Previous training sessions during the autumn have been on the car-free circuit at Hillingdon and branded by SheCycles.com and also on the quiet roads in Surrey organised and run by coach John Leitch.

If you’ve already been along to one or other of these, then you’ll have a good idea of where the series is going (hopefully) and please make note of the upcoming training dates.

The aim has been to provide you with various scenarios that you’ll experience in a race or training environment, such as short intervals up a long drag,jumping from behind the rear wheel of the rider ahead, turning a big gear and accelerating hard. The drills are aimed at building your confidence with a mind for racing later this season.

All being well, this should deliver you, come the summer, in fine form to tackle the challenges of the racing season, or sooner if you can’t wait to get a start.

Details for each session:

So hopefully out there for a total of 3 hours, though possibly trimmed back in the case of particularly bad mid-winter weather.

Upcoming sessions include…

These two early-winter sessions will again be made up of a series of short exercises.

The emphasis, on the 14 January date, will be on several short two-lap “races” (then ease up) and the objectives will be twofold.

With each first lap-and-a-half, the group of coach-helpers will be asked to up the pace over a third of a lap so that the entire bunch is strung out, even fragmented.
That should simulate the effort you need to induce the challenge of “hanging on” and should show you that provided you dig in hard, known as “going into the red” for a short while, you will have a chance to get back on, as race pace is remarkable variable.
Then during the final half-lap the group of coach-helpers will be asked to lift the pace again towards the end, then pull over leaving you all to compete for the finish line.

Moving on from the “serious effort” stuff like that, there will be more time for skills. The question here is ‘will anyone be able to do the slalom in pairs with hands on each others shoulders this time?’ Well, schoolkids do so it’s just a matter or practice and confidence.

The session will also include several medium-pace laps doing through-and-off, great practice for those coming to terms with riding close to a wheel and then having to push that bit harder when on the front.

For more details contact the coach and organiser John Leitch on [email protected], for riders applying for a place please state if you have been to previous sessions, which one(s)? Plus where you see yourself best fitting in the racing exercises, if riders are allocated to three groups, 1-2-3 (with 1 being the fastest) ?

Advance notice of upcoming event:

John Leitch is also running a ‘Festival of Racing’ currently at the planning stage but set to be a day of varied mini-race-style events for practicing your skills and testing your fitness in a safe environment.