Beginner and Advanced Courses - $100. First Session: Monday, May 12th, 6:30pm at club office. Riders who want to take this skills clinic should contact the club office for the most current information about the course.
Description
This is an eight-week clinic aimed at riders who want to develop the skills needed to race successfully - especially in the Grand Prix. The sessions will take place on Monday evenings from 6:30 to 8pm during May and June leading up to the Grand Prix, which takes place on Saturday, July 12th.
There will be two streams this year: the beginner course is designed for riders with no or only little racing experience, the advanced stream is for riders who hold a racing licence and normally ride the "B" criterium at the NRC.
Fee
Feedback from participants in last year's clinic told us to raise the fee for the course, which will cost $100 this year for the eight sessions. Profit from the entry fees will be added to the prize money for the Grand Prix.
Location
Last year all the sessions were in the park. It's not ideal for every session. If we weren't moving all the time, swarms of bugs literally ate us. It's definitely not a place for long-winded explanations of the skills.
This year, we will use a classroom for the first session to handle the administration and introductory material. We will have video to show and explain the skills to be covered and the coaches will do a Q&A during and after the video.
After the initial session, we will move to the NRC on Montreal Rd. for the first couple of weeks for safety checks, bike handling, sprinting, cornering, and introduction to echelons. After that, we move to the park.
The Coaches
Our coaches are volunteers from the local racing teams. All have years of racing experience and experience teaching learn to race clinics. The coaches for the advanced course will be announced shortly.
The Curriculum Details
The plan shown here is more for the beginners group. We are still working out the details for the advanced course, which will skip the basic skills already learned by the participants and emphasize how to ride and train in the Gatineau Park.
These topics are adapted from the CCA "Learn to Race" manual.
- Week 1 - OBC office bldg on Booth St, classroom session
- Week 2 - National Research Council, Montreal Rd
- Safety Checks
- Traffic Safety
- Communication
- Braking
- Pedalling
- Bike handling
- Week 3 - National Research Council, Montreal Rd
- Side-by-side bumping
- Wheel touching
- Cornering
- Single-file
- Taking a feed
- Week 4 - National Research Council, Montreal Rd
- Single echelon
- Double echelon
- Sitting on
- Sprinting
- Group sprinting and coming off a wheel
- Week 5 - Gatineau Park, P8 (Meach Lake Rd & Parkway)
- Single echelon review
- Double echelon review
- Descending
- Week 6 - P8
- Hill climbing
- Changing gears
- Week 7 - P8
- Putting it together
- Park review
- Week 8 - P8
- Week 7 continued
- Race preparation
- Evaluation of the clinic
- Graduation
