Holding an Informal Clinic
This is simpler than it seems. All you need are a few relatively experienced racers, even better if you can hunt down a local pro racer to come chat and show off some skills. Then, find a spot. If you have a local cyclocross course like we did in Southampton, consider yourself lucky, but any field in a public park can work. Set up homemade PVC barriers, maybe a few flags for corners, and you’re ready to host a clinic. Need some ideas for what to cover and how to cover them? Check out our Training Section.
Ladies got a chance to practice their skills in a fun, casual environment at the first women’s cyclocross clinic.
Topics can include:
- Dismounts, Barriers, Remounts and putting them all together
- Basic equipment needs
- Run ups, sandpits
- Cornering
- Gear choices
- What to expect at a race
Again, it’s not something that needs to be a complicated affair. There are many advantages to going to a professional clinic, but if time and money are difficult to come by, sometimes, keeping it local, simple and cheap can work too. If you can do both, even better! But most importantly, cyclocross, especially at a beginner level, is about getting out, having fun, making friends, and maybe even learning some new tricks. Check out the gallery below: we had a blast, and some of the ladies had never even been on a real bike before. By the end of the night, the women had all managed to dismount properly, run over barriers, speed through so S-turns, and gain some serious confidence for their first or 50th races.
