KPCC Novice Women's Tour Week 3 - like fortifying wine

The last weekend of the KPCC #NWT was held at Crestmead on Sunday (1/12). The teams time trial was held first to assist the reinforcement of team skills learned in the previous two weeks. A short tea break followed, including an informative bike maintenance session held by both Tracey and Bronwyn of Planet Cycles. The modified road race that followed showed lots of assertive racing by the women, with some bold breakaway attempts and good use of team tactics. Again this week, the participants demonstrated what you can achieve by going outside your own comfort zone.

Just like fortified wine, bike racing events should be delicious, memorable experiences. KPCC is endeavouring to take the 'base wine' (ie. women's base interest to ride bikes and to take part in cycling events) and then fortify it with additional 'alcohol' (ie. further skills, knowledge and experiences for women in a safe, supported environment) to develop a truly awesome product that lots of people will talk and reminisce about, and naturally encourage others to try.

To end, I have borrowed an excerpt from the womenscyclingmatters blog about SKCC and last weekend's Tour of Bright...  it pretty much sums up what we should be noticing and encouraging with women's cycling...
"Our clubs and administrators are on board and are shouting from the rooftops about women’s cycling. There are photos of women riding and racing on websites... yes it is just the small things for now but just the same, it is symbolic of change and I am very excited."  

Visit www.kpcc.org.au for more motivating projects during 2014.

KPCC Novice Women's Tour Week 2 - onwards and upwards

This week the participants learned some more about team tactics and racing, as well as some more individual skills.

Many ladies surprised themselves with their own abilities, 

and realised that you can trust your riding buddies!

The media gallery were also out in force after the glowing feedback from the participants of week 1.

Week 2 also involved a criterium at Nundah, this time with four groups (team red, team blue, team yellow and team pink) of 4-6 riders. 

This was an excellent opportunity to use some recently acquired team-racing skills. 

Quite a few attacks went off the front by various riders, but in the end a team rider from each of blue, pink and red stayed away for the podium spots. 

Unfortunately Kirsty has been teaching the subject of camaraderie and respect a little too well, and the girls decided to cross the line together for equal first place!!!

Next week is the final week of #NWT, this time at Crestmead, with a teams time trial, and then a longer “road race” / kermesse style race.  Thanks again to Kirsty Broun Cycling, Activ Cycle, and Planet Cycles for their involvement, and to Brad Gooda for the photos.

KPCC Novice Women’s Tour Week 1 – nurturing the development of women in cycling

Sunday morning (17/11) was the first round of Kangaroo Point CC's #NWT. It is an initiative of KPCC (Cam and Claire Hemming, and Craig Briant) aimed at getting more women comfortable with riding bikes in groups, and allowing them to gain some race experience in a friendly, low-key environment.

KPCC recruited some prominent, respected female cyclists to help with this round, namely Kirsty Broun (Kirsty Broun Cycling), Kim Pettigrew (Activ Cycle) and Tracey Knight (Planet Cycles / Planet Femme).

The women’s tour includes a series of 3 races over 3 weekends, all mentored by these 3 ride leaders. The tour is accomodating of all women partaking in the events. Some riding and racing theory, as well as lots of practical skills training are provided to all participants. Even with a group of women with ranging abilities and with a variety previous bicycle experiences, no-one feels left out! :)

Like SKCC (St Kilda Cycling Club) and the Breeze women’s cycling program (in Victoria), KPCC recognises that so much can be gained by supporting women who are new to riding and racing. By improving knowledge and awareness, and then providing skills training, this improves their confidence and their enjoyment of the sport of cycling. These things will then assist more cycling newcomers, as well as solidify the existing group.

Week 1 involved some theory, some skills training, a light morning tea, and then a novice criterium on a closed circuit. According to the smiles at the end of the day, everyone is looking forward to week 2!

Tale of two George's and a Broun...

Wanna improve your cycling?  Learn from the best.  I currently have the enviable position of being able to gain lots of cycling knowledge from three of Australia's best coaches... each of them unique in their coaching styles, and all with a wealth of experience.

- Steve George @ Crankstar

My "training program" coach.  Steve's the guy who tells me what to do, day after day, week after week.  He stops me before I start overtraining, but lets me know when I need to go harder.  Steve encouraged me to start weights at the gym late last year when I was concerned that this might not be the right thing to do.  Steve also picked up on the fact that my cranks were the wrong length, and quickly changed me over to 165mm ones.  Now 5 months later, I can see how the weights, and more core strength exercises and stretching, along with the shorter cranks, and my regular on-the-bike training, has really improved my power and my ability to spin.

- Rob George @ Roadie Rob's Bicycle School

My MTB skills coach.  Rob's the coach who can tell you how to ride a bike, without you even realising he's teaching you stuff.  Having self-taught myself how to ride a bike in my early 20's, I have never had the skills that people have when they've started riding as a small child.  Lesson for the future: if you have kids, get 'em on a bike as soon as possible!  Rob has a huge knowledge base from his days as a world cup downhill racer, and from many, many years of teaching students around the Gap Creek trails (Brisbane) and knows exactly how to make difficult trails seem super easy.

- Kirsty Broun @ Kirsty Broun Cycling

My road bike skills coach.  Several months ago I did not realise the benefit of improving some of my skills on the road bike.  Sure, my MTB skills are in constant need of improvement, but not my road bike skills... ?  After just a few sessions with Kirsty, I have also come to understand that cornering, unclipping with different feet, using different hands to grab water bottles, bumping shoulders with other riders, and many other on-the-bike skills are often taken for granted. I realise now that a lot of stuff that I was doing on the bike was "adequate" but not really done "properly".  And similar to being shown the right line on a MTB trail with Roadie Rob, Kirsty has really opened my eyes to the skills we should all have to ride (and race) more safely and confidently on the road.  In particular, being there to see Kirsty coach some groups of cyclists over the Easter weekend was an eye-opening and rewarding experience.