CYCLING

 

OAKLANDS WOLVES CYCLING ACADEMY

 

About

FREERIDE: BMX, Downhill, Enduro, Dirt Jump, Trails, Pump Track and more

ENDURANCE: Road, TT, Track, MTB XC, Cyclo-Cross

We combine elite sports training with vocational or A Level courses to create the rounded performer.

REGISTER AN INTEREST here.

Our Cycling Academy aims to bring together talented and aspiring racing cyclists aged 16 to 18 in order to progress their skills, fitness and their capacity to become elite category senior riders. It’s the only one of its kind in the UK and as such has some of the country’s very best junior riders coming through it. The programme aims to expose all riders to as wide a range of cycling disciplines as possible throughout the two years whilst still allowing riders to specialise as individuals.

ACADEMY BOOKLET

ABOUT THE TRAINING PROGRAMME

The Cycling Academy provides the chance for talented aspiring riders to progress from the youth ranks right the way through to the senior ranks.

Our aim is simple: To help each and every rider develop their physiological capacity and racing to enable them to become the best rider they can.

This is achieved through a strong team ethic within the training group which trains together every day. Alongside this there is a full physiotherapy, strength and conditioning program run by our dedicated cycling-specific physiotherapy, strength and conditioning test.

TRAINING FACILITIES...

The structure of the week for both sides of the academy is the same : Train in the mornings and study in the afternoon, except on Wednesdays when the whole day is available for longer training, more sessions, trips and cycling related talks, webinars and one-off masterclasses with pro riders for instance. Gym sessions are spread throughout the week, with some being specific to Freeriders or BMXers and some tailored towards endurance riders. Our track sprinters and specialists also have excellent individual attention in the week from our S&C lead coach.

Freeride (Extreme trail, DH, DJ, Enduro, BMX)

Our freeride options are massively varied locally with lots of good trails; some built and some natural. Although not a vastly hilly part of Hertfordshire we know how to make the most of what we have at our disposal in order to bring the riders on. We also have a growing range of options on our St Albans campus with our own dedicated BMX Start gate machine and a unique MTB skills area and entirely man-made hill which has recently been created using over 90 lorry loads of soil and clay. Our riders are involved in the design and maintenance of trails and tracks as well as riding them. Finally, the St Albans Cycle hub has become very much the home of our freeride academy with it’s progressive Clark and Kent pump track and ever improving range of dirt jumps.

Endurance (Road, Track, ‘Cross, MTB XC)

The academy has Gosling Stadium Velodrome in Welwyn Garden City as a weekly training base where the academy has the track entirely to itself. The bulk of academy training takes place from our St Albans Campus, making the most of the quiet lanes, trails and fields surrounding the campus on the outskirts of St Albans. Rides take the academy into Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire, Greater London and Essex with regular haunts being ‘Little Flanders’ and the hills between Hertford and Essendon as well as the North Herts lanes stretching out from Whitwell and Codicote. Another regular target on longer rides is the Eastern end of the Chilterns, taking in classic climbs such as Ivinghoe Beacon and Bison Hill fairly regularly. Trail riding is also excellent straight from the off

TRAINING MODELS...

The training model on which the academy is based closely mirrors models found in elite athletics whereby the academy trains together day by day (allowing for individual peaks and tweaks) and the athletes then go back to their clubs and teams to reap the benefits gained within that environment.

Alongside your on-the-bike training you will have regular strength and conditioning (gym and plyometric) sessions in our performance gym with our specialist coaches and there will be specific slots for you to book massages/physio treatment with one of our academy therapists.

Endurance and Freeride

Details coming soon…

express your interest

COACHES 

Meet our coaches…

TEAMS