Lee Valley VeloPark - taster sessions!

I have a beard and I'll probably be wearing my LVCC jersey - it's green and white with a bit of red...

What bike have you gone for? My work took 10 weeks to pay the invoice but it's on its way!

Yep, I'm in, Rolla jersey and beard.
Hire biking but should be my last. Bob gets tyres and pedals for Christmas.
Then it's Jan 14th, 21st and stage 3 accreditation on the 25th

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Ha! I too have not done a tap of physical exertion over the past month, so I expect to be burnt out fairly quickly.

@Dramatic_Hammer I went for the Lavoro, got comfortable with it on the track so have stuck with what I know. Will have to change out the stock forks that come with it though.

Thats good that four of us will be there, I will keep an eye out.
Dramatic Hammer: LVCC green and white jersey
Yukirin: Rolla Jersey
Keanulooser: Green jersey, white bike

I am 5'9", will probably have a light blue top and black cycling shorts on on, black hair, I have a tattoo of a snake and a knife on my right arm. Will be on a hire bike.

If the three of you still arent accredited yet and they split the group then I'll ride with you instead of the qualified lot.

Good session last night, glad we got some sprinting in at the end.

Very nice to meet you three and ride together. Good luck with your L3 accreditations in January.

I am going to post up now on the LFGSSCC thread to ask about the jersey. It would be nice to get it sorted out.

Not sure about that coach last night... given that there were people in there who might have just finished their L2, he wasn't giving very clear or enough instruction IMHO...

@dubkev can you give a sense of what the session was, what you did, how hard was it?

@pharoahsanders Sure.

Group of 30, split into two based on accreditation level. 15 mins on and then off for each group.

First warmup exercise was riding in pairs with lap changes, then riding in single file on the black line with the whistle.

Second and third exercises were 'stacking' on the track.

Fourth was 'trains and stations', in a single file (slightly differently to how I had done it before, in pairs) with the first four riders sprinting on the black line, with the front one of the four joining up with the back of the 'station' when the group of four caught up, and then the person on the front of the station would join the train.

I elected to go in the lower qualified group because I wanted to ride with the lads from the forum. (Not wanting to sound like a wanker but) I found it easy, and far, far too relaxed with the pace especially with the first three exercises, but fair enough given the session that it was. And it was definitely the most social occasion I've had there (apart from the LFGSSCC track day out), so that was very welcome.

Was good to meet and ride with you all last night!
It was by far the most relaxed paced session I've had, too. But probably what I needed to get the nerves under control since last time!
I've not had the same coach twice yet and each have had their own way of doing/explaining things. That's not a bad thing in terms of gaining experience, but last night seemed a bit rushed at first and could have been explained better for those who had just passed L2.
Stacking 7 was good, I needed that close riding. Did he say L4 was stacking 9?

I had 8 in my L4 stacking. Probably just depends on how many riders there are on the day!

+1 with the nerves after last time! It's so much easier when you relax a bit but yeah the pace was pretty slow. Also mildly terrifying when that guy kicked back half way around the bend during the trains and stations exercise and everyone had to overlap!
Good to meet everyone and ride with some familiar faces - I'll definitely try turning up for a few sessions in the next month or so.
Other than that I think I need more riding time with a track bike, getting used to the sharp handling, so my c2w bike can't come fast enough...

I called my HR dept and asked them what the delay was. "Oh sorry", the admin says, "that should have been with you, but I just sat on it for a while and didn't get it sent off until yesterday, but you should have it soon." For fucks sake... Anyway, hope I can get it before the SQTs in January...

Thanks @dubkev interesting to hear

And @Yukirin on the stacking in L4 when I did it we just had five in my group. There were 15 people in my session so the coach split it into 3x 5 riders.

Useless. Not quite as useless as my finance department who took 10 weeks to pay the invoice and only after escalating things to my manager!
Need to give Condor a call as I've not heard back from them yet either.

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Did one of these yesterday, my first time on the track, was awesome!

Does anyone know the gearing that they use on the Condor hire bikes there? Forgot to check.

46/15, I'm fairly sure...

cool, ta

Anyone riding tonight?
I'm not bringing the Bob, PITA with public transport, wheels strapped to my back and frame in hand.
Will try again when I've got a bike bag.

46/15 or 49/16 depending on the size of bike.
83"

Another Wednesday, another crash.
I think the guy may have stopped pedaling? He was at the back so nobody else got involved, but bumped his head and was taken away on a wheelchair.
Get well soon, rider!

Ouch! Have you lost the fear yet? Saw a guy at track league slip right down the banking a week or two back, which has inspired me to get the best tyres I can!

Started off ok, but after the guy came off its just a bit of a reminder.
Got given a membership card now and my membership number has changed, new system for the new year.

Just booked in for the taster on the 9th of Feb. Really rather excited. Any tips for first time on the boards (have only done some basic sessions at HH).

You'll be fine - the first session is very, very basic. In my taster, only 3 or 4 of us had been on a track bike before.

got a taster session on Wednesday. i'll hire shoes but do you need to take your own gloves?