Lee Valley VeloPark - taster sessions!

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  • Cheers guys. Bit sad I can't take my bike but today turned out to be a bit of logistical nightmare and I didn't have time to collect it from the track over the weekend.

  • Well, that was bloody great. What a priviledge to have something like that within an hours travel of my house.
    Roll on stage 2.

    Oh, and the hire bikes are quite nice.

  • I'm ready to do my 3rd stage this evening. Much excite.

  • See you soon big daddy!

  • Session passed! Booked for the final exam for on the 24th of this month to hopefully be finally accredited! Definitely found stacking at lee valley more challenging tha at HH, just mainly due to the gradient from pushing the bike up the banking and controlling the speed of the bike when coming down and trying not too overshoot the rider's wheel below! But overall it was good fun and looking forwrard to the last stage.

  • Also congrats to roboto, scoot and Leo for passing! :)

  • I turned up 5 minutes LATE for my session. Luckily they were very accomodating. I had to hire bike and shoes too. I just got changed as the instructor reminded everyone how to ride a bike and got ready in time to join the group at the fence.

  • Anyone going today? Have my first session at 11.30
    I'm going to leave my bike home and use the hire ones...

  • On my taster session actually we rode the entire hour (just 10 minutes intro) and I've booked the session 2 for the next week, I can't wait :)
    I didn't really like the huuuuge head tube on the provided Condor but I guess is for general comfort...

  • As a 6 footer with longish legs I found the 56 fit well, but could have done with a little more reach on the bars. Need to get round to booking my stage 3...

  • I've got my taster session booked for a couple of weeks :) can't wait to have a go on a track! Only question is, do they have shoes that I can use ? or do I have to go through the hassle of changing my cleats.. which is waay to much effort for just an hours riding.
    Thanks

  • You're welcome.

  • You can hire shoes

  • Hello Wools

    Accreditted!

  • Yo, Arvy! Looking like a natural on them boards, SON.

  • Anyone knows what's the gear ratio on the hire Condors with the green tape on the top tube (assuming the tape tells the ratio)?
    49-?

    I forgot to ask

  • Did my stage 3 last night, a month after my stage two as they had no places available prior to that.
    The coach failed the whole group for one reason: Not enough indoor track time.
    I mean WTF?? It was like he just couldn't be arsed making individual assessments and decided to fail everyone instead. I was fuming, as were half the group.
    Went online to re-book session 3 as advised and guess what? 26th June is the next available session.
    So what do I do? How do i get more track time, I hear you ask? The advice given was: Book another session 2 to fill the time!
    So thats £150.00 so far and no guarantee that I'll actually pass session 3 let alone the accreditation. And still means that I have to take time off work as they don't offer anymore session 2's during the evenings or weekends. Day time only.
    I'm not impressed at all.

  • That sounds massively shit. If it's a 4-step accreditation process, how does getting more indoor track time come into it?

  • Exactly. And just exactly how does one get more track time without an Accreditation?
    Join a club and ride on their track sessions?
    Which means that club riders with absolutely ZERO track experience can ride without a problem, so long as they are doing it with their club. Ludicrous.

  • .

  • Riders who are experienced track cyclists from other tracks may find that they can complete full accreditation within 4 sessions.
    For those new to track cycling, especially indoors, it's unrealistic to expect to be riding at the kind of skill level that is assessed at stage 4 in just 3 hours of track time. Look at Herne Hill, even experienced track league racers do not always pass their accredition, and that's an outdoor track.
    I don't understand what is wrong with doing as many sessions as you need at whatever stage is appropriate for your current skill level.

    Full accreditation allows you to participate in SQTs and Track Leagues across all five cities velodromes (Manchester, Newport, LVVP, Derby and Glasgow). People have worked very hard to put a system in place which ensures a standard of riding is met at each stage of accredition. Not only is it unfair to progress riders to stage 4 unless they have shown competence at stage 3, but it's also unsafe. Once a rider achieves accredition, their BC license is endorsed with 'UK Velodrome Accredited'. It's actually a hard-earned, precious thing, which can also be suspended or revoked at any of the five velodromes if the rider does anything the coach or cycling manager deem to be dangerous.
    If you watch SQT sessions and track leagues at indoor velodromes, you will see how dangerous it would be to include riders who aren't quite yet ready for that level of riding.

    There isn't a great deal of detailed information around about this, but the UK wide system is a very new setup and LVVP has only been open a matter of weeks.

  • Granted, but how does failing an entire class, not due to any lack of ability or skill, but simply because they 'haven't had enough track time', achieve any of those goals? That's not maintaining the high standards of a well-thought-out (if poorly-communicated) training scheme - it's just bloody lazy.

    P.S. I'd be interested in knowing the coach's name too, as I won't be hanging around to waste my time on that sort of crap.

  • People were not "failed for not having enough track time". They were not progressed to stage 4 because they didn't meet the skill criteria during the session.

    More track time is the logical suggestion for improvement, not the reason given.

  • But surely experience counts to accreditation? It's a potentially dangerous sport, and if the coach thought the riders were too green, sounds fair that he didn't pass them. Mind you if this wasn't communicated as a factor in passing then that's understandable.

  • I have sympathy for the coach failing an entire group - if gaps and lines are all over the place it is just a dog's dinner and spotting the good ones would be impossible. The level after L3 is race accreditation, don't forget, and I really would expect pretty good quality riding from people I am racing with.

    Our club has a regular 2h session, alternate weeks, which we are using to get people through the accreditation process. This will take all summer given the numbers. Once all done we will only be allowing accredited riders on track.

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Lee Valley VeloPark - taster sessions!

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