We want all the groups working on endurance by pedaling continuously during practice as much as possible. When you do have to stop to re-group, then use that opportunity to talk about a skill you noticed that needs some work. Ride leaders in the middle and back, keep your eyes open and give feedback since your the ones who are watching the riders. Get back to pedaling as soon as possible and practice the skill you just talked about. At this point, it is better to keep the riders pedaling at a slower pace and not have to stop as frequently than going faster but stopping more often.
- Before leaving the parking lot:
- Count how many kids are in your group.
- Make note of any kids in your group that did not show up or did not RSVP to send in the feedback form.
- Designate ride leader and the sweep
- Does everyone have the necessary gear?
- Helmet, water, snack, tube, pump or co2, multi tool, quick link, medical supplies (if necessary)
PURPLE
Focus on skills today, particularly keeping feet on pedals, getting comfortable standing off the seats in ready position and feeling that bike body separation. Spend time talking about shifting, call out shifts ahead of time to build confidence in pre-shifting for climbs. Try to do several loops of C-line and A, B and D lines without stopping to work on endurance. If you feel like the group is ready, venture out of Little Valley onto Ann’s for a little while.
BLUE / GREEN
Skills, skills, skills! Spend the first 15 minutes warming up on the A, B, and C lines. Focus on bike body separation, ready position on the downhill on A, B, and D lines and pre-shifting on the uphill on C line. Make sure your group is communicating when they are stopping. It also helps to have the ride leader call out when they are pre-shifting, and have everyone in the group carry the message to the person behind them.
After the warm-up and skill session, climb out of Little Valley and onto either Ann’s West or Ann’s East. Keep a slow steady pace in order to minimize stopping for breaks. Keep an eye on who could push a little harder and who’s getting pushed too hard since we are still sorting out ride groups.
YELLOW / ORANGE
15 min warm up at a slow conversational pace. Keep the kids chatting by asking questions to make sure the warm up is an easy for everyone. Climb out of Little Valley on Ann’s West. The focus of today is collecting miles. Keep the kids pedaling and stop as little as possible. If you do need to stop, take the opportunity switch up the order of the group so different riders get to be in the front. Keep an eye on who could push a little harder and who’s getting pushed too hard since we are still sorting out ride groups.
Return to Little Valley by 7:45, spend the last 15 minutes providing feedback and coaching kids on better bike body separation, riding in control, and cornering.
RED / SILVER
Start with a 15-minute warm up, nice and slow while chatting with kids to gauge their effort level. After a good warm up and pedaling along at a nice group pace, these groups will do two tempo intervals. These will take place somewhere in the middle of practice. Each interval will be six minutes long with ten minutes of easy spinning in between. These are not race or sprint intervals, these are TEMPO intervals, meaning riders will ride for a solid seven minutes without stopping at a brisk, non-conversational pace. Short sentences of several words should be possible when riding at tempo pace. These should take place on climbs and should feel hard-ish. This is the main purpose of the ride today. Once that is accomplished, have fun.
BLACK / PINK
Get those miles! Same as Red / Silver above except your workout consists of two 8-minute tempo intervals with an 8-minute easy spin in between. Build that endurance, then have fun.