Go MTB at Glentrool Forest Park

Friday 15^th May

Back at Glentrool today with six Dalrymple Primary School children for a GO MTB course. The weather was warm but overcast with the rain staying away, which was great. We started at the visitor’s centre and took the Blue Route up to Green Torr stopping a few times for rest breaks and bike challenges.

We had lunch at a nice spot just below the summit, which didn’t come soon enough for some of the group. It’s hard to believe that there are so many unfit children, five of this group play football for the school team and they were struggling to cycle the route without getting off to walk.

Once lunch was over and we arrived at the summit of Green Torr, everyone was relieved that it was down hill from here. I believe this to be the best two sections of the route, very fast and not a lot of pedalling involved which suited the children immensely.

Back at the car park it was juice and mars bars all round for the kids and coffee for the adults. No toastie today big disappointment.   

New bike trailer

Friday 1^st May 2015

I have just taken delivery of my new PENDLE six bike trailer WOW !!! a nice bit off kit. I can now put the bikes on the trailer without stripping wheels off and putting them in the back of the pickup.

It took me about an hour to assemble and check all the nuts and bolts as the trailer came on a pallet partly built. The end result is fantastic. Big toys for big boys comes to mind

 The new bike trailer

Cycling Proficiency Course

Wednesday 29^th April 2015

Today I completed a Cycling Proficiency Course for Dalrymple Primary School in East Ayrshire. Out of twelve trainees, nine passed and three just never turned up. Well done to the nine that passed, they worked really hard during the course.

This afternoon I started a Bikeability Level One course for twelve Primary five pupils at Dalrymple Primary School which will last for about seven weeks.

This group seemed keen and the session went well. We started off with the egg helmet activity (this demonstrates the necessity for wearing a helmet) and continued with bike safety checks. It surprises me the amount of parents that send their child out on a bike with no thought of checking to see if the bike is road worthy or not. I had seven out of the twelve bikes with faulty brakes and two without the brakes working at all. I spent ages trying to repair bikes so that the kids could at least take part in some of the session.

Most of the trainees managed to ride one handed and do high fives. To finish off we had a slow race but a few of the trainees didn't quite grasp the concept that it was the slowest that won not the fastest.