Coaching Session - 28th May 2009

Here are some of the photos that were taken by Jack and Jane at the two coaching sessions last Thursday evening. The Sprogs group were covering mounting on the grass by the main drive and the Yoofs group covered gear selection starting off on the main drive and then moving to the "Chimes" loop. You can double-click on the picture to make it go full screen.

Dumfries Criterium Race - 24th May 2009

Here are some photos from the Dumfries Crit race last Sunday. Well done to Jamie, Ariana and Ewan and Jack for doing so well in the race.

Castle Douglas Criterium - 23rd May 2009

Here are a few pictures of the action from last Saturday's CD crit. Well done to Ariana, Jamie and Jack for giving 100% in this race.

Drumlanrig Root Rats Coaching Thursday 28th May

Coaching is on as per usual this Thursday night at the Castle. The U12 Sprogs group runs from 5:15pm to 6:30 and the U16 Yoofs group will run from 7pm until 8:30pm. This week the focus for the Yoofs will be gear selection and we will do the coaching on a combination grass areas near the car park and the "Chimes" single track loop up in the woods. Once again, we'll have Richard Lord here with us from Scottish Cycling to help out with the coaching.

I have attached a poster and entry form for our Dirt Crit Race, which is on the 20th June. Our coaching sessions will be working towards this race over the coming month and we are hoping that most riders from the club will take this opportunity to enter the race. Please feel free to circulate the poster to anyone else that you know who might be interested in the race, or put it up in your local shop / hall. Watch http://rootrats.blogspot.com/2009/05/drumlanrig-dirt-crit.html for more details / updates as the event approaches.

Finally, pay attention those of you in the club with old, damaged or unfashionable helmets. Rik has a special offer in his shop to club members only for the Bell "Ukon" helmet. This is a good chance to get yourselves protected at a knock down price.

Drumlanrig Root Rats Coaching Thursday 21st May

Both coaching groups will be back in action this week at Drumlanrig. The Sprogs (U12) group starts at 5:15 pm and finishes at 6:30, whilst the Yoofs will start at 7pm and go on until 8:30. We will have Richard Lord from Scottish Cycling with us for the evening for the coaching sessions and he has put together a session covering group riding, manuals and bunny hops.

This week is our last chance to put names down for the Fort William XC Sprint in June, so if you are interested, please let us know. There are more details of this event on the club blog at http://rootrats.blogspot.com/2009/05/scottish-cycling-youth-xc-sprint-fort.html.

There is town centre road racing on in both Dumfries and Castle Douglas this weekend as a part of the Original Bicycle Festival. Come along and support club riders Ewan Clark and Jack Taylor as they fight it out some of the top roadies in the country. See http://www.originalbicyclefestival.co.uk/Bikefest-Events.html#EventTwentyTwo for more details and times of the race. To get a flavour of town centre racing, why not watch the Tour Series city centre racing this Friday night at 7pm on ITV4.

Race Report for SXC3

The venue for yesterday's 3rd round SXC mountain bike race was Laggan Wolftrax near Newtonmore in the northern reaches of Perthshire. The course consisted of a 2 mile climb on a mixture of forest road and natural singletrack followed by an equally long singletrack descent punctuated by large sections of rock slab pavement requiring commitment from the riders.

Ewan Clark was first off for the Drumlanrig Riks Bike Shed team. Wearing the yellow series leader number board, Ewan was out to consolidate his position as top Junior. However, Sunday's race saw on form rider Kenta Gallagher take first place with an outstanding performance leaving Ewan to take a well earned second place and strengthen his position as the series lead.

Next off were Jack (pictured, centre) and Ally Taylor in the U16 Youth category. Jack was standing in the ditch when the race was set off meaning that he had to sprint hard to catch the last place rider. A solid effort from there on meant that Jack had made it back up to seventh place, his eventual finishing position at the end of the three lap race. Coming back after some time off the bike, brother Ally rode a steady race from start to finish coming in just off the pace. Meanwhile, veteran campaigner Graeme Scott had to retire from the race after his chain had snapped.

The Drumlanrig Root Rats were represented in the Primary School races by lone rider, Cameron Scott. Cameron showed his strength by powering into the race lead on the first climb and fought hard throughout the higly competitive race to secure a well earned fourth place.

Drumlanrig Root Rats Yoofs - Thursday 14th May

Our session this Thursday is due to be a ride in the woods with myself and Graeme Scott. Depending on numbers and conditions, we are hoping to cover the 2008 SXC / NPS race route, which is based on the first half of the red route. Please ensure that you bring along something to drink.

Don't forget about the Original Bicycle Festival Events. This weekend sees the Stepping Stanes Mini Festival at Heathall Forest - for more details see our blog (http://www.rootrats.blogspot.com/), or the Stepping Stanes web-site (http://www.steppingstanes.co.uk/) and next weekend sees town centre racing coming to Castle Douglas and Dumfries.

This coming Tuesday is our informal Q&A session on all things mechanical so come along with your equipment issues and take advantage of Rik's free advice. The session starts at 18:30 and will run on until 20:30 and you are free to come and go as you please during that time.

Drumlanrig Root Rats Coaching Thursday 7th May

Firstly, a big thanks to everyone that turned up for tonight's trail building in the rain. We managed to drain the whole of the red route first descent - well done. As a reward to you all, the next trail building session is 18:30-20:30 on the 2nd June. In the meantime, look out for our next Tuesday evening event running from 18:30 to 20:30 on the 19th May; this will be a Q&A session hosted by Rik on all matters mechanical - a must if you have any burning questions on cycling kit and maintenance.

To make things easier, Rik and I have decided to name the coaching groups the "Sprogs" (~U12) and the "Yoofs" (~U16); if you come to Rik's sessions just after five, then you are in the Sprogs group and if you come to mine, then your are in the Yoofs group. This weeks Sprogs session starts at 17:15 and finishes at 18:30, and for the Yoofs, the session runs from 19:00 to 20:30. This week, the Yoofs will do some coaching on the skills loop.

This weekend sees the Dalbeattie Fun Day (with MTB races ) starting at the Dalbeattie Seven Stanes car park - see the blog (www.rootrats.blogspot.com) or the Original Bicycle Festival Web-site for more details. Further to this, we have just got news of an event going down (and up) at the Extreme Valley Rider's Bike Park in Newmilns. This is the EVR Jump Jam Festival, which is a jumping competition for ages 12 and up. Some more details are posted on our blog and on the Scottish Cycling web-site under MTB and BMX. If you would like an entry form, please e-mail Richard Lord; if you are planning to go and can help with marshalling, please let him know.

Jump Jam Festival at EVR in Newmilns

EVR Bike club and Scottish Cycling are running a Jump Jam Festival on the Sunday the 10th May at Newmilns Bikepark and there will be 100 worth of prize money given away for the top riders and loads of top burgers for you to eat! So, come along and lets make this a really exciting new event!!!!! The event is open to youths, juniors and senior Mountain bike AND BMXers. The event is open to none club members too.
Time: Free Practice is 10.30-12noon Event proper: 1-3pm
Entry £10 Contact Richard Lord of Scottish Cycling for more details on 07908 672652.

Original Bicycle Festival Events

By now, you should have all heard about the original bicycle festival, but just in case you haven't, this note points out a coupld of events that should be of particular interest to club members. These are the Dalbeattie Fun day on the 10th May and the Stepping Stanes Mini Festival on the 16th May. See http://www.originalbicyclefestival.co.uk/ for full details of the festival.

Stepping Stanes Mini Festival - 16th May
This event includes coaching and a Dirt Crit race and a parents race - se the Stepping Stanes web-site, http://www.steppingstanes.co.uk/ for details and entry form.

Dalbeattie Fun Day - 10th May

Starts from the Seven Stanes car park at Dealbeattie. The event includes fun activities and races with entry on the day. Click on the image to the left for full details.

Scottish Cycling Youth XC Sprint - Fort William Saturday 6th June

Scottish Cycling Youth XC Sprint - Fort William Saturday 6th June

Scottish Cyling have invited the club to enter 8 riders in the above race. This takes place in Fort William during the June round of the MTB World Cup, which includes downhill, 4X and the XC sprint races. If you are interested in entering the XC sprint, can you please get in touch with Andrew or Rik for further details.

See http://www.fortwilliamworldcup.co.uk/ for more details of the World Cup event in Fort William.