Twelve riders left St Neots on a Sunday morning that was perfect for cycling.  Indoors.  The remnants of tropical storm Bertha were travelling up through the UK as we headed to the Olympic Velodrome for our track day and we chuckled at the thought of anyone braving the club run or Ride London that day.

Arriving at the Olympic Park, a number of us promptly got lost on the way through to the velodrome.  Had nobody thought to bring a Garmin with a route loaded?  Myself, Alec and Mark were quickly back on course and our minor detour meant passing the pro teams as they warmed up for the Ride London Classic.  Hordes of people were gathered around the Team Sky bus, no doubt hoping a stray Dogma would be flung in their direction.  Simon had managed to go even more off course than us and eventually resorted to taking the most direct route to the velodrome, cutting through the undergrowth and glaring at any security guards that might have considered challenging him.  Wayne and Stephen arrived late, having driven down relying on a SatNav that wasn't much help with the road closures in advance of the day's road race. Wayne never even found the changing room as we can see in the photo on the left.

Eventually, the twelve of us gathered on the velodrome infield.  A few friends and family had gathered in the stands armed with cameras, no doubt hoping for a few comedy mishaps courtesy of any rider(s) that decide to try freewheeling...

The Dirty Dozen - never realised Andy was so short

For those unfamiliar with track riding, the bikes are fixed wheel and have no brakes.  Quite a daunting combination as it quickly becomes apparent that you can't coast to a stop and -- obviously -- can't brake, either.  The trick is to gradually apply backward pressure on the pedals to scrub off speed:  Too little pressure and you don't slow down quickly enough.  Too much pressure and the bike tries to kick you off like an ornery mule.  An added complication is that both feet need to be clipped in before you get going, because it's very difficult to clip in while moving due to the lack of a freewheel.  Simon would ably demonstrate this toward the end of the session.  Narrower-than-usual handlebars meant a twitchy ride for anyone who didn't get onto the drops quickly, too.

Of the twelve riders, only Colin and Chris had ridden track before, so we started the three hour session with basic techniques in the safety zone (the flat, off-track area): Starting, controlling pace and stopping.  It took a couple of laps to get used to the lack of a freewheel, but one learns quickly when the consequences feel so unpleasant.  We quickly graduated to riding up on the track itself, riding laps in single file on the sprint line, before simulating overtaking by riding higher up on the home straight, passing to the right of our coach before dropping back to the sprint line for the remainder of the lap.  We moved through various other techniques and learned how to overtake other riders safely (always on the right and always shouting, "Stay!"), move between the different areas of the track safely, how to ride on the higher sections of the track and how to use the banked corners to gain (or lose!) speed.  Track stands up at the top of the banked corners were, thankfully, not covered.

                                         Being briefed                                                           This is how you start

After several laps of riding in close formation groups, sprinting and proving we could ride through-and-off both in pairs and larger groups without breaking anyone or -- more importantly! -- the bikes and the track, we were ready for the two main events of the day: The Scratch Race and the Flying Lap.

First up was the Scratch Race.  We would all ride out together with the last rider over the start/finish eliminated at the end of each lap.  Attempts to ride the warm up laps in formation weren't quite as successful as our coach had hoped, with some riders getting a little bit of a head start before the race began.  Once the racing started, it was fantastic fun, with riders employing techniques learned through the session to overtake safely, timing their push to avoid being the last rider over the line after each lap.  Those overtaking had to work hard, as they were pushed higher up the track in order to try and move up through the group, so trying to use the drop off the banking to build speed was an important technique.  As the field was whittled down to the four fastest riders, the real racing started.  Simon, sitting in fourth, decided to sprint hard coming on to the home straight in order to stay in the race, but pulled up too hard on the pedal and unclipped.    Fortunately, he was able to maintain control of the bike, although scrubbing off speed with just one foot clipped in while trying to keep his unclipped foot high and out of the way, while maintaining balance through the corners was probably harder than it looked.  And it didn't look easy.  The remaining racers pushed on oblivious to the drama unfolding behind them and a couple more quick, hard laps saw Wayne emerge victorious, by a whisker.

Riding the track

After a brief respite, we were lined up for the Flying Lap.  Each rider would go out alone and complete three laps of the circuit.  The first would be used to gather as much speed as possible, gaining height on the banked corner before the home straight and then dropping down fast through the start/finish, where the second lap would be timed.  The third would be to scrub off speed safely.  Colin, Alec and Mark all posted good times, but Simon's 17.81 was the early benchmark and saw off subsequent efforts from Roger, Tom, myself and Chris. Jacob was ninth on track and he pinched top spot with a very quick 16.75, which David was unable to challenge.  Wayne and Stephen were still to ride and both were expected to put in quick laps.  Wayne's 16.38 nudged Jacob into second spot and Stephen's 17.37 was enough to elbow Simon off the podium right at the death.

The session finished with twenty minutes of free riding on the track, although many of us were feeling our legs after 3 hours of hard riding and used the time for warming down rather than trying to break any velodrome records.  Everyone that rode agreed it was a great day and a fantastic experience.  Now, if only they'd build that velodrome in Trumpington...

Flying Lap Results

Wayne            16.38
Jacob              16.75
Stephen          17.37
Simon             17.81
Tom               18.06
Roger             19.13
David             19.37
Alec               19.87
Colin             20.38
Andy             21.00
Chris             21.00
Mark             22.88

Write-up by Andy Mac, Photos by David Hennessy