Lee Valley SQT Sessions

I've received emails about advanced sessions and now spaces on sessions that need more riders

@roboto what email address does it come from? I would like to sign up.

As I said. I didn't sign up for it. I guess there is an email list of accredited riders (and possibly lists for riders at other levels) and you would receive such emails when they choose to email you. Most information is about advanced sessions that are only available to accredited riders.

@roboto what email address does it come from? I would like to sign up.

If you email Velopark@leevalleypark.org.uk and ask to be put on the mailing list for extra/last minute SQT sessions, that'll probably work.

@SWH thank you.

What gear would you recommend for the endurance SQT? Would a 48x15 be too short? If I could avoid having to change the chainring to a 49t or 50t I would really prefer that...

What gear would you recommend for the endurance SQT?

Maybe @RPM might be able to shed some light on what's happening<

I don't generally discuss work on forums but I can tell you there are plans to increase SQT frequency and to increase the spaces on them (when coaching staff are available). However, it's envisioned that the track leagues will take up the majority of the endurance riders currently in SQTs.

Excellent news, thanks for the info. I'm actually looking to try out some sprint training at my next session. The main problem is I can only find Sunday evenings available online (earliest is October now I think) and, with my wife returning to work, I probably won't be able to make many Sunday sessions or know if I can so far in advance.

I doubt there'll be any changes to the booking system though.

Morning...

Can you use the hire bikes for the SQT sessions?
Or is the gearing on them just too low?

I am considering buying Nath's Leader but money is a big issue with me at the moment (single income family with a one year old kid), and I dont have a car to get my own bike out to Stratford so riding a track bike out there in the winter would just end up getting it filthy and not track compliant...

Thanks

Would not recommend a Leader for track use, they are very poor quality, better buying a second hand dolan if you can.

Yes, of course you can use the hire bikes. The gearing is what is recommended for the sessions anyway. Hiring does cost extra though, like during the accreditation sessions.

It's probably worth weighing up whether or not you'll be going to the track often enough to justify owning your own track bike. IME SQT sessions are getting booked out far too quickly, they just can't keep up with the demand.

the sprint ones will probably quieten down when people realise that a sprinter is not an enduro on the last lap of a scratch race.

If you can hire the bikes for the SQTs then I won't be buying my own one.

I'm going to wait until I'm over 40 (not that long now) for the over 40's league, so when that happens I'll buy my own one and work it out then with getting there etc. But for the moment if renting a Condor for now with the SQTs is an option I'll just stick with that. Thanks for the info @roboto.

Hire bikes are for novices hence 84" gear. You should have your own bike for SQTs really.

Yeah but without a car how I am supposed to get a sparkly clean indoor track bike to Stratford...

I'm in the same boat (though L2ing at the end of he month) and was planning to take the bike in bits via the underground when the weather is wet, and getting a decent bag to carry track-only wheels on my back if I am riding in good weather. But its 20+ miles each way, so not sure how that will work out.

I'm going to wait until I'm over 40 (not that long now) for the over 40's league

An over 40s league you say? Where did you hear about this and how does this fit in with the other 2 leagues?

^ Read it somewhere on FB a while back but cannot locate, maybe it was just chatter.

I'm doing my L4 soon, can anyone tell me what the SQT availability is like for December? I can't see it yet on my LVV options as I havent passed L4. Thanks

At the mo' there's only endurance SQT slots left on the 28th, 29th and 30th of December, with a total of 10 spaces between them. They haven't released any dates for the new year yet - at least not online they haven't.

Have just booked a few SQT dates in 2015. Also, another session has appeared called 'Intermediate SQT', although they haven't managed to include any details about it on the bookings page yet. Good to see an increase in the number of sessions, and I was thinking that for some SQTs aren't particularly good value when they get dropped in every drill, including the warmups...

@SCS - good point - are the SQT sessions a pretty high standard then?
I'm labouring to get through the last stage of accreditation and just interested in riding for fun...
I am over 40 though - maybe the Vets session is a bit calmer : )

The average standard isn't necessarily that high, it's just that the difference between the lowest and the highest can be quite wide.

I rode the Vets session on 31st Oct. The session was fully booked but only 16 out of 20 turned up. All 16 warmed up for 15 minutes before splitting in to two groups. We did a mix of 30s to 2 min pyramids and team pursuit efforts. The advantage of pyramids and the such-like, is you put in as much effort as you want, rather then other track group efforts which can be a bit brutal especially when riding with much fitter riders. A mix of both. My personal favorite is Station to Station. My least favorite; 32 to 4 lap down and up Team Pursuit Pyramids, because they hurt.(Swear word omitted.) But, my goodness they work wonders on the fitness.

In total around 45 minutes of track time. Good value? Can't decide.

I was looking for track time in preparation for TL and would've preferred to have ridden as a large group. Though to be fair, I was pretty sore the next day, so the efforts were useful in some respect.

I don't know what the 'no-show' rate is. But if it is as low as 80% as in this instance I feel this should be looked at by Lee Valley. Either a 'three strikes and your out' rule. Or, have a waiting list and offering a 50% refund for 48 hour cancellations. Or a combination of all three. Three no-shows, 3 cancellations etc. But this requires managing, and if the money is in the bank...

Just back from tonight's SQT. After the usual 15min warmup we did pyramid intervals (30s on/off, 1min, 1m30s, 2min, 1m30s, 1min, 30s) and then rolling team pursuit. Finished with a 30 lap scratch. Best set was the pyramid intervals, which were very hard work, but the rolling pursuit probably wasn't hard enough as we only got to do 4/5 hard laps...would've preferred trains and stations where we'd get 2 or 3 4 lap efforts. The efficiency of the session was better than the previous SQTs I'd done too, with no wasted track time. Didn't have anything left in the tank to go with the final attack at 3 laps to go in the scratch - my endurance needs work, especially considering I felt like I'd been pretty efficient throughout the race.

Also, I don't think there we're any no shows tonight - felt pretty busy with 20 riders, I presume the limit is 24 like in the leagues?

Either a 'three strikes and your out' rule. Or, have a waiting list and offering a 50% refund for 48 hour cancellations. Or a combination of all three. Three no-shows, 3 cancellations etc.

That'd hardly be fair on the riders. I imagine most people are buying the spaces on the sessions in good faith. You have to buy your slots long in advance, so who knows what might happen the week, day, or hour before you're meant to be on the track? I had an L2/L3 session arranged for last week (booked in September) but I was really ill for five days, and I tried to give the session away for free to someone on LFGSS but there were no takers. I also have a young kid so planning my life exactly the way I want it doesnt always work out. Penalising people who want to ride on the track, after they've paid for their sessions, doesn't strike me as fair. I get your point - it would be good to have some sort of (simple) cancellation process, so other people could be offered the slots at short notice. But not at the price of being punitive.