[Closed] Anyone ride track?

I don't have much experience of Manchester but I would imagine it follows a similar routine to any track. I expect they have organised sessions that you could turn up to and pay (a lot) to ride at. These will probably be run by one or more of the local clubs (sportcity velo I think) or you can book the track for a period of time and ride it, this is very expensive even with a large group of people and you will need to book months in advance. I believe Manchester is run at a loss despite the fact that it is basically fully booked all the time, a mate commented that £50.00 for 2days racing was super super cheap when we did the student champs. I was looking into getting a private session at newport and it was going to be about £40.00 each for a group of 10.

Iain

The Manchester prices are a bit cheaper than those you've listed and I'm aware of the Structured Training Sessions they run

I'm coming at this from a running back ground, where each track has a club operating out of it and if you want to race on the track you need to train on the track and race for your club. Most tracks you can turn up and pay and run round and do whatever sessions you want. Is this not the case with velodromes?

I guess with a shorter track and faster speeds there might be safety issues with people doing different sessions at the same time, but then I thought that's what the accreditation process was for.

You need to be very clear about the accreditation process at Manchester, 1 or 2 of the coaches can be particularly grumpy and it really is a matter of luck. Don't think you can just rock up for a taster session and do the blue ticket by demonstrating you can get round without falling off. One of the criteria is that you can ride safely in a group which also involves passing by the lead rider going up the banking with the follower riding through underneath, you need to demonstrate looking over your shoulder before during and after this manouvre. It also means that if you are there on your own with a group of strangers who are complete novices or don't want to play ,you are stuffed. I have been 3 times and each time I've made my desire to do my accreditation known to the coach. As I've been on my own the response has usually been, you'll be lucky with this lot! Next time I'm taking some pals who will be thouroughly schooled in the procedure. Back to the question, once you have your blue ticket you can proceed to the improvers sessions which should be easier to progress from as everyone is trying to do the same thing. Then when you get your Pink ticket, you can attend the structured training sessions or join the LVRC if you are over 40 which runs their own training sessions. The answer to whether you can just turn up and ride is generally no as the track is booked up but if you join a club, you can ride with them. Sorry if I've got blue and pink mixed up but it is definitely a 2 stage procedure. I tend to think that the Velodrome is content for numpties to turn up and have a pootle round for a tenner, the coaches only seem to be there to get them going and keep an eye on them rather than encouraging the riders to progress.

Interesting comments. It reads like a three slip process on the website, there's a green slip as well that you've missed out. They really need a flow-diagram on the website as the text makes it all a bit confusing. Especially as they seem to refer to certain sessions with more than one name! I vaguely know what I'm doing in terms of getting accredited, it was the post-accreditation stuff I'm really interested in.

I went with a group of 14 people that I knew for the taster session last night, not a block-booking, but no one else had signed up, so not a problem to get a group together that want to get accreditation. I hadn't realised that I needed to do the blue slip stuff that session, or I could have done it last night, but not really a problem to go back with the same group for that purpose.

I was expecting a bit more from the coaches, we were shown how to ride safely, then left to do whatever we wanted for 45 minutes. I was expecting to be given drills and things to do to develop skills etc. but it was very good regardless.

Anyway, so it looks like you can't just turn up and ride. Do you know what the clubs that run sessions are at all? I did have a look but couldn't find any club's that weren't Juniors only.

Maybe I don't know enough about track cycling training, but I'm struggling to reconcile the fact that I'm finding it quite difficult to get into, the fact that there aren't many velodromes in the UK and the fact that we're so good at it as a country.

You can't just turn up and ride round (and to be honest, track riding is only any good when there's lots of people on it, doing it on your own is incredibly dull!)

Have a look at the sessions. This time of year is always really quiet so it's easy to get onto whatever session you want, use this time to develop skills, work towards your accreditation etc. There is a definite progression to it: taster > improver > skills > accreditation after which you can do the SQT sessions.

Some of the coaches are content to run the same session over and over without much attention on developing the riders, other coaches are much better and mix things up a bit, actually coach the riders, talk them through what they're doing wrong, how they need to improve etc but it's very much a case of just doing as many of the sessions as you can.

Ok, that's fine. So do track cyclist not do structured training on the track then as a rule? When I was running I'd be at the track twice a week to do things like 5 x 1 mile with 2 mins recovery or 12 x 400m with 60s recovery etc. It wasn't really about having fun or not being bored, but about getting faster at running around a track. What do track cyclists do to train?

What do track cyclists do to train?

They do the structured sessions (SQT - Structured Quality Training), which develops track skills. EDIT - it isn't just riding round in a line. Loads of intervals, through and off, taking laps solo, in pairs, threes or fours....

Fitness is gained by riding a bike the rest of the time, whether long miles, intervals, turbo, etc.

Proper training comes through racing the track leagues.

Depends on what you want to achieve. The SQT sessions usually go on the following format:
15-20 min warm up
Lapping to the whistle (coach blows a whistle each lap at set intervals (say 25 seconds down to 18 seconds and back up again), lead rider has to cross the line on the whistle. Teaches pace control)
Gaining laps in 4s, then 3's, then 2's (bunch in line on the blue, blow whistle, first 4 drop to the black, gain a lap then join the back of the bunch - repeat in groups of 3 and 2)
"Friendly" scratch race (basically increasing pace on the black line for 30- laps then you're allowed to "race" for the win)
Bit of skills work: riding 2 abreast, changing in pairs, moving up/down the track etc

Sprinters will tend to do efforts in between all that, 2-3 lap warm up, 200m all out effort, then off. SQT is stop start, you don't stay on the track for the whole 2 hours, it'll be do a session for 20 mins, rest while the sprinters do their bit, then on for 30 mins etc

There are also sprint, madison and derny sessions (Derny is the small motorbike that you ride behind for shelter)

For full on racing skills you want the Monday League or Friday League races. There's a Tuesday League as well which regularly gets the likes of Ed Clancy etc turning up so you only do those if you're VERY good!

Cool, ok, will crack on with the Accreditaion process and let my Girlfriend know I need another bike. Don't worry, this one will be cheap, it's got no brakes or gears.............

To be fair, the hire bikes at Manchester are actually very good, certainly good enough to do accreditation and basic SQT sessions on. You really only need your own bike once you start getting a bit more advanced. I used the hire bikes for ages before finally getting my own track bike.

What does it cost for the SQT sessions and what does bike hire cost?

Yeah, the bikes are very good, no issues, but n+1 and all that......

2hr SQT sessions £10.20 plus bike hire £10.50.

2hr Skills/Induction sessions £14.80 including bike hire.

1hr Taster session £10.20 including bike hire.

Basically, bike hire included for all sessions pre-accreditation. Once accredited you have to pay for bike hire - so a perfect excuse/opportunity to buy yet another bike!

http://www.nationalcyclingcentre.com/prices.html

The price list makes interesting reading. Session Charge, check, Bike Hire,check, Helmet and Shoes, check, badminton racquet to **** anyone overtaking on the inside,check. 🙂

I've done a few taster sessions as a guest of Somerset Tri who had a spare slot a few times, this was at the Newport velodrome, I don't recall the price being too steep, the coaches though, were excellent, the last time it was rising BC star Luke Rowes dad, Courtney. Great fun, and a tough workout.