Rollapaluza Outreach CIC Teaching Materials
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Art, Design and Technology The construction and design of bicyles is an increasingly major industry, with huge companies like Specialized and Trek spending thousands on research and development. Approximately 105 million bicycles are made every year in the US alone. This is double the number of motor cars made every year. 100 bicycles can be produced for the same energy and resources it takes to build one medium-sized car. The most expensive bike was auctioned for £500,000 at Sotheby’s. It was a Trek Madone designed by artist Damien Hirst for Lance Armstrong. At the other end of the spectrum there are smaller ‘artisan’ companies that seek to tailor and personalise the bike specifically for the customer, like Condor Cycles of London, who have made the specially adapted frames for Rollapaluza roller racing. Design has always been a key part of cycling, with some cycling kits from the past being seen as ‘design classics’. Pictured below are the 2013 Team Sky, and Rollapaluza Cycling Club short sleeve jerseys.
On the next page we have set you the task of designing your own cycling jersey.
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Art, Design and Technology TASK: What do you think would make a fantastic cycling kit? Use the template below to create your own Rollapaluza kit.
Name: .......................................
My Rollapaluza Kit
The jersey is the key part of the design. The Rider must stand out amidst the peloton (bunch of riders) in order to be seen by teammates, but it also needs to be an eye-catching design in order to show the sponsor’s message – often on the TV.
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The Biology of Rollapaluza What happens when we exercise? Riding a 25 second roller race places a lot of demands on the body and makes you really work up a sweat. In the word search below are some of the things that are affected even by a very short race‌ see if you can find them all:
Muscles Heart rate Anaerobic Exercise
Skin colour
Oxygen
Lactic acid
Aerobic
For 5 of the words you have found write a sentence outlining what you think happens to the body and why that aspect might be important during intense physical exercise. For example, during power exercises such as sprinting, when the rate of demand for energy is high, lactic acid is produced faster than the ability of the tissues to remove it. This can hurt and affects your ability to keep going! If it happens too much in a race then you’re dropped!
English The Rollapaluza Race Reports! At a first glance, you might think that English has very little to do with Rollapaluza and bike riding… but you’d be wrong! Sports events are a riot of colours, sounds, movement and even smells and we need the best quality writing from students who have taken part or watched the events. We want to share the experience with others and your writing is the best way to do it! Think about a sporting event you have participated in. It could be a sports match like rugby or football or netball, or it might even be something indoors like a basketball match. What was the experience like? Using a mindmap is often the best way to get your initial ideas down on paper. For example, a swimming gala mindmap might contain some of these ideas:
Think carefully about the experience of Rollapaluza: it can be very exciting and noisy. After the event your task will be to write a report which explores the senses and really captures the excitement of the Roller Racing. Using a mind-map is the best way to get started, but it’s probably a good idea if you make really brief notes about the particular details you notice whilst enjoying the event. It might be a strange routine one competitor goes through, or the expression of an exhausted teacher as they try their best. It might even be something about the amazing blur of legs as the fastest racers do battle. We want your writing for Rollapaluza! We will put the best ones up on our website as a part of our schools’ report section. It’s a chance to get your writing out there for a wider audience, and you might even get your report in the school newsletter as well!
Music
The Rollapaluza experience is amplified by music, whether it’s our resident DJ playing the tunes that he knows gets the riders worked up and ready to ride, or the music the competitors have on their iPods to get them ‘in the zone’. Bradley Wiggins loves to listen to music and you can regularly see him listening to his favourite tunes whilst warming up for the Tour de France. Fill in the chart below with some of your favourite tunes and explain the effect you think they would have on you.
People have often commented that the “BPM” or “Beats per minute” of a song they are listening to whilst exercising can have a really noticeable effect on their performance. A recent scientific study found the following things to be true. 12 healthy male students cycled while listening to a program of six popular music tracks of different speeds: The exercise lasted 25 minutes and was performed 3 times. Without telling the cyclists, the tempo of the music was changed between normal, up by 10% or down by 10%. The boffins measures the work done, distance covered, heart rate and and how much the music was liked. Speeding up the music increased these measurements by 3% Slowing the music produced falls of 7% The faster music was much more popular and the cyclists felt they weren’t working as hard In a nutshell: riders not only worked harder with faster music but also chose to do so and enjoyed the music more when it was played at a faster tempo. What sort of music might you listen to when exercising or even warming up for your Rollapaluza ride? Choose four tracks and think about why they might be suitable.
Physical Education and Sport Did you know? Nearly 30% of children in year 6 children are considered obese… if you include ‘overweight’ the statistic climbs to 40%. Increasing physical exercise to 3 hours a week can be the most significant factor in staying healthy and avoiding obesity for young people. Rollapaluza is a great gateway to cycling, encouraging people to try the increasingly high profile sport. It also shows that exercise is something that can be enjoyed by everyone. Cycling is one of the biggest growth participation sports in the UK. These are just a few fun (and not so fun!) facts about cycling: Cycling is great exercise: leisurely cycling (around 12 mph) burns calories at the same rate as very brisk walking (faster than 4mph) Cycling briskly burns 700 calories an hour (2 and a half Mars Bars) The highest speed ever achieved on a bicycle was 167.043 miles per hour; this is hopefully faster than you have been in any vehicle apart from an aeroplane. In the early 1900s special events known as 'six-day races' were held in velodromes. The riders had to ride for 6 days, without stopping. It was very difficult indeed and sometimes they got so tired they began to hallucinate. On a bicycle you can travel 3 times faster than you can walk for the same amount of energy. For example, your journey to school or a mate’s house could take 5 minutes instead of 15 minutes and may even be quicker than in a car. Cycling is a low impact aerobic exercise; it’s good for the knees and joints and is an excellent way of losing weight TASK: Research and design an A4 leaflet that encourages students to cycle to school. Think carefully about your image choice and the message you are trying to put across. Don’t forget that cycling is fun! You can use some of the ideas in this booklet if you wish!
Teaching materials written by Paul Jones on behalf of Rollapaluza Outreach CIC Rollapaluza Outreach CIC 56 O’leary Square London E1 3AR www.rollapaluza.org Tel: 0843 289 7112 Email: info@rollapaluza.org