Latest fortnightly session at Canon on the various levels of the car-parks that run up the hillside.
Up on the top deck, the younger group ran to quite a circle when we played musical chairs…. when their number was called the challenge was to complete a circle and touch their cone again before the others who were also on the move…. sometimes just two, but then three or four at once.
Once everyone had mastered the concept we progressed to the format you have at parties, so always one cone less than the number of surviving riders. It always generates chaos and confusion.
A second exercise saw riders completing a short circuit which included a round-house where they had to go inside, loop round a central pillar, then exit again.
The entrance and exit were the same spot, barely the width of a bike, so once we moved up to riding in groups of three and then four, it called for lots of communication so that riders coming out were aware of riders coming in.
We lacked padded pillars for the entrance and exit, and also for the central pillar, so three parents kindly stepped forward and took the brunt of several mishaps on their shins…. though the payoff was the pleasure of managing the flow of riders (one in, one out) so that at least their youngsters went home unscathed.
Final race – younger group, youngest riders, four laps handicap.
1 Henry
2 Hannah
3 George
Final race – younger group, older riders, seven laps handicap.
1 Jack
2 Isabel
3 Blake
The second race was especially good to watch as Blake, off first, managed to hold everyone off bar two…. and Jack and Isabel were neck-and-neck on the final lap.