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General Category => Track Cycling => Topic started by: Paul Nicholas on December 08, 2015, 12:43:09 PM
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So far this winter I’ve commuted to work less than ever and racked up an average of 60 - 80 miles a week on the turbo, so for fear of forgetting what it feels like to move in a forward direction whilst spinning the pedals (and ride at pace in a group) I decided to enrol in a couple of track sessions. Track has never appealed to me, but doing an hour a day on the turbo can have an effect on your mental health so last night I set the alarm for 5:15am enough time for coffee, breakfast and my journey to arrive in Newport for 6:50am.
There were two groups today a larger experienced group of 8-10 and a beginners group of 3. At first I felt a bit miffed that I would be pootling around the track with the slower group, but as I walked up the ramp with my bike to be confronted by a wall of wood I felt quite relieved.
The session was run really well. First off a couple of gentle laps around on the flat concrete section just to get used to the bike, picking the pace up on the straight section and using our legs to brake before we went into the corner. Next up briefing on how the different colour lines work and how fast we need to be in each section and a couple of laps on the cote d’azur building up to the black, red, and blue line. This was good fun and we tended to put the hammer down on the blue line for fear of sliding down the bank especially going into the corners. We did a group ride where on the whistle the lead rider had to go hard off the front to catch up with the back of the group, really good fun and first time hammering it, took about 2 laps to get back on at the back and was quite tiring not having gears to help with the effort. Finished up the session with a 5 mile group ride where we learned how to peel off which is slightly different to how you do it on the road. A flick of the right elbow lets the rider behind know that you are moving right, you move up the bank so the group ride past and come back down again to position yourself at the back of the group.
Session cost £10 and £10 bike hire, although this sounds expensive there is a coach there controlling the session and the bikes were in very good nick.
My next session with this group will be towards the end of January where I can go out with the big boys but I will most definitely be going up before that. It was the most fun I’ve had on the bike for a while and will gladly travel and pay £20 to do this over a turbo session.
Ta
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Glad you enjoyed Paul!
Tim has tried organising sessions for the club over the winter, without a great response from members to be honest. Hope your report will stimulate some interest and maybe we can get a club session organised again.
That first sight of the banking can be a bit intimidating, can't it?!
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I think I'm going up for the early bird session a week Wednesday. I've never been to the club chaingang but I would imagine that chaingang regulars would enjoy a session on the track.
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Warm and dry, what's there to compare to a wild Tuesday night on a windswept industrial estate!! ;D
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Excellent report Paul. It does sound a lot more fun than the turbo and less wind swept than the Winter Chain Gang!
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I used to ride the winter track league and it is easily the most fun you can have on two wheels!
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I got my days mixed up for the early bird sessions they are Wednesday and Friday 7am. I'm going up on Friday for a bit of a proper ride and to ask what other sessions I can attend now, and which courses I will need to enroll on to be able to race/do more structured training sessions. Idea being over the winter drop a 1 hour zone 2/3 turbo session in favour of some fun!
Ta
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