BCC at Triangle Skillz Day

Last Saturday Brian, Dave, and I drove down to Harris Lake to take part in the Triangle Off-Road Cyclist's Skills Clinic. We were ostensibly in charge of the "Beginning Racing" clinic, during which we were supposed to help people who had no or little experience racing get a little more involved in cross-country racing. With that it mind we put together a flier and an outline, and prepared to do our best.

After a short introduction by TORC's Tim Lee and Stewart Bryan the clinic participants split into groups and it was our time to shine.

I'm not sure how the beginning racers took to what we had to offer: the crowd was split between some pretty accomplished riders who just wanted some advice on racing, and some, er, 'younger' riders who might not have need to hear about target heart rates. It was a great group, actually -- it's always cool to see young kids side-by-side with adults when learning a new skill -- but I'm hoping that our fliers could cover some of the questions that we might have missed in our presentation.


Chris and JD showed up about noon, but by that time the weather was looking pretty bad. We were slated to help Carl from Middle Ring Racing with the Advanced Racing clinic, but that was cancelled in an attempt to get the kids' races in. We rode sweep on the course: I followed the beginner kids and Brian, Chris, and Dave tailed the intermediates.

I'm not sure who won the pretty great prizes (I've never won a cycling jersey in a race before, for instance), but there were plenty of smiles, despite the steady rain that started just as the racers were finishing up.

Probably the most exciting aspect of the whole day was seeing the progress made by the kids from Triangle Trips for Kids. Dave spent most of his time working with them (along with Andrea and a number of other volunteers), and Brian and I got a chance to head out on the trail with them.

Phillip Baron and Brian snapped some pics, but mostly we just enjoyed watching these guys negotiate some of the more technical aspects of the Hog Run trail system. They moved from learning to basics of shifting and braking at the beginning of the day to hitting the big whoop-dee-doo by the end -- really great to see.

Also nice was watching Dave win an impromptu bunny-hop contest on a borrowed bike, and JD and Trisha's son Luke make repeated attempts to push his tricycle off the pavement and into the dirtiest patches he could find. I forgot to bring my camera but Brian shot quite a few pics. Oh, and Tim Lee got a few snips that you can see here -- be sure to check out the pics of the kids.

All-n-all not a bad outing for the BCC crew. Why? 'Cause we gots mad skillz.