Sun, sun, sun.... what a splendid session.
I was planning to venture out onto Furzefield's splendid zone of grass round the back....and had even sent Ben the tank engine to investigate the 'through the saplings run' .....but in the event we never ventured from the tarmac.... though Ben's pre-start foray did come in mighty useful as a new parent and rider spotted him as they stood waiting at 'wrong' entrance and so the sight of Ben helped alert them to the possibility of a second entrance and they duly hunted us out.
 
So welcome to Joshua, aged five, from St Joseph's School. Mum Kate had spotted flyer on the counter in C & N Cycles and ventured forth on the back of that... so many thanks for displaying them Damian....  support from a cycle shop is too good to miss.
 
First session
Kate, having cycled to Furzefield with Joshua, found herself called into action for the first 'warm-up' exercise, leading a train of younger riders, while regular dad Danyel led the 'gee-whiz' group on the larger circuit.
 
I've found the formula that works for this, as you already know.... on the whistle the front rider, immediately behind the parent, pulls to one side, slows and eventually tucks in at the back of the train.
 
Kate's riders followed the plan, but the 'gee-whiz' decided to revert to history and took the whistle as a signal to 'gain a lap' and set of sprinting.... so all in all a glorious muddle... well everyone was smiling and puffing at the end (including the two parents)... a muddle is fine if everyone is happy...are happy... whatever.
 
The slalom-run exercise next was designed to improve confidence at steering.
 
Riders who had been in Kate's team were pitched against the older riders and set the challenge of getting to a finish point first, the balancing-up in terms of fairness being achieved by the younger riders having larger gaps between cones, so they could go faster.
 
The threat, throughout, was a penalty of a two-points deduction for every cone knocked over.
 
After two runs, the teams were on a score of 1-1.
 
The older group were then handicapped further as George Sales had his cones personally tweaked to 'near impossible' status, though even this did little to slow him down and the team were ahead until a mystery rider wreaked havoc...bowling three cones over in a row.... resulting in an outburst of cheering from the youngsters.
 
It's been a few weeks since we did the limbo routine where riders have to go under a bar that gets progressively lower... so the exact opposite to what you see in athletics while watching the high jump.
 
Surprisingly, it was four riders with larger bikes who were left fighting out for the final places... though there was a lot of skills-learning all round as some individuals who had never seen the  technique of ducking down the side of a bike while balancing on one pedal before, went off and tried it in an open space and decided they could do it as well.  Splendid.
 
One basic, however, to do this exercise is to look where you are going rather than put your head down, shut your eyes and point yourself in an over-optimistic fashion at the goal.
 
Twins Callum and Robert got top marks on the destruction scale.
Having seen Robert ride blindly into one post (secured in a plastic dome footing device full of sand), Callum managed to go ahead and beat that.. perhaps it was the call of his Scottish ancestors that resulted in a magnificent U-turn which brought down both posts as his guidance system seemed like it had been hijacked by some mystic towards a northerly point somewhere between Greta Green and John O'Groats... whatever,  it sure brought shrieks from their mum.
 
First session - race for younger ages - handicap start (two groups) - 4 laps
1 Callum Pringle
2 Jasmine Khan
3 Lorna Knight

First session - race for older ages - handicap start (three groups) - 8 laps
1 Jamie Pullen
2 Ben Pullen
3 George Sales
This was a most exciting race as Jonathan Barnes and Catherine Knight looked to have been given too much of a head start and were still well ahead at the halfway stage.. but once Jamie has a full head of steam there's simply no way of stopping him.
 
Green Jersey: awarded to Jonathan Barnes for complete carnage to cones
The emergency wing of the cone hospital has now put the crushed victims back on their feet, thankfully.
 
That one incident apart, it was so good to see Jonathan tackling the various skills challenges, and the racing, with such a smile and enthusiasm. Today we saw a new higher level of competence... it was as if everything has fallen into place and he's happy to mix it with the 'gee-whizz' rider group.... it looks like we've brought out the cyclist in him and (hopefully) have relegated the desire to play football for Chelsea into the runner-up position. Good, good, good... so another Mark Cavendish in the making, I think.
 
John               
 
(PS: I'm still hoping for news of the two missing Green Jerseys... who has them??)

Photo: 

Pringles - tasty skills

Submitted by admin on Mon, 26/07/2010 - 21:09

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Event: 

Raiders session 25 July

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