Bikedock Belles

The kids met Glyn at 5pm Mary Peters Track and started on the tarmac with a slow riding / balance practice and track stands (or attempts at them!). Then it was off into the deep dark woods, where at one particular practice corner they were told to avoid falling over the edge of the trail or the "Belvoir Bear" would eat them for dinner. Glyn would need to practice his stories for future sessions ! And as for his jokes, well....... !!

Heavy rain made for slippery riding on technical corners and downhills, as well as obviously the slipping and sliding uphill. The aim of the session in particular was balance and gear changing ! Quote of the night came from Fraser Harrower, who spearheads the Young Guns, when Belle Andrea (Glyn's able?! Assistant for the night) said to him, "You're in the wrong gear for that hill" and he replied, "I'm not, the chain is in the wrong place" ! That's my boy !

This was a kids only session, with parents free to drop their kids and run (ie not jog, but run away to a coffee shop for two hours freedom), but two eager mums hung around in the rain with their bikes and came to find the group in the trails after about an hour – professing it had nothing to do with Glyn ! Oh yeah, it must just have been the desire to find muddy puddles ! The kids did that with panache, towards the end of the 2-hour session finding the biggest, muddiest puddle possible – and what a blast they had !

Not that their parents treated their arrival back in the car park with the same panache, given the kids were completely drenched through and looked like they had been in a mud bath all day. Did they not read the disclaimer they signed before "releasing" their children into one of Andrea's activities?! And that was even without Julie there too, who was too busy being "cycle chic" (instead of "bike bird") on the catwalk in heels with bikes in Belfast !

Ding Dong !

ps click the thumbnails to enlarge the pics

Andrea