Session: Sunday 7 October 2018
We got ourselves back on track with the weather and it was sunshine all the way.
The younger group had the place to themselves as coaches Sean and Paul harnessed all the older riders, plus a smattering of eager pilot fish (that is to say parents with a bike), and went off in search of the missing princess.
She is rumoured to be locked in one of the rooms in Earlsfield Palace.
Welcome to two new riders: Hugh Graves (aged six) and his older brother Edward (aged eight). Dad has already got them nicely immersed in cycling… well done that man.
I was coaching the youngsters and first off was the limbo challenge... lots of ducking and diving as the bar came lower and lower.….. and blind faith as one or two put their head down and aimed themselves in the general direction of Wembley stadium or was it America.
Anyway well done Louisa Trewinnard our winner... it shows that sometimes being aged just four and having the smallest bike can be an advantage.
Next we moved on to riding in a straight line, the first choice being either a wide path or a narrow path. The second choice was riding one-handed or two. Well done everyone... lots of progress there.
Results from the time spent in the stop box:
7.9secs - Edward
7.0secs - Alex
6.7secs - William
6.4secs - Luke
5.7secs - Hugh
4.0secs - Louisa
1.5secs - Thomas
Final race - young group, youngest riders, 2 laps handicap
1 Thomas
2 Louisa
3 William
Final race - young group, older riders, 3 laps handicap
1 Edward
2 Hugh
3 Luke
That was a close-run race, with Edward setting up a four-bike-length lead early on and still holding half of it as he came down the hill for the last time. But Hugh made a big push for the finish line and it would have been a dead-heat if there had only been another couple of metres to the finish as Hugh was coming up fast.
Next session at Canon: Sunday 21 October.