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@Polka_Dot
Hi PS, thanks for the intro to the Pharoah.
I had a great time at the track today. It was the Beast's first proper outing and it went extremely well.
I decided not to use ceramic wax and instead, this morning applied to the chain a sparing amount of ProGold.
To get to the track I decided to use trains; a walk to Finsbury Park, a change between KC and St Pancras and then a walk from HH station to the track. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, but I don't want to go through that every time.
On the track all the bits worked perfectly and I had quite a lot of fun whooshing around. In fact one chap got a bit grumpy with me after I failed to resist the urge to surge off of the front of a group. 'Why are you accelerating?' He complained. I shrugged, frowned and answered 'because it's fun.'
I felt comfortable and confident in the intermediate session. I was faster than some people and some people were faster than me. Not doing too badly, but some work to do. A nice position to be in I think.
After the training session I spectated for a while. I had a chat with Scoot, who knows all about the to-drill-or-not-to-drill predicament and got a look at her clamp on brakes. Later I helped out in the works party, mostly working on the hire bikes; changing gears, truing wheels, wrapping fresh bar tape. I wanted to sweep the track, but it was busy all day.
The reward for helping out was tasty beef burgers from the barbecue. Better yet whilst munching on one of those burgers I was told I had earned a hook.
That is, a place in the storage for the Yellow Beast. I'm really chuffed with this and I feel a bit jammy to have got it. It's the best solution to the transport/drilling/tubs issue and the solution I wanted most.
The Yellow Beast's first visit to the track couldn't have gone any better.