Normal coaching at Blakelaw will take place this week. The road rides for the older group and friends/family will continue every other week until further notice, so the next one will be on Saturday 31 July 2010.
Next Saturday the older group will be going out on a group ride on the road to Stamfordham. Please arrive at 10:00 hrs for a 10:30 hrs prompt start. Road bikes (with bottle cages) can be provided for members if required. Parents, friends and family welcome. Distance will be about 20 -25 miles. Pace c.15 mph (we’ll not be leaving anyone behind)
Click here for Leazes Crit Pictures
Please don’t forget that the Northern Rock Leazes Ctiterium is on Friday night 11th June at Leazes Park, Newcastle (please see previous post) and the 3rd of 4 Newcastle Phoenix Crit races is on Sunday 13th June at Hetton Lyons Country Park (please see previous post or competitions webpages). Thanks to Jake Dobson for pointing out that there is also the Northern Rock Cyclone on Saturday. And there are of course the usual Saturday coaching sessions on at Blakelaw Park. Don’t worry, none of this clashes with the England match (unless you take a very long time doing the Cyclone). All that you need to do is set the box to record the rest of the weekend footy 
This Saturday we have a guest coach coming along to run the sessions – John Kelly of GS Metro is a top British Cycling coach who helped to develop the current British Cycling coaching courses. This is a great opportunity so we hope to see you all there on Saturday morning.
Please make sure you bring a drink as the session will get you moving
For anyone thinking of coming along for the first time – don’t be shy – we are a friendly lot. Don’t worry about what kind of bike you have or haven’t got – we have a selection for hire at £1 a session. Please note that for riders of bikes with 20″ wheels (usually ages below 9) we recommend that you bring your own bike along to the session as we only have a very limited supply of bikes for this age.
Balance and coordination skills are on the menu this week again with a fun session including riding one-handed, taking a drink/eating.
Can riders please make sure they have at least one bottle cage on their bike for this session, ….and bring a bottle to put in it
For anyone thinking of coming along for the first time – don’t be shy – we are a friendly lot. Don’t worry about what kind of bike you have or haven’t got – we have a selection for hire at £1 a session. Please note that for riders of bikes with 20″ wheels (usually ages below 9) we recommend that you bring your own bike along to the session as we only have a very limited supply of bikes for this age.
This week we are going to look at balance and coordination. Absolutely essential skills that include moving around a bike in order to stay upright and carrying out various tasks, such as moving hand position from the drops or aero bars to the brakes and back again. Annoyingly, it’s right what my mum told me – practice makes perfect so there will be plenty of time to try out the moves as well as lots of “just ride the bike” time (my favourite bit )
Everyone is welcome and we have bikes to hire, so why not come along and give it a go?
Continuing the sessions on pedaling skills, this week we take a look at seated acceleration. The sessions will be suitable for all bike types, so just come along, join in, get some exercise and have a blast. Fun guaranteed, well almost
As usual we’ll be having lots of fun this week in the first session with plenty of variety and “just ride” time, while continuing our series looking at pedalling. Getting your pedalling right will minimise energy use and minimise the risk of injury.
The first session will be on grass using mountain and cross bikes. The second session will be on road bikes as last week with a continued programme of track skills and a good work out.
The weather – due to global warming my long range forecasting ability has been thrown into chaos and I am now using the more reliable method of crossing my fingers. The sessions are all-weather, so please dress for the season and bring some gloves & a waterproof.
9.30 – 10.30 Session 1
10.45 – 12.00 Session 2