CYCLING: Following the exceptional growth of Great Yarmouth Cycling Club and the high demand from members to hold regular events, Tuesday, January 4 saw the launch of GYCC’s new club night at Cliff Park Junior School.

The first club night saw riders fix their bikes onto static turbo trainers and ride an intense one-hour ride assisted by the Sufferfest training DVD.

This is an audio-visual training video which provides riders a structured workout on a perceived 1-10 effort scale. The video incorporates a relaxed warm-up, some intermediate-paced riding alongside intense sprints and hill climbs.

The whole experience is rounded off with an upbeat soundtrack to get the blood pumping and some inspiring footage of professional Tour de France cyclists competing against each other — giving all those partaking some inspiration to push a bit harder!

The first club night was a huge success. Nearly 30 people attended including two new faces, Holly and Rob, who are new to cycling and came along to give the workout a try and to meet some like-minded people. The school hall was full of enthusiastic cyclists and it was a great encouragement to the organisers, who are hoping for a similar attendance next Tuesday.

This week also saw the EasyStart cycling programme resume at the Yarmouth Stadium on Saturday morning.

The venue, on Caister Road, saw riders brave the elements to get some lessons from professional coach Simon Edwards about race tactics and new ways of cycling.

All who attended left a lot wiser and thoroughly drained after pursuit riding, time trial training and 200m sprint races. The younger riders, who the EasyStart programme is aimed at, were able to show off their new Christmas presents whilst gaining some valuable experience in how to ride their bicycles safely whilst having fun.

If you are interested in attending one of the club nights, go along and meet a few new faces at Cliff Park Junior School every Tuesday evening at 7-9pm. Welcome is anyone of any age or ability, and the club has bikes and turbo trainers available for anyone to use.

n For further information on this or any other club events, visit www.greatyarmouthcyclingclub.co.uk or call club chairman, Norman Harlow, on 01493 652183.