Richardson’s CC Track Session – Sunday 19^th February 2012

We have managed to secure another 2 hour track session at the Manchester Velodrome on Sunday 19^th of February, 3 till 5pm. This is our fourth trip to the velodrome and it is always a fantastic experience as those members that have been before will acknowledge. If you haven’t been before I urge you to come along and have a go. It is quite a daunting prospect to ride a bike that has no brakes, no freewheel and ride on a wooden track with very steep banking, but it is extremely exhilarating and will give you an insight into what our Olympic Cycling Champions put themselves through. Don’t be put off though, my 10 year old niece has ridden the track with her Dad (my brother, who will be coaching us) and she is now addicted!

The cost of the trip will depend on how many people attend. The hire fee for the track is £200 and this will be split between the number of riders on the day. Unless you have your own track bike you will need to hire a bike at a cost of £10.50, or £8.00 if you are under 16, for the duration of the session. This fee includes the hire of a helmet if required (according to the Velodrome website). The track bikes have ‘Look Delta’ pedals so if you have shoes with Look Delta cleats you can bring your own shoes, otherwise you are advised to hire shoes at the velodrome. The cost of shoe hire is £4.50. Pedal adaptors are available for younger riders so that they can ride in ‘clean’ trainers. The only other costs involved will be a collection for the coach as he is giving his time for free and the transport to and from the velodrome. This will be arranged nearer the time and will involve car sharing to keep the cost to a minimum.

This session is open to all club members, and we hope to get a good representation from the Youth Academy. The only restrictions are that the smallest hire bikes have a frame size of 15.5 (39) and the Velodrome website advises that riders should be aged between 9 and 80 years old! If we get a lot of younger riders we may need to use an additional coach which may increase the cost slightly.

If you would like to book a place on the trip we will need a £10 deposit. To book your place please contact me directly – tmboyes@btinternet.com and I will tell you where to send your deposit cheques. Track sessions are very hard to secure and we have been very lucky to get another so please come along and support your club. The more we use it, the better our chances of getting future track time.

Toby Boyes

The track session was great - thanks to Toby for organising it and to Ivan for telling us what to do (”Go faster!”).

I'd never ridden a fixed wheel bike before and have to say I was a bit apprehensive about that, and the idea of not having any brakes… and riding on a big smooth slope… but it actually came fairly naturally.  After easing up onto the track proper, above the blue 'Cote d'Azure', I was surprised how steep the bit that wasn't even steep seemed.  But, after a few laps around the track and getting a feel for the bike and a bit of technique for pushing it round the banking it started to feel good.

We split into two groups - those with some experience and the beginners - and took it turns to do about 15 minutes on the track and 15 minutes off for a much needed drink and reflection on just how far we were going to go into the hurt box on the next session.  By the end even the beginners were riding in a rotating line, and had a bit of a 10 lap race at the end.  I really put the hammer down on that one and possibly overtook one of the children who was taking part.

It was a nice coincidence that my first track riding experience was the same weekend as the World Cup event at the Olympic Velodrome. That meant that when I was watching the highlights of the World Cup on TV later that evening, I was ableto give my family a few insights into Chris Hoy's technique based on my own experience.  Obviously they were pretty grateful for that.

Hopefully we'll get another chance for a club trip to ride the Velodrome, and I'd encourage anyone who is interested to give it a try because it's a great experience and surprisingly straightforward to get on the track and do some basic riding - it isn't too difficult to stop either.

So, thanks again to the club, and Toby (and Dave Myers for the lift).

Kevern