Half term report DAY 2 - Woodcote Go Ride sessions

[huw williams]

Half term – Go Ride report, Woodcote High, Coulsdon

[size=150]Day two – mountain biking[/size]
Word must have got around that yesterday’s sessions were a lot of fun because everyone came back for day two and I even had four new faces. The second day is always better because a lot of the basic racing skills are in place and the kids can get straight into racing.

Today I built a two minute per lap mountain bike course around the perimeter of one of the school playing fields – so we had a sprint start across the tarmac leading into a grass bank which immediately became a twisting singletrack section. It then opened out to allow some overtaking places before another long section of singletrack with a technical drop off back into the playground for a thrash round the tarmac to complete a lap.

Firstly you run the kids in a long, single snake for a couple of laps so they get to know the course then you teach them the individual components needed to be able to race it. Most important is the start where you emphasise the importance of getting to the singletrack first so no-one can pass you and your safely ahead of any crashes in the pack behind. I have first hand experience of the value of this. The Cheddar Challenge used to feature the wildest start in mountain bike racing – a big wide field strung riders across the start line meaning there were about 50 riders on the front row of the grid with about three rows of 50 each behind. At the other end of the field was a five-bar-gate width gap in a barbed wire fence. I got in the pen early one year, got a great start went through the gate in about 4th and there was a massive pile-up crash just behind me in the bottle neck. The sound of tangled metal and cursing riders slowly faded as five of us disappeared up the hill and rode away to finish on the podium virtually unchallenged.

Teaching this to kids is one of the funniest things you’ve ever seen. You just put a pair of plastic bollards, one bike-width apart at one end of the playground and two riders at the other, say “last one through is a sissy” – stand back and watch the carnage unfold. If you think that’s funny it gets better when you progress to putting three riders on the line, then four then five and so on until you get the whole group of 30 kids careering towards a 36” gap at breakneck speed trying to be first through.

Next you teach them the importance of looking up when riding singletrack – most want to look at the front wheel and hit every obstacle on the course, then how to put their weight over the back for descending and anticipating gear changes and so on.
Finally its race time where they have to put it all together.

Race 1
Mayhem ensues as everyone from the smallest girls to the largest boys become foaming-at-the-mouth tigers in pursuit of prey. They tear across the tarmac, hit the grass bank at ill-advised speed and at least four of the first eight riders suddenly have to adopt a skill they haven’t been taught, namely how to land a bike from a situation where it’s inadvertently in the air. Most overshoot the runway careering sideways off the course in the first bend. Behind there is a twisting, tangled melange of steel, rubber, pony-tails and bad attitude as everyone blames everyone else for various infringements. The smart riders meanwhile have re-mounted and are half way round the first lap on their way to victory.

Race 2
Everyone has learned that although getting to the singletrack first might be the most important thing in the world, there are no air-miles to be claimed from today’s session and an element of caution up the bank and into the first bend can be perceived. This is better. Bikes and riders remain gravity bound and almost everyone gets away cleanly, there isn’t much fighting in the singletrack and some proper overtaking and racing is going on.

Race 3
By now riders are at the point of exhaustion. 2 lap races are taking just inside 2 minutes and are seemingly being contested at maximal intensity + 10%, Kids are collapsing at the end and complaining bitterly about tired legs, aching arms and blistered fingers – I suggest they might want to sit out a race or two and recover but I’m shot down in flames as soon as the call goes up for each new race – they all want to get out there again.

Race 4
I suggest a longer, endurance race of 5 laps, espousing the value of conserving energy for the latter stages. They listen intently, nodding in understanding then go as hard as they possibly can for each of the 5 laps.

Race 5
A relay race. 10 teams of three riders - one lap each. A very exciting race but the format has to be ditched as the excitement in the changeover area is too great, girls are being stretchered out, overcome with hysteria at what is going on on the course between their team mates

Race 6
Handicap race – the fastest riders, who have been at the front of the race all day have to start on the back of the grid and have to find a way past all other riders in order to win. Long faces and tantrums as riders try to come to terms with being punished for being good riders – try explaining the logic of that to an eight-year-old!!!

Race 7
Parents have started to arrive to collect their kids by now and are keenly watching the remaining races. Competitive dads’ legs are twitching as they ride every pedal stroke with their sons and daughters. Several dads congregate suspiciously in the trees where I suspect a book has been opened and wagers are being taken.

Races 8 & 9
Finally all the girls race against each other and all the boys race against each other to determine champions for the day. Parents witness a side of their children they have never seen. Angels have become win-at-all-costs monsters – snarling in the singletrack and adopting aggressive passing manoeuvres which if not illegal are certainly dangerous.

Finally the session is over and I hold a quick Q and A session to remind riders the key elements of what they’ve learned these last two days. One question I’m offered is "Is it true that Hitler wasn’t German?” from a kid who clearly thought she’d signed up for the two-day history course, and explains why she’d been riding around with a slightly puzzled expression for the last two days.

Anyway a superb experience and a great two days was had by all - so much so that we completed the three day session plan in two days and everyone agreed that a third day was un-necessary (I suspect in reality everyone was knackered and preferred tomorrow off.) The next sessions are planned for May half term week, will be up at Monks Hill sports centre and open to kids of ACC parents. Watch this space for details of times and age groups etc.

[thePinkDreamMachine]

Another Awesome write up Huw. sounds brilliant.

recon i could pass as a 8 year old as i could do with some... lets face it.. ALL of those skills

[Jon H]

Sounds great Huw. If I act my shoe size not my age can I come to the next one?

P.S. He was Austrian wasn't he?

[Sylv]

He he brilliant, that's too good to waste is it gonna be a photo-feature?

Reminds me of my first off-roading experiences, must've been about 13, my mate and I had bmx bikes but we just rode them on the roads, except for that stretch of walking trail alongside a meandering river making the French/Swiss border, must have been only about 2-3km, but had all the elements of a proper off-road course, short sharp climbs, berms, roots and twisty tree-covered singletrack - we used to just hammer it and race ourselves on it, and end up at the exit, through the customs office, a sweaty mess. It was awesome and I still have dreams about it

I think if this was done in every school it would do the kids a lot of good.

[Apples]

Thats fantastic Huw ......I used to race the Cheddar Challenge (back in the day ) I'm sitting here giggling remembering those starts.

Remember the Witches Wood ?? hahahahaha

If only I'd had your training back then !!

[Dombo]

Brilliant write-up Huw, sounds like they all had a fantastic time. Hope to get mine onto your next one.

[huw williams]

[quote="Dombo"]Brilliant write-up Huw, sounds like they all had a fantastic time. Hope to get mine onto your next one.

[Sylv]

[quote="Apples"]Thats fantastic Huw ......I used to race the Cheddar Challenge (back in the day ) I'm sitting here giggling remembering those starts.

[quote="huw williams"][quote="Dombo"]Brilliant write-up Huw, sounds like they all had a fantastic time. Hope to get mine onto your next one.

[quote="Dombo"][quote="huw williams"][quote="Dombo"]Brilliant write-up Huw, sounds like they all had a fantastic time. Hope to get mine onto your next one.

[Sylv]

[quote="huw williams"]I've already had some enquiries from 9 year olds

[Apples]

Sylv wrote [quote]We want photos!

[Sylv]

Are you on laughing gas?