Early start again with the session starting at 7am. Quite a big group this morning 12 -18 riders all regulars of the Friday morning session. The coach taking the session was cheerful guy, after asking me if I knew the basics he told me to get out and do a couple of laps to get warmed up. We did a lot of drills this time so this will be the edited highlights.
First drill that springs to mind had us riding on the blue line the coach pointed at the first rider who would then move ahead and up higher on the track, after the whistle was blown he would move down onto the black line and do two laps flat out and join the back of the group. I did this in about 38 seconds
Another one I remember was a 25m sprint which went from the start line to a black marker on the first bend, everyone rode out and did their own thing as soon as you hit the white line sprint effort to the next mark. The coach stood on the line and shouted at anyone not giving it the hammer. When he blew the whistle it was the same thing except this time we had to do an out of the saddle effort, which if I am honest I was not keen to do! At this stage I can sit on the bike and hammer it no problem, can be a bit wobbly changing positions on the bar, and I can just about unclip without keeling over. Any shifting position in the saddle makes my legs go into automatic freewheel mode and expletives come out of my mouth. So here I am sneaking past not standing and thinking I'm getting away with it, next lap comes the call "Stand Up!" Getting out of the saddle OK... but as soon as I go to sit auto freewheel kicks in bike struggles a bit I get a bit sweary but it's OK. Next lap decide I don't want to try this on the blue line again go to the red bit slower speed and I've got the autopilot under control.
Last one I can remember was a sprint drill which was a bit of a disaster for me but still a good laugh. I didn't quite get what was going on but from memory I think we were riding on the blue line again and on the whistle the first rider begins to sprint, drops down to the black line as everyone follows along in line keeping the gaps at bay, effort over as the first rider hits the start finish and peels off. I was at the back for this one, I'm still getting my head around riding smoothly, so as you might imagine being at the back meant the gaps came quickly and quite often! I spent most of my time sprinting forwards to close the gaps down and trying not to blow up in between. This became more taxing as the other riders who were not so keen started peeling off in front of me leaving bike lengths to claw back. Not sure what it is about the track but seeing three bike lengths of space open up in front of you feels like a big problem that you have to nail back straight away for fear of never getting back on. I Never got a chance to do the sprint at the front but hung on and ended second in line, the rest of the group seemed to be scattered across the track by the end.
It was a really good session with a great group of riders really friendly and full of advice in between drills. Found it difficult to keep it smooth further down the line but drafting behind some of the better riders towards the front you could get a sense of the rhythm putting the power into the bend and sort of easing off coming onto the straight. Having a coach there is great fun too as they push you on a bit without being too heavy handed. I'll be off to Newport same time next week, and maybe after that attend a Wednesday session with the Pacer's depending on how confident I feel on the bike. In the meantime I intend to sign on for the 3 week improvers course so that I can do the accreditation test, not holding my breath with this one as I've heard there can be a rather long wait to get a place on the course.
Ta
P
