Sunshine means riders get out onto grass.... and go ducking under arches

Submitted by Johnl on Tue, 20/04/2010 - 09:01
Raiders session 18 April

 

Sun, sun, sun.... shorts in profusion.... no winter tops any more... no whole-hand gloves for warmth..... instead it was riders needing extra stops to drink water and cool down. So it's spring.
 

We had three parents on bikes (and a fourth who said he'd bring his the next time round - please do).

 

With the grass now moving away and the ground so dry, we moved onto the field for the first two exercises.

 

For the first of these the three parents were the foxes and the riders, with the advantage of a smaller circuit to cover, chased them down but never quite caught them (though one was sneakily missing out on riding round one of the trees).
 

The archway of saplings was a splendid second challenge... it's a case of keeping the head down to duck under to top of the arch while steering in a straight line to avoid the tight line of young tree shoots at each side. Panic got the better of several riders, even those with narrow handlebars.
 

The surprise moment was when a dad (never seen before on a bike) decided there was enough room for rugby-sized parent to get through the archway (albeit on a child-sized BMX) and burst forward onto the scene. It seemed like mission impossible... but he made it.... a customer for Redhill Cycling Club perhaps.... perhaps they could start running rugby-on-bikes events.
 

Back on the tarmac riders lined up in two teams and the challenge was for each pair was to walk/run along pushing the bike with just one hand... placed on the saddle.
 

As a coach, it was really good to notice that several younger children (with heavier mountain bikes to handle) who started out quite uncomfortable with the knack of balancing their bike in this fashion made rapid progress.... I think it was simply a case of seeing others manage, believing it to be possible and then matching what they saw.
 

If you were one of this group then you get a big 'well done' verdict from me as your progress was excellent... I thought it was the highlight of the day.
 

We tried a 'Le Mans' style start for the second time... and again I was struck by how big the cheer was for this.... it's not so much for the half-lap bike race element (I suspect) but rather the wacky start.... the run to the bike and the muddle to get on it and then get up to speed.
 

The first run was fine except that as Alex was making his way back to the start another rider cut across him at right-angles and flattened him. I doubted whether he'd have enough confidence to try again, but I was wrong. Despite the numerous scrapes Alex was up for more and with the glory of a personal three-second start (while everyone else waited for the second whistle) he was up and off pedalling and full of smiles while the rest still scrabbled for their machines.
 

First session - younger ages 5-lap handicap race

1 Christian Bright
2 Lilly Sales
3 Ben Radford
4 Jonathan Barnes
 

First session - older ages 8-lap race
 

1 George Sales
2 Jamie Pullen
3 Ben Pullen
 

Green Jersey awarded to Christian Bright, winner of the first handicap race.
 

This was a fascinating battle as Lilly went away first with a half-lap start and for the first three of the five laps she was holding her advantage at just that - half a lap - no-one had gained an inch and big brother Will's supporting shouts were getting louder and louder.
 

At that point it could have been that the chasers gave up but no, Christian decided it was possible and he kept battling on. The outcome was less than certain almost until the end.
 

(Also a big well-done to Ben and Jonathan as they were virtually side-by-side for the entire race and even coming out of the final corner it was not clear who would finally pip the other to the line)

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