Participants at a three-day cycling coaching camp organised by Kaden Hopkins and Conor White hailed the initiative.

Overseas-based Hopkins and White used their time in Bermuda to impart their knowledge to 30 of the island’s up-and-coming talent at Clearwater Beach in St David’s. Disruption to the schedule caused by strong winds saw the closing day moved to last Saturday.

The car park at Clearwater was buzzing with excitement on the final day, as the participants, from the age of 8 to 16 were taught how to negotiate corners and how to handle actual road-racing situations.

“It was very fun, I enjoyed it and learnt a lot,” said Sofia Leclerc, 12.

“I learnt how to corner properly and I learnt how to do emergency braking.

“The coaches coached us very well, they kept the sessions entertaining, they’re really good coaches.

“I’ve been on a bike for a while, probably since I was five. I want to go out and compete away against really good people.

“I did a time-trial last year and I placed second in that, which was exciting because it was my first one.”

Austen Carr, 8, the youngest participant, also picked up some valuable lessons on negotiating corners and how to conserve energy in a race.

“I was taught that when you’re cornering you always put the inside foot up,” Carr said.

“For races, try not to be in front, it’s better to be in the middle of the pack, so that at the end, you can sprint and get the win.

“I’ve had a road-racing bike for a year and done one small race.”

Rohan Roopra, 12, a triathlete who this year represented the island at the Carifta Triathlon, Aquathlon and Mixed Relay Championships in Bahamas, saw the coaching camp as a great opportunity to boost his cycling.

“I wanted to enhance my cycling skills so I could get faster times in upcoming triathlon events because running is my biggest strength,” Roopra told The Royal Gazette.

“We’ve learnt signalling, cornering if you’re really going fast, how to handle it without sliding off. We learnt how to cycle on the road safely.

“I think I took cornering very well because usually in races I would lose time going around corners, and now I can save time.”

Jens Drea, another member of Bermuda’s team at last year’s championships, took part in the camp to find ways to improve in the three aspects of triathlon.

The 12-year-old was the youngest rider in the President’s Cup, a gruelling 56-mile race held a fortnight ago.

“They taught us a lot on road safety and the characteristics of cornering, indicating to let the people behind you know what you’re doing,” Drea said.

“I took part in the Presidents Cup, which was a lot of fun, but I didn’t do too well in it though.

“This training I thought it would be a great experience to learn stuff I haven’t learnt yet. I feel cycling can help other disciplines, too, like I do triathlon, I believe it can help my running by strengthening my legs, it all links together.

“Cycling is my biggest strength, but I’ve also been doing a lot of swimming lately, so I’m picking up on that and my running is very good as well.

“The coaches were great, they taught us a lot, how to corner perfectly.

“They taught us how to be safe on the roads, they basically gave us life lessons.”

Those sentiments were echoed by Skye Ferguson, 15, who was one of the two junior females who took part in the President’s Cup.

“It was a good experience for us to learn new skills and to better our racing, it felt so fun to spend time with everybody here,” she said.

“We did a lot of cornering and it’s really good for me. We’ve done quite a bit of group riding skills and bike handling, which I feel will be better for my group riding and training.

“The coaches were very understanding, they definitely put time into everybody, and they tried to help us with new riding skills.

“I would love to see more girls take part in cycling, we don’t have a very big group of female cyclists.”

Hopkins, a member of the Vendée U cycling team in France, worked with those aged between 13 and 16.

“On the final day, we focused on race-specific stuff,” Hopkins said. “The first days were about bike handling and how to ride in groups.

“I took my group out and we did some more laps, some of the rotation stuff and then we came back.

“We spoke about the difference between road racing and time-trials, and how you prepare for them differently.

“The participants were all good listeners, all the techniques that we taught them.

“Even though they couldn’t get them straight away, as soon as you said to them all keep your eyes up, keep your inside foot up, they did it straight away.

“I got into cycling pretty late, I didn’t start riding on the road until I was about 15.

“There’s definitely children that were in my group that showed a lot of potential and looked like very capable riders.

“I know a lot of them are already getting into the racing scene, and it would be nice to look around in a couple of years to see where they are.”

Hopkins is planning to use his time on the island again at the end of next year to mentor the budding riders.

“This camp was a huge success,” he said. “Next year we expect younger participants, the older ones that were here, they’ll be a year older, a year stronger and more capable when they come back.

“Then we will be able to go into a little bit more in-depth about techniques and concepts of racing.”

White, who races for Austin Aviators in the United States, focused on the younger participants, a group he found fun to work with.

“It’s great to come out here and teach these children some of the stuff that we know,” White said.

“We’re trying to inspire the next generation to keep riding, get better, with us coming in and giving them pointers.

“It was great working with the youngsters, I enjoyed it. Hopefully it’s not the last time we’re doing it.”