Summer KJCC style!

Well it looks like Autumn is finally here but what a summer it was for KJCC. Action packed whether for fun or racing (and mostly both at the same time), it really was non stop. Here are the highlights of the KJCC summer.

Hillingdon Time trial - May 18th. Well done to Luca, Matthew, Callum, Sam, Emma, Michael and Jack. For most their first time trial, but judging by the smiles at the end not their last.

 10 laps of the Hillingdon circuit and the KJCC riders still didn't want to get off their bikes!

Tour de France celebrations - June/July. To celebrate the British stages of the tour, KJCC ran celebration events at the club.

                                               Riding the 'Champs Elysees' in June

Competition for the different colour jerseys was as fierce in Kingston as it was in France in July.

London Youth Games - 5th July.

I was lucky enough to manage the Kingston cycling squad for the London Youth Games. Unfortunately rain stopped the racing before the road races but we came sixth in the time trials, our best ever result. KJCC were well represented in the squad and team members are already training with a view to next year's event. They were certainly easy to spot in a crowd! 

Twickenham Track Day, Herne Hill - 7th September.

Run by Twickenham Cycling Club who have close links with KJCC it was very popular with both our riders and their parents who got to race too. Huge thanks to Kulvinder, Big Steve, Natasha, Simon, Alan, Amanda and Ruhi who put so much effort into organising an amazing day. 

Free beer for the adults and sweets for the children rounded off a fab day for KJCC.

Tour of Britain race - September 14th.

8 under 12 riders from Kingston got to compete in a race on the embankment alongside the time trial on the last day of the Tour of Britain race. A great opportunity to race in front of the crowds and one they all loved.

On behalf of KJCC the squad were presented with a signed shirt by British Cycling as a reward for the highest increase in club membership in the south east. No shortage of volunteers to escort it back to the club!

Kempton Park. 

During 2014 KJCC have run occasional sessions at Kempton Park Racetrack. These have been organised by Matt with Hans to help. Thanks to the enthusiasm of these two the sessions have proved very popular and will continue to happen during the Autumn and Winter so look out for details on our newsletters, facebook page and blog. 

Thanks to Charlotte Carrington for those last two photos.

Over the summer the club were also involved in 'Strictly Cycling' training sessions in Kneller Gardens, Twickenham which culminated in Bikefest at the end of June. KJCC riders seemed to have a permanent spot on the podium but unfortunately I was too busy helping with the judging to take photos. Please can club riders and their parents email me any they might have and I can add them to the blog. 

Club rides were also organised by Ant to Box Hill and Leith Hill. Club sessions at Herne Hill were also organised by Ant and he will post photos of all these seperately.

Holidays did not bring a pause to cycling for KJCC riders. Jenna Lyle and Lucy Adams went with their families to Bath and took their bikes.

I know they weren't the only ones to take their bikes on holiday. We would love to see photos from where you all went. If you email them to me I will put them in a holiday special post!

And this was just the abridged version of events! So it really was a very busy summer for all of us that would not have been possible without all the many hours put in by coaches and volunteers. Thank you to all of you. Autumn has not however brought our cycling to an end, club sessions continue to be very busy despite the weather and riders have already  moved on to competing  in cyclocross races. More blogs coming soon!

Guest Author Jenna Lyle on 'Ride London'

We started the day by walking our bikes over Tower Bridge. When we got to the other side I thought it would be quiet because there is no cars but it was even nosier then it normally is but in a good way there was loads of bells ringing and music playing. It was crowded with people eventually we found a place to start.so we stated to cycle along the river Thames. We admired all buildings but big ben was the best. Then we got to Buckingham palace it was awesome. We stopped at green park to have lunch. When we had lunch we saw bmx riders trying to break 9 different world records we saw 3 word records one of them was to jump over a bar set at 1m.42  somehow he made it on his bike he got the record. After the records we tried out some different like tandem. Then went to collect our bikes to continue our bike ride

When we were back on the road the first thing we saw was Buckingham palace every time we went under a tunnel everyone would ring there bells it made a big noise. Eventually we got to a place to turn to get onto London bridge we stopped to get an ice cream. Then we got into the car and drove home.

It was a really fun day out and I loved it!

Thank you to KJCC rider Jenna for writing this article and to her parents David and Lucy for the photos.

Twickenham Track Day

Following the enormous success of last year's Twickenham Cycling Club track day at Herne Hill Veledrome  another one has been arranged for September 7th. According to the organiser KJCC riders 'made the day last year' and I have received a request to bring as many of you as possible this year!

The event, consisting of coaching and races, will again be at Herne Hill veledrome and is on from 12-5 pm. Food and drink will be available for purchase on the day. Parents are welcome to ride too!

                         Coach Hans (father to Max) leading the way in the adult race last year.

Minimum age of entry is 8 yrs. No exceptions will be made.  Entry is £3 for youth (under 16) and £5 for adults. Entry on the day is £5/£7 but there is no guarantee of spaces. Last year was extremely popular so to avoid disappointment enter online via the British Cycling website asap -

 https://www.britishcycling.org.uk/events/details/116615/Twickehnam-CC-Track-Day 

KJCC upstages Chris Hoy!

 After the  Chris Hoy documentary 'How to Win Gold' was on BBC 1 last night, the hottest topic of conversation today has not been his amazing career but the identity of the KJCC rider who appeared (briefly!) alongside him. Any suggestions? Thanks to Emma Hughes for the photo.

Kempton Park track session Sunday 13th July

We had a very good session last Sunday at Kempton Park, Sunbury on Thames, where 15 plucky riders coached by Mel and Matt, with amazing expert knowledge from Hans, shared the venue with the Prestige Velo Club development group to use the excellent 1500m Tarmac circuit there. Those who went to the Kingston and Richmond London Youth Games trials at the venue will know how different the circuit is compared to the grass track riding that we are used to. The session focused on group riding techniques, and all riders showed great skills in close riding, communication and teamwork, including some impressive team time trialling and chain gang riding around the circuit at the end of the session. We all learnt the value of riding in formation, following the wheel of the rider in front, and swapping the lead smoothly to conserve energy and increase the group speed. The track conditions were good, despite some rather heavy rainstorms in the first hour.
Thanks to Mel, and Hans for their expert coaching, and to Mike H for helping with the groups. Thanks particularly to the riders for their excellent commitment and enthusiasm. It was a fantastic turnout from KJCC.
We will be running another session Sunday 27th July, meeting as usual at the Jockey Hostel for sign on with Prestige at 0930, for a 1000 to 1200 session. As usual, these sessions are suitable for those with road bikes and there is a £5 per rider session fee payable to Prestige.
Directions to Kempton Park can be found here:
http://www.kempton.co.uk/Directions
See you there!
Coach Matt

London Youth Games

Preparations complete, training done and we head into the weekend with our strongest ever squad. Saturday's main event is not in Yorkshire but at Crystal Palace where Kingston's cycling squad take on all the other 31 London boroughs at the London Youth Games. The squad comprises of 14 riders, some from KJCC and others from Prestige, London Dynamo, VCL and schools around the borough. They have all shown real commitment to the squad and even though the gazebos may be required for shelter from the rain rather than the sun we are prepared (and with bright orange t-shirts very visible!). As team manager I would like to also thank those coaches and parents who have helped so much already. Bertie Panicucci, Eva Callinan, Jack Hartrey, Kiron James-Medina, Joe Adlam-Cook, Lucy Adams, Jay Hughes, Tobias Dahlhaus, Laurence Ellis, Nicola Williams, Emily Adlam-Cook, Callum Marriott, Sam Balharrie and Matthew Singfield - have fun and good luck. See you very early on Saturday!

Trail Rides

Unfortunately we have to discontinue the trail rides which have been happening on the third Saturday of each month. Low numbers turning up has made it increasingly hard to get coaches to volunteer their spare time. The trail ride scheduled for this Saturday will NOT take place.  The coaches will get together to work out what we can do instead. This is not the end of KJCC in Richmond Park!