By John Leitch
Posted: Monday, November 1, 2021 - 17:11

Hi everyone

Up on the top level of the empty car-park at SCC Woodhatch there was steady sunshine for the session on Sunday…. but quite a mass of wet leaves.

Automation might be progressing fast but it has yet to give us a robot with a stiff broom for sweeping the corners clear, so thanks to coach Peter Loader for turning up with a brush to do just that, getting the surfaces into a drying-out mode.

Coach Tom Griffiths was lower down the hill with the middle group while Sean Lamberth had the big cheeses on the basement floor.

The smallest nippers with me had to rustle up their parents to share in the activities as we kicked off with four different ‘run and ride’ challenges.

A couple of versions involved parents holding their bikes ready, so when the whistle got the kids running towards them, the bikes were ready to mount (the quicker the better) and race towards the finish line.

In the other variation, the kids were parked up in a line, already on their bikes and ready to go, but that could only be when their parents had tagged them…. the gasping got louder as the distance for their run increased (not that the kids seemed to mind).

Next up was a pedalling challenge.

One at a time, riders rose off, the faster they accelerated the better through the pedalling zone, but when they hit the freewheeling zone it was a case of carrying that speed on to the corner and then up the hill… before finally coming to a stop… the challenge being to see who had got the furthest.

A timed challenge for pairs of riders on an obstacle course went down well, as fastest times tumbled…. the gap between Alice and Oliver Holah and their nearest rivals Henry Scarlett and Harley Woodward narrowed to just two seconds. Well done.

Final race – youngest group, two laps, handicap start.

1 Henry Scarlett
2 Harley Woodward
3 Oliver Halah