Velodrome session No2 Aug 28 2010

An open invite from the Bury Clarion to attend a track training session held at the Manchester Velodrome went out to other Clarion members and the North Cheshire Clarion with myself and Anthony rallied to the call. I set out a little early because of the media predictions of travel chaos over the bank holiday weekend so I and my son Adam arrived an hour early - the roads were clear after all. Arriving really early gave us the opportunity to watch the previous session as they raced around the 'drome. Don't ask me what was going on but but there was some serious speed flying around and although I didn't recognise any of the riders one bloke came off the track with the name of Chris Pritchard on his top tube, who's Chris Pritchard? apparently he's been selected to represent Scotland at the 2010 Commonwealth games in Delhi, did we witness some medal winners practising?

Our turn now and all 14 from Bury, Stockport and North Cheshire Clarions gather around our coach as she explains the exercises she wants us to perform. Myself and Ant are not accredited unlike the majority riding today but we want to be so ask coach if she can put us through our paces towards getting on the accreditation ladder.


She explains what she wants us to do and sends us on our way. After 15 minutes or so she's confident that we will fit in OK with the more experienced track riders and has us join them. During the rest of the session we are put through some gruelling exercises with little opportunity for any real rest between exercise. One of the exercises involved having two groups of seven riding at a constant pace half a lap apart and when coach blew her whistle the first two from each group had to sprint off the front to catch up with the other group and tag onto the back of it. The pace of this this exercise was just about manageable cruising the blue line for a few laps until it came time for my own effort at a sprint and that was hard really hard work to catch up to the group half a lap in front with my heart feeling that it was about to explode and it was a great relief to catch up with the group for a breather for a few laps before I found myself on the front again and had to do it all over again and again and again, this went on for maybe 30 minutes before the next exercise....

Here's a shot of yours truly on the front of this group riding the blue line during one of the exercises awaiting the coaches whistle...


And again sprinting off the front at the whistle dropping down to the black line.


All the various exercises were typically ridden at a fast pace (for me) throughout and towards the end, the last 15 minutes I was starting to tire. We stopped with 10 minutes left on the clock and I thought (hoped) she would now give us a chat and send us on our way but nooo she had one final exercise for us to do and that involved the whole group riding on the blue line at I think I heard her say 42 kph (approx 26mph) and upping the pace every lap. I lasted 5 minutes and called it a day as my legs were feeling like lead now after that last short break and couldn't keep up the speed so I eased off for a couple of laps before hanging up my bike for the session. With the fast pace we had all been riding at for nearly 2 hours my legs were now well and truly stuffed; at around the hour and a half mark the session had flipped from being challenging fun to a real battle of willpower over the fatigue developing quickly in my legs.

Here's a video filmed by my son of one of the exercises, one in which was run at 'recovery' pace but with the blow of a whistle whoever was on the front had to sprint off. I'm on the back in this so had already done mine.

On reflection the session was fun and interesting but combined with a real challenge both fitness wise and tactically. Coach came over to myself and Anthony for a chat at the end of the session and said we did really well and that she would be happy to ride alongside us on the track - high praise indeed, and we had achieved the first 'blue slip' level. She also pointed out that the whole session was ridden at a higher pace than normal and no wonder we were shattered, then we find out why the high pace when we discover that many riding today were training for the Clarion track Championships being held next week!!!


We had great fun as well as a great workout and we will be back for our next step towards accreditation but can it wait a few weeks so our legs can well and truly heal from the onslaught that was inflicted on us today?

Photo's from today

NCC Take to the Boards...

The day I had been looking forward to had finally arrived, today 15 of the North Cheshire Clarion descended upon the wooden boards of the Manchester Velodrome in an attempt to emulate our Team GB cycling heroes in a one hour taster session. The icing on the cake would have been a glimpse of Sir Chris if by some remote chance we bumped into him but alas that wasn't to be...

Arriving at the 'drome we picked up our shoes from reception, got in a quick change and headed up the ramp to grab our hire bikes which were all set up with our names on the top tube so it was just a matter of finding your bike and walking it up into the 'D' enclosure in the centre of the track and hanging it up. The previous hirers were still riding so that gave us newcomers a chance to have a look around to see what we had coming. My first impression was just how steep the boards are; 42.5 degrees on the bends I read somewhere on the Velodrome website, looks very steep indeed and would soon find out just how steep.

Our hour comes and we are called onto the track. We are split into two groups, those who have already ridden a taster session and those who haven't - I was a haven't. The alreadys were told to ride above the blue line, the highest line in single file with just a couple of feet between bikes at a fast pace for 15 minutes. This group wanted its accreditation so were given this task to perform.

Us newbies were given a brief speech about the 'do's and the dont's' and was set off to ride a few laps of the azure which is a bluish band on the first 3 feet of the boards. The only worry for me and probably all of us was not to forget that we needed to keep pedalling or else the horror story is a floor head-butt as you fly over the bars. A couple of laps of this and I was ready for more, I found it surprisingly easy to come to terms that you do not lean into the bends as you would do on the road and just let the bike find its own path with NO leaning; I did nearly come a cropper though when after a few laps I attempted to ease up slightly by trying to coast only to be immediately reminded by my legs being forced to keep pedalling that this idiot is riding a fixed wheel bike - the first and last time that I forgot...

We are pulled over after a few minutes of this and just the act of stopping presents another new challenge because of the fixed wheel and NO brakes - yup you read that right you cannot brake simply because there are NO brakes on a track bike. You are also told to never clip in or out unless you are stopped and holding onto the hand rail that rings the inside of the track so that means picking a spare spot ahead amongst the other parked bikes then plan to slow down just enough to cruise onto that spot and grab that spare patch of hand rail without falling over, it's a bit like an aircraft trying to land on an aircraft carrier, well maybe that's an exaggeration but you get my drift...

Next we are told to go up to the black line and do as the other group were doing but keeping a bikes length apart. After 10 minutes of this the line sort of fell apart and we were all doing our own thing. Next the highlight of the night, the mock race, an individual pursuit of 2 laps (500 metres) but as a team affair with each individual result counting for the team. So two teams on opposite sides of the straight are lined up to race each other. On my side Antnee is first to go racing Phil J on the other side. Next it was my turn. I clipped in and with a shove set off to race Gaz who was shoved off on the opposing straight to race me. Into the first bend I went with a full bore all out effort that lasted for the duration of the two laps accompanied with shouts from our coach to "stay on the black line" as I drifted on occasion. The bell was rung for the 2nd and last lap ding ding, I powered into the last two bends and over the finish line - I won I was told... I really enjoyed that and two laps was just about right for me in this sprint, I was really out of breath come the finish line and it took me a further half a lap to come to a stop.

After the mock 'race' we had five minutes left to ride the boards and I took the opportunity to ride high into the bends which was scary indeed for the first bend but just as long as I didn't think about being so high and kept the speed up I was OK. I enjoyed riding high and fast through the bends and powering down the straights only to climb back up high into the next bend and repeat - hard work but utterly exhilarating. The weird thing on the bends was overtaking someone on the outside by a gap of say 6 feet and yet their head is at your foot level...

So a great evening was had by all and I thoroughly intend to be a regular visitor to the Velodrome I enjoyed it that much...


Do my legs really look that out of proportion!?!
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