/help but who got thrown in at the deep end and became a participant... well done Michael.... I think the realisation of what he could do when he pushes hard was totally new.
The flag-flying for Power Pack has also gone down a treat at Charlotteville CC (thank you people) as we also had a barrel-load of new faces from the Guildford region... I guess you'll all be pleased when the M25 'squeeze' section is finally complete.
Among the Charlottevilles was Kikki Webb, aged eight, who came for the first time.... dad's email having highlighted her ambition to ride in the Olympics.... well Kiki we all take an extra delight when we see Joanne Rowsell, originally from Sutton Cycling Club, appearing on the tv.... she's now a gold medal holder and world record holder.... so there must be something in the local air.
And a final special mention to 'Mr Keen as Mustard' 11-year-old Andrew McNaughton (Dorking Raiders) who was there waiting for the 1pm start after competing in a cyclo-cross race in the morning over at Farnham.
Bee Gregory (coach) was in action to sift the riders into two groups.
My lot (the older ages) were on the 'velodrome' loop for the first hour and after a couple of brief handicap races to calm everyone down, we had six minutes of madness on the home straight using only a 60m long stretch..... one side was a slalom run and the return side was for overtaking.
After two trial individual laps everyone was off the leash and the group's total lap score reached 160 but with deductions for each cone knocked over it could have been 180.... the good news was that the overtaking zone brought out some gloriously powerful accelerations and some good tight cornering skills. Well done everyone.
Bee had been talking about an Italian pursuit exercise she had done recently with one of her own groups so I thought I'd pinch the idea and do the same..... so two strings of nine riders with an engine (adult) on the front so they picked up speed a half-lap apart before the whistle blew.
The rule was the rider on the front does a lap and then pulls off.... so the string slowly reduces in number.... and gets faster.
Riders had to rank themselves in order of ability so that no-one was being shelled out.... I noticed one team staying much closer together (big slipstreaming value there) when the teams were down to just four..... they looked most impressive.
My group moved onto the bendy 'London end' loop for the final hour and worked on cornering at speed..... riders were set the challenge of freewheeling the furthest up the hill after an 80m sprint..... the acceleration process was complicated by the fact that the 80m included two right-angle bends.
You guys were really good by the end... the lift in confidence was noticeable... the correct pedal was high, the hands were on the drops.... and by the end four riders had reached the 'top of the hill' marker cone... well done.
And so to the sumo exercise... well my version is more of a washing machine exercise with an inlet spout.
The Charlotteville lot (the lads that is) had gone ballistic about Alice, one of their number, warning me that that she hacks people down.... so like a good coach I fed riders into the ring one at a time until we finally reached the Boadicea moment.
The gate opened and the knife-wielding chariot was launched into the fray at long last and what happens?
Alice is the star.... she uses the uphill to advantage and simply track-stands at an angle and the lesser mortals have to give up.... this is all on a slope and not the usual flat surface you should know.
Next session - Sunday 2 February 1pm to 3pm
With the message to parents who weren't sure about coming with their bike yesterday and joining in.... do please give it a go next time.... remember as they get faster we need you to get faster too.
Cycling Nuts 2014 - a couple of snippets of news
The circuit is booked for Sunday afternoon on 5 October.
I've taken an extra hour so we can finish the adults at 6pm rather than 5pm..... the knock-on is that as well as separate races for girls and boys in the U8 and U10 we will manage that also for the U12 category.
And prompted by a suggestion from Kary Greer there will be an extra £100 prize for the club that has most entries in the children's classes, that is to say the overall tally from the U8 to the U16 group.... which should encourage the likes of Big-Foot and the rest of you clubs to get enthusiasm building through the summer.