ERC Coaching

I was in Edinburgh this weekend, obviously to see Rosemary and also to do a coaching day with my Scottish cycling club Edinburgh Road Club. It was an early start as I had to be at Ingliston for 9am.

The exciting bit of the journey was my 1st trip on the infamous Edinburgh tram. Whilst there are far better ways to spend public money on transport infrastructure, I'm glad to report a pleasant journey. The staff were friendly and immaculate, and I particularly benefited from free wi-fi for a podcast.

The day didn't begin perfectly. The computer I was given didn't have PowerPoint or anything compatible. Grrr.... but I had notes and flip chart paper which was sufficient. I was doing a "rolling" workshop programme with the other coaches doing some fun tests outside. The women's session was fun, with plenty interaction. The youths n juniors were a were more of a challenge and I'm glad that Alex, an ex-pro rider, was there to support and be the butt of many of my jokes!

We had some good coach-led racing in beautiful sunshine to end the day. It was great that the junior girls hung in there with the older blokes right to the death! There's plenty talent out there and the future is reasonably bright with such youngsters.

I got a lift into town where Rosemary was meeting me. Just enough time for a coffee and scone in Wellington Coffee, the best coffee and best scone establishment in Edinburgh. R arrived laden with an array of baking accoutrements....tins, cutters, piping bags.......even though she just 'needed' one tin. We visited a few other shops n then headed home for dinner. I fell asleep sofa shortly afterwards....was woken at bedtime and herded off to the correct place to sleep.