Sheffield Schools Cycling Festival 28/07/2010

Fun in the sun!

It was the final week of term for schools in Sheffield and what better way to spend a couple of days - riding bikes at Parkwood Springs.  Parkwood Springs is the public park that has been earmarked for Sheffield’s first urban mountain biking development, funding has been secured and work will start building the trails in the autumn of this year.  The trail will be open access and free to use and the steering group is keen to encourage use by communities, families, schools, youth groups and young people from across the city.  Watch this space for further news …

But enough of that, you want to hear about young people having fun on their bikes.  Schools Sports Partnership’s Craig Malkin invited four schools from the local area to try out a variety of different activities.

Ed and Alex from Recycle Bikes brought along their ‘North Shore’ track to help students to hone their mountain biking skills.  The young people progressed from weaving through cones and controlled braking in a stop box, to learning about the ‘attack position’ (knees and arms bent, pedals level and stay loose!), before finally riding the elevated wooden tracks, see-saws and narrow balance beams.  Great bike handling skills were required to clear the course without putting a foot down but there were more than a few students managed this feat.

Rob Mawhood of Sheffield Stars Cycle Speedway Club was also there.  The speedway club is being supported by Bike Club to roll out a series of winter training events so it was great to have them there generating enthusiasm for this fantastic type of cycling.  A 75 metre oval course was laid out on the grass and students raced in groups of 4 against each other.  Rob was great at passing on his skills and experience in the sport which demands great riding skills as these bikes have no brakes and no gears.  To say it was competitive would be an understatement and no doubt some of the young people will be attending the winter coaching sessions and hopefully joining the club.

Also involved were Henry and Ruth, Sheffield’s two Sustrans Bike-It Officers.  Henry and Ruth engaged the young people with their wide variety of games all designed to help them handle their bikes in a safe and controlled manner.  There were slow races, slalom courses, limbo competitions and coaching on cycling downhill on a mountain bike as ably demonstrated by Henry.

The final activity was a 200 metre cross-country mountain biking circuit through the woods.  This was run by CTC’s Sheffield Cycle Champion, Steve Marsden and Jon Dallow who is a Woodland Project Officer with Sheffield City Council, and who is also the driving force behind the urban mountain biking development.

Firstly, Steve and Jon walked the course with the students, offering advice on line choice, potential hazards to look out for and use of body position to climb, descend and corner more effectively.  It was then on to the bikes to ride round as a group, with advice again from Jon and Steve.  This culminated in students setting as quick a time as they could over 3 laps; it was like an alpine downhill event as James and Darren from the council’s Parks and Countryside Team banged drums, rattled tin cups and generally shouted words of encouragement.  The times were quick, the adreneline pumping and judging by the smiles, a great time was being had by all.