Some 15 juniors attended this weeks skills activities and all had a
great time. You don't need a racing bike and many of the kids had
mountain bikes. In fact you almost don't even need a bike.
One of the activities this week was pace line training without a bike.
Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of it but Tanya had groups of 4
walking along and demonstrating how the lead "walker" rolls off and goes
to the back. It was a great way of demonstrating the principal
behind bunch riding and working as a team.
This week Tanya Bosch's skills
activities for RBCC Juniors and visitors, had a very much "Close
proximity" and "teamwork" theme about them. About 15 juniors
developed their skills in riding close to each other, the more
experienced ones even riding whilst holding on to each other. Left
Matt Weetman and Sam Buckland demonstrate their close quarters riding
skills.
Tanya also demonstrated
to the kids how they could transfer their weight by leaning onto her.
Left Matt Weeman leans onto Tanya whilst he pedals forward. You
can almost picture him leaning against another sprinter whilst jostling
for position at the velodrome.
Aaron Bicknell give it a go.
Left, a couple of the girls practise "Maddison
Slinging". Hardly frightening, they look like big smiles on their
faces to me.
Finally, Tanya split the kids up into two groups of equal ability for an
"Italian Pursuit" The idea is to have your weakest riders first
who have to do a full lap of the "Squircle" before rolling off and
allowing the next rider through to do his/her lap. Eventually, you
get down to the final two riders. Each team started off opposite
each other like the team pursuit at the velodrome. Here's the action as
one of the teams negotiates one of the sharp corners of "The Squircle"
We call it that because it is sort of a square circuit. (See
map)
Ryan Clarke leads Emma Jones through the Squircle.
Down to three with Emma leading Matt Weetman with anchorman Aaron
Bicknell at the back. Going to have to get you guys a little
closer up on the wheel in front of you though.
