Yesterday’s blast was our last one for the term..... and it was a warm summer'sday….. just what you want for a Raiders’ session on a Sunday.
The first challenge for the older group was the ‘prisoner and guards’ exercise where all they have to do is guard a prisoner once round the block and all the way to prison without letting him/her escape.
Picture three lines of riders, three riders in each line so nine riders in all…. the one in the dead centre is the prisoner, identified by prisoner clothing. Everyone wants to be the prisoner so they can try to escape.
As long as the front three ride with their handlebars close together there is no escape to the front. As long as the rider on each side of he prisoner keeps their front wheel close to the one ahead there is no escape to the side.
So containment should be easy, yes?
No. I’m not sure where today’s guards came from but they were leaking prisoners like a sieve. First Henry escaped, then Isobel escaped, then Luke escaped…. but there was lots of advice flying about between riders…. a bit like listening to a gang of kids at a birthday party.
Next came limbo…. and one where the oldest riders on the biggest bikes are going to struggle against the youngest riders on the smallest bikes. The star had to be Alex Fraser who managed to get under the bar when it was only the thickness of a ice-cream wafer higher than his handlebars, thanks to being able to squeeze himself down one side of his bike, balancing with just one foot on a pedal…. sort of like the invisible man.
Final race – older group, younger riders, three laps, handicap
1 Thomas
2 Hannah
3 Olivia
Final race – older group, older riders, five laps, handicap
1 Isobel
2 Oli
3 Teddy
Richard's report for the small/middle Group
Today’s session focused on balance, coordination and bike position to help navigate corners and a slalom course in a controlled way.
Looking at moving body weight forward, back and from side to side to help steer the bike around the slalom course, all the children really embraced the session and worked on these skills.
The session ended with a fun, fast and high paced hounds and hares race where Danny showed a great turn of speed to catch the hares. However, star turn goes to Louisa who finished the session by doing a racing dismount from her bike.