Exciting times as my local club grows

Exciting times as my local club grows

Four years ago I started Pedal 2 Pedal to help the next generation of mountain bikers have access to coaching in my local area, Petersfield. There was no cycling club within about 40 minutes of Petersfield and I wanted to help give back to the sport which had given me so much. So after doing my coaching qualifications Pedal 2 Pedal was born. I advertised in local schools in the Hampshire area and soon enough had my first six week cycling course off the ground.

Four years on and the club has expanded to a mountain bike academy of 20 riders and in 2017 a new Saturday club which aims to give young people the opportunity to get into cycling whatever their age or ability.

The Saturday club sessions have run once a month with the help of two parents who have done their coaching qualifications, some Saturday’s between the three of us there has been 27 children aged between 4 and 10. The first round of Saturday’s has just finished and the feedback has been fantastic.  New dates available now.

My aim is to build the Saturday cycling club so that it can be sustainable and help more young riders get into and try cycle sport. With the aim of becoming a Go Ride cycling club once the structure and support is in place.

One parent said: “Sam has attended the Saturday camps Hannah has set up at Petersfield School. They have been well organised and are teaching him basic skills in a safe and fun environment. He has loved every moment of the classes and it’s been great to see him grow in confidence on his bike and apply what he has learnt when cycling elsewhere.”

Cycling is a great sport for young people as its non-weight bearing and helps get kids outdoors and active.

Some of the general benefits provided by cycling are:

  • It helps kids understand their local environment and feel part of it sustaining and looking after the area in which they live
  • It helps build independence
  • It develops muscle strength
  • It has also been reported by many teachers that kids who walk or cycle to school are more alert and ready to learn than those arriving by car
  • A good healthy habit that lasts a lifetime
  • Cyclists breathe in less pollution from traffic as compared to car drivers
  • Being part of a team and learning good social skills with other people

I hope my cycle coaching can go on to encourage more young riders on to their bikes. My next goal run some women’s cycling sessions both on and off-road. Message me if you’re interested

Thanks for reading x

 

 

Mountain Bike Camps for Kids

Mountain Bike Camps for Kids

Over the weekend I ran my first instalment of mountain bike camps. These are now a Pedal 2 Pedal tradition and usually book up really quickly! Saturday was no exception; I had 8 in my beginners group ranging from 4 to 9 in age and with a mixture of off-road experience from none at all to already riding the blue trail.

We started our sessions with the usual bike checks before heading up the fire road to the field once there we played some games looking at cornering and the ready position which are two core techniques used in mountain biking.

After a short snack break we used the field again to work on our techniques, talking about our breaks and how many fingers we should have covering them. Then it was time to put what they had learnt into practice, with a volunteer helper from my academy at the front and a volunteer mum at the back and me in the middle we made our way as a group down the blue trail, stopping at a switch back corner to have another go at our cornering technique before ending our adventure back near the car park.

Each rider received a certificate and I have had some great feedback with six out of the eight who wanting to come back for more.

“Thank you so much for the kids’ course on Saturday – they thoroughly enjoyed it. We did the blue route down after the course and came back on Sunday to do the whole blue route 1 & 1/2 times. The kids are keen and I am going get them out as much as possible.” Guy, Evie and Tristan’s Dad.

Next up was my academy group these riders come to coaching every week and I have coached some of them for four years. There is real team competitiveness between them and the Tuesday beforehand I had set them a front wheel lift challenge which many had already started to grasp. It’s great to see youngsters so keen to improve themselves in their sport and makes me feel very proud to coach such a great cycling club.

Our session looked at group riding using a game called jail break. I like this game because all riders have to communicate and work as a team to keep the ‘prisoner’ in jail so it adds something to a mountain bike session which can end up being all about your own skills, it brings the group together and makes them concentrate on being a team, a great life lesson as well as bike skill!

Afterwards we worked on our front wheel lifts and manuals. A lot of the riders can manual now using their upper body and momentum but a front wheel lift requires just a little more fineness and practise to master.

Once everyone had a good practise we hit the red trail with a volunteer Dad on the front and another in the middle I rode at the back so I could watch their riding style and give a few tips along the way, usually about heel position.

We have started riding ‘snake bites’ at Queen Elizabeth Country Park (QE Park) which is a series of switch back corners which take you down to the fire road, as it had rained they were a little slippery so we did half and then peeled off onto the blue descent to finish.

The team at QE Park have done an excellent job on working the trails and have created a great blue which the kids enjoy challenging themselves on.

The day came to an end with a few riders opting to race the Go Ride race at the QE Cycle Fest, a twisty course had been set up by British Cycling and I think my riders where still going round long after the racing was over!

 

If you would like your kids to join a mountain bike camp or would like to join an adults camp please get in touch.

 

Level Two Road Cycling Course

Level Two Road Cycling Course

Last weekend I travelled to Cyclopark in Kent to take part in my Level Two Road Cycling Course with British Cycling.

The two day course started with a development day and then assessment on the Sunday. Before the course start date we had an online learning platform where I completed a online assessment on road cycling (86% yay!) and also has to plan for a 10 minute coaching session on development day. This was also an opportunity to meet the other participants which was very helpful.

I chose countering an attack as my technique and worked on a 10 minute session which included seated and standing attacks as well as countering attacks from a bunch.

On development day we each had a chance to learn as a participant in sessions and to coach our own session. When it came to my turn I decided to leave out my first activity worried that I had packed in too much content. I started my session with an introduction which in hindsight was probably too long and then set my riders off. Sadly my session over ran as I tried to pack in far too much content. My session needed a clearer goal and refining for assessment day but I understood where I could improve it to make a more active.

The rest of the morning was spent being a participant in other people’s sessions this was really valuable as being a rider in a coaching session you can learn different ways of being coached and also look at coaching from a rider’s perspective which helps me to improve my own sessions. It was very wet and cold but the learning experience was so valuable.

In the afternoon we went through how to really drill down and create specific goals that related to types of road races and the components of fitness. This really helped me think about my own sessions and how I can create better coaching sessions with specific goals to be reached by riders by the ends of sessions.

My brain active and full of ideas I went back to my hotel Saturday ready to adapt my session plan ready for the 15 minute assessment on Sunday.

Sunday arrived and luckily the rain didn’t! My assessment went well instead of my goal being around countering an attack I looked more specifically at how riders can gain free speed. I focused on keeping my riders doing the same type of activity with subtle changes and adding in coaching points and checking for understanding as I went along.

My session went very well and I got good feedback from Richard and also lots of ideas on how I could adapt and progress my session further.

In the afternoon we did coach led racing which is different from ‘normal’ coaching sessions as you set up scenarios which could happen in a race, let it play out and then come in and discuss tactics and get feedback from the riders on what they did and how they would improve their performance. This was a really interesting way of coaching and I think with older kids and adults could work very well for coaching road and mountain bike sessions as it puts learning into practise in a more realistic setting.

I am really glad that I passed my Level two Road qualification it was a good weekend and I learnt so much and have loads of ideas for road racing sessions, now all I have to do is put some times in the diary to run some.

If you are interested in road racing coaching sessions in Hampshire and West Sussex please contact me.