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Sunday 29 April 2012

DDCX Skills Session II

The next DDCX skills session will held at Darebin Parklands on Saturday, May 26. Meet at the rangers shed at 10am for a two hour session covering a range of skills.

Everyone is welcome from beginner riders wanting to learn how to shoulder a bike to experienced riders wishing to improve their technique for the upcoming season. Kids are especially encouraged to come out for a practice on the grass.

The DDCX team will be there to run drills and provide advice on all things cyclocross. Lewis Rattray will also be on hand for expert advice and stories from abroad. 

So if you haven't had a chance to dust off the cx bike yet this will be the motivation you have been searching for.

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Words of advice from Nik and Lewis

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Angry  and Max showing off the advanced barrier lifting technique

For more info you can contact me at katelansell at gmail dot com.

Monday 23 April 2012

Women's CX skills session

The first Dirty Deeds skills session was held on Saturday at my personal favourite CX location, Darebin Parklands.

For a misty Melbourne morning it was great to have a bunch of enthusiastic women arrive all kitted up and ready to go. Some were experienced riders who had participated in last year's season. Others were brand new to cyclocross and were sporting nervous smiles.

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Setting off for a couple of warm up laps

To get the legs moving we set off for a couple of laps around the park on a route that would have been all too familiar to those who had raced here last year. There was a distinct lack of mud which although meant no slipping and sliding practice, did allow us to go home with clean bikes.

With the warm up done it was time to get down to the technical stuff. For most people, cyclocross barriers are the most daunting part of the race. So with the aim of breaking it down into achievable parts we set about practicing dismounts, lifting the bike, and running remounts. Once everyone had had a chance to practice we put all the steps together and collectively launched ourselves at the portable barriers (thanks Blakey).

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Sweet barrier technique

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Local park users checking out the action

I had expected the two-hour session would be mostly taken up with barrier practice but the group picked it up so quickly that we staged some mock starts to get used to riding in a bunch. These proved to be great fun as we raced down the grass to perform a tight turn around a marker (thanks again Blakey!) to ride back up over the barriers.

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Mock race - cornering with intent

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Hill work

By this time the sun had come out and arm warmers were being thrown aside en masse. To finish off the session we completed another couple of laps of the park and tested out new skills along the way.

What a way to spend a Saturday morning! We were thrilled to have such a great turn out and to be kicking off the season with such an enthusiastic bunch of women. There is quite a buzz surrounding women's cyclocross at the moment and we are hoping that will translate into a record number of entrants in this years Dirty Deeds events.

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Big smiles after a successful training session

A big thanks to Dirty Deeds committee member Nik Cee and local CX legend Lewis Rattray for their guidance on technique and all things cylcocross. Lewis even gave us a run down of the professional women's cyclocross scene in Europe - inspiring stuff. Thanks also to Blakey for the words of encouragement and sweet pics.

Details of the next skills session will be announced shortly so keep on eye on the blog. Hopefully those who couldn't make it to the first session will be able to come out next time. The session will be open to everyone as well as any juniors wishing to get some practice in. We will continue to provide barrier coaching as well as developing run-up and shouldering skills and general bike handling skills.

Anyone keen to organise some impromptu training sessions/rides should let us know at DDCX headquarters and we can get the word out.

Tuesday 17 April 2012

No Grave But The Sea

Sorry for the quietness around here, but don't be fooled into thinking that we have been enjoying the late summer sunshine and taking it easy...

There is to be a fair few announcements coming in the next few weeks, and first up we have confirmation that the fine folks from Beatbox Kitchen will be providing their popular burgers and frites for the starving masses again.

We haven't failed to sell them out each round and this year I can't see that changing!

Next up is a little collaboration between the boys at Creux Cycling and DDCX.
Design courtesy of Mr Simon Doran

Look for this design to appear on t-shirts that will be available at each race as well as in the Creux online store in time for the prologue.

Building on this we have made a few tweaks to the blog's layout to take advantage of the great design work Sime has done for us.

You might also notice some sponsor changes around the blog. More on those as we are able to release the details...

Sunday 1 April 2012

The times they are a changin'

So it seems the first skills session clashes with the first Melbourne Gravel Grinder of 2012. It would be a shame to deny folks of the opportunity to participate in both so the skills session will now be held on Saturday the 21st of April, 10am at Darebin Parklands (meet at the ranger shed).

Spread the word!