So, what could get me out of bed at 5am on a Sunday after only 4 hours sleep? Coffee, I hear you ask? Almost…Latte Laps! The final session of Latte laps for 2012 ran last Sunday at the SKCC crit circuit, and while, as previously mentioned, I was somewhat sleep deprived, I still managed to enjoy myself and consolidate a few take home messages. Bunch riding skills got make over with explanation of the key features of each segment of a peloton and what you might expect if you find yourself riding there – from hammering on the front to the trailing mess and surging that can happen at the back end. A few laps of the course in our bite sized ‘pelotons’ later and we were starting to get a feel for it. 

With an eye on the team time trial being later in the morning the next drill was aimed at improving cornering, with particular focus on choosing better lines and increasing speed. After a run through on position, with a lucky rider being primped and preened into a straight outer leg, hands on drops, chest on stem, eyes around the corner, lean the bike over, keep your centre of gravity over the cranks position, and, a run through in real time by the Velobourne-GIANT mentors, we were sent out on the course to do our darnedest. A few laps later, and, some more feedback, we’d all improved our performance through corners 2 and 4.

Last we got into a little bit of race tactics with the concept of the dummy attack – look like you’re going off the front but don’t put too much effort in because the second attempt is where it’s at. With a bit of practice I think we had the nuts and bolts, but we were clearly fooling no one with the dummy attack, it being a drill where everyone knew what was happening and all. But next race, watch for it to be put into action!
 
And then I finally got my coffee from Mikey at Soul Kitchen. Totally worth it. 
 
Contributor: Sarah Lockie 
  
From all of the riders who participated in Latte Laps this season, and, from SKCC, we would like to extend an enormous thanks to Rob Crowe and his Ridewiser team for putting on another professional and informative instalment of Latte Laps for season 2011/12.  If you are interested in following up on some of the services on offer from SKCC ClubPRO Rob Crowe head on over to the SKCC website (Training) for further information. Don’t forget there’s a ClubPro ride on this weekend (see below).
 
Finally, what would Latte Laps be without the dependable help from our trusty ride mentors from Velobourne-GIANT.  A big thanks to Danny Cohen and his team from Velobourne-GIANT for giving up their time to ensure that Latte Laps was another huge success.
 
Until next season ….