On Saturday we tried a new Inner Ring format of three different skills races which all the ability groups – yellow, blue and white – rotated through in turn. Many of our Inner Ring riders are new to competitive racing events so we thought we would try this as a friendly introduction to competitive racing within the club, giving riders a taste of what to expect if they start to attend Go-Ride Racing events run by other clubs in the region.
We ran three races to test different types of skills. Firstly we had a 200m sprint on the track which tested fast starts, gear selection and speed. We then had a time trial over a grass track with many twists and turns finishing with a sprint on the track, which tested cornering, bike handling, gearing and sprinting. Finally we had a very technical, timed skills circuit comprising limbo, slalom, tight turns and bottle drops which tested riders’ agility, balance and bike handling skills, with 5 second penalties for mistakes on each of the activities.
All of the riders did really well and there were some very close finishes, lots of smiles and a great atmosphere all morning! We were particularly proud of our newest members who had only started two weeks previously but all of whom took up the challenge and completed all the events successfully.
We have posted up the times and placings in the Skills racing results sheet. We will update this sheet through the season as we run more of these fun racing sessions. Apologies for the odd missing time, there are just 1 or 2 gaps in about 80 individual times, please feel free to contact us if you remember your time and we will happily update the sheet!
Thankyou to all club volunteers who helped with the event and to the riders for making it such good fun!