What is it like to take part in a Regional School of Racing

Four members recently took part in a road circuit Regional School of Racing [RSRs] and three of them write about their experience below. RSRs are a stepping stone to ride at the top level for youth riders. Usually clubs are allocated a maximum of one female and one male place for these opportunities, thus we were delighted to secure spaces for four of our members this time round. The comments make interesting reading and we may test our other members on what is said in future sessions so …. happy reading.

Izzy Stone writes: 

On the 8th of April I attended the second RSR.

This session was at the Cyclopark in Gravesend, The conditions were warm  for early April and fortunately the rain stayed away this time!

The size of the circuit is a great match to the 21 girls riding. The course or Cyclopark is wide enough for the less confident riders and tight enough when riders were added for some of the more challenging and technical parts of the day.

The day started off with an indoor workshop of goal and personal motivation setting, we were shown by Tim how to set them, taking in certain factors like, Specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time based factors. These are called ‘smart’ targets. My age group is also at an important period in school life regarding exams and mock exams, which must be taken into account while setting personal performance goals before the 2014 track season finishes. After the workshop we recapped and went over details from our previous RSR February session, from basic bunch skills, we started to focus on attacking, when and how to do it.

We looked at break aways and how to conserve energy most efficiently, We did this by using echelons and chain gangs. After developing these skills further we introduced more people into the group, to make the scenarios more live or race like. Finally we looked at quick acceleration and bridging gaps to a break away. To finish we split into two groups, when you were called you had to bridge the gap to the group of riders in front of you. I enjoyed the day and all the sessions were extremely useful to take forward into races and other scenarios at ppycc.

Regards

Isabella

Olivia Chadwick writes:

“The following are my experiences from riding at the last circuit RSR:-

I was chosen for the girls’ circuit RSR along with Izzy Stone, apparently this is the first time that two girls from PPYCC have been selected for the same RSR, which is a massive vote of confidence in our club, coaches and the activities we run and which all help towards the nominations.

The circuit RSR was located at Cyclopark near Gravesend in Kent and we used a classroom and the CycloCircuit which is an outdoor road circuit.  I had never ridden on a road circuit track before, so before I went I viewed this YouTube video to get an idea of what it was like http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5JEY5xsSxY

On the day the conditions were quite windy but we did get spells of sunshine though out of the day. During the day we had two class room sessions with the BC coach who gave us good advice on organizing ourselves, race tactics, setting objectives, riding echelons in windy conditions and sprinting. In between the class room sessions we went out on to the track to practice, there were about 20 – 25 girls so we split into 5 groups with a coach for each group.

In the first track session we practiced riding close together and also protecting ourselves from the wind by riding in an echelon. In the second session we practiced breaking away from the group and them sprinting back together. The final session was my favourite, as we practiced sprint tactics and faster sprinting by getting out of the saddle throwing the bike from side to side. By the end of the day (09:30-17:00) my Garmin read 43 miles and I was tired but happy.

I really enjoyed the circuit RSR because I learnt a lot of new things I didn’t know before.

Big thank you

Olivia”

Noah Ridgway-Brown writes:

Thank you proposing me for the road RSR.

  1. I attended the road RSR at Cyclo Park on
  2. It was a really warm and nice day with sunshine. There were lots of other boys my age and a few years older. It was my first time there and I thought the circuit was amazing because I really like cornering.RSR2-Group-01 RSR2-Group-02
  3. We practised echelons which I knew about but have not practised until then. If you are in a bunch and there is a cross wind you position yourself to shield yourself as much as possible, sometimes diagonal to the direction the race is going.
  4. I really enjoyed practising cornering and talking to other cyclists. I knew lots of the other boys from other clubs. I was a bit worried it might be really exhausting but in the end I coped well throughout the day right through to the end. I even wanted to cycle more afterwards.