Games

For Michael's 11th birthday we hired Reading velodrome and invited ten of his friends (plus little brother Peter) to partake in some velocipede themed frivolity. All the evidence is that it was a great success. Most of the games don't need a velodrome, any open space would do, and some could be played indoors.

The velodrome insisted on plastic prophylactics for all concerned, but to be honest I wasn't that fussed because there was plenty of shade to cool off again and there was a fair chance of spills due to the nature of the events. Amazingly, helmets were not mandated for the naming of the parts relay, which was the one race where falling over was probably most likely. But they weren't riding bikes at the time so That's Alright Then. Silly bloody rules, whatever next? My friend Dr. Bob says that velodromes have required lids since way back, due to the dangers of track cycling. I bow to his superior knowledge.

Bike Scrutineering
We gave each child a checklist to assess their bike. We used the ACT Dr. Bike checklist. We backed that up with an inspection by an experienced adult cyclists (that would be me, then), particularly including a brake check, and performed any minor tweaks like brake alignment and indexing.

Races
Races need a circuit of some sort, but that could just be round the playground. We had a whole velodrome, just short of 500m per lap, which was much better. We followed the BHPC practice of having one timekeeper per race participant. We borrowed stopwatches from the boys' school; the velodrome had them as well. We ran two heats round the track, a bit over one minute per lap, and collected the times to put in their party pack. We bought a chequered flag for a fiver from Al's Superstore (I kid you not) and mounted it on a pole made from a garden cane, which was plenty good enough. You only need 12-18" of "handle" on a flagpole for this purpose.

Naming of the Parts
As a recovery activity, a pop quiz, matching names of parts to the parts themselves. You can be as obscure as you like, but remember nobody has cotter pins anymore...

Obstacle Relay
Two teams of six, two parallel lines of half-cones at 1.5m spacing (which turned out to be harder than it looked!) with one outlier at the end. Wiggle out through the cones, round the outlier and back down the outside as fast as possible, the next team member starts when their returning partner crosses the start line. The kids decided to have three goes round each at this.

Slow Race
Slow bicycle races are a perennial favourite: 25m or 50m, last to cross the line wins. We played in two groups of six, each rider paired with an observer who put up their hand at the point of any infraction - usually putting a foot down. In the first heat nobody made it all the way, in the second only one did, so in the first heat the winner was the one who got furthest before putting the foot down.

Naming of the Parts Relay
Three teams of four, each equipped with a single bike. Three adults, a reasonable distance away, holding a series of small sticky notes with the names of bike parts on them (hub, crank, brake lever etc. - varying difficulty). The team members run in turn to their adult, collect a part name, attach it ot the correct part of the bike (with help if needed from team mates). Once the sticker is attached the next ream member goes for their sticker. Scoring: three points for first finished, two and one for second and third; then one point for each correctle places label.

Roadsign Quiz
20 road signs posted up around the stadium, with a list of descriptions. Match the signs to the descriptions. Add a few ringers if you like!

Bicycle Limbo
The limbo pole was a bamboo cane on two folded aluminium supports, running up and down on a pair of 5ft high wooden posts. We started with the pole at the top and went down first by 6" and then in 2", then 1" increments as progressively more kids hit the bar. A clear run is getting under the bar without knocking it off and without putting a foot down.  Three lives for this game, each dab or pole-off loses one life.  The lives were smiley stickers, they got to choose the colour, so even losing was accounted desirable!  You might have classes for different wheel sizes, or calculate the winner from the lowest margin above their handlebar height. Michael's technique is impressive: he gets off the saddle, over to one side of the bike as if scooting, and crouches down.  He can get down to less than 2" above handlebar clearance!

Wheel Rolling
One of the reserve games as it can be played indoors. Two teams, each has a front wheel with a reasonably well inflated tyre (QR axle removed). Roll the wheel alojng between two lines, the distance is measured to the point where it strays out of the lines or falls over. Furthest wins.

Puncture Relay
Anther reserve game - my dad inventedthis, actually, but he used a car with a spare wheel (it was for guides aged about 14 and over). Remove wheel, tyre off, hold up the tube for the ref. to see, then reassemble. Track pumps (and help with tyre levers etc. for the machanically challenged) provided.

Devil Take The Hindmost
In this race everyone starts together and rides round the track. At the end of each lap the last person to cross the line is called in, the field reducing by one. Lapping is not allowed. The winner is either the last one left, or in some cases the first to cross the line when the field is down to, say, three, with the last lap being run as a straight race. A great way to use up those last few Joules of spare energy and send them home well and truly tired out.