Go-Ride for Grown-Ups

In between Wednesdays and Sundays I tried the “Go-Ride for Grown-Ups” sessions at Priory School, run by Barry Denny. I was one of those 'happy to help but prepared to learn'. Mostly learning, I can now reveal. The first session was done entirely on the grass of Priory's playing field; all the basics, weaving in and out of cones, picking up drinking bottles from the top of one crate and putting them down on another (two laps passed before I got the hang of that). Riding side by side touching elbows? An interesting exercise. The 'cyclo cross' dismount, 30ft walking the bike just holding the saddle ditto scooting along with one foot on a pedal (best to get the appropriate foot and pedal combination sorted out. Will Curtin was keen to demonstrate that there wasn't an actually 'wrong' way to do this – but failed to convince) then swing the free leg over the saddle and off you go. Generations of cyclists over the whole of the twentieth century have mounted their bikes this way, and I still do this if I'm riding my trade bike. Guessing that we might be asked to do this, I had a go on my Mercian the day before; it's very different when your foot is clipped in and the bike is half as heavy. I fell in a heap on our paved forecourt, almost instantly. At least no one was watching. We also tried riding through a 'chicane' or 'slalom' two abreast, then three, then four then whooops! Perhaps not five after all. There was a fine 'scotch mist' or drizzle for a lot of the time, and the grass became very slippery. Barry kept telling us that we'd cut the session short because of the weather – but carried on until just ten minutes short of the scheduled finish.

The second session (Saturday 19 March) was the last of the two, and entirely on tarmac. More of the same – elbow to elbow, in and out of cones – PLUS going round cones (they are only a few inches tall, by the way) so that the front wheel goes one side and the rear goes the other. Every bit as hard as it sounds, until the penny drops and the technique develops. We did stopping in a box with feet clipped in, we went under the limbo pole, we clung on to a large, tethered wheelie bin with one hand, and then moved off, Barry and I demonstrated the possibility of two riders holding each other up, to a sceptical audience and we went on a miniature club run which, in the best tradition was split into two rides which wound their way around the roads near to Denny Bros. We saw Barry's group only once – and they looked very impressive, riding in pairs with arms on each other's shoulders. I fear that 'my' group looked a bit bit of a shambles until we got Lara's son on the front (he had the double penalty of a tiny bike, and being over twenty years younger than most of the group- and sixty years younger than some). Warm Sunshine made it a very enjoyable couple of hours. We really need more of these.

On most runs there are moments when you can see the gaps in riders' skill set. It's when we stop for someone's puncture, or wait for a long time before launching ourselves across a main road or (occasionally it happens) turning round in the road because we've taken a wrong turn that the difficulties show up. A hopping and scooting, wobbling and weaving, taking too long to clip in, inability to let go of the 'bars for more than a couple of seconds. Greater confidence brings better safety. The 'stop box' exercise we used was a real test for many, but is a basic necessity if you need to just pause for long enough to check a junction, without doing the whole dismounting bit. I know that u-turns are frowned on at time trials for safety reasons (and you really must check behind you before you do this) but I'm often surprised by how few otherwise skilful riders just cannot turn in a single-track lane with putting a foot down.