Lee Valley VeloPark - taster sessions!

I did stage 2+3 on 52x15 (which is what I used to run at HHV so I thought it would be fine) and it was definitely too high. To the point that I nearly failed stage 3 because when doing the stacking exercise, trying to quickly get from the bottom of the track to the top straight up the steepest part of the banking at low speed was pretty much impossible and it took me twice as long as everyone else!

I geared down to 50x15 for stage 4 and it was SO MUCH easier.

Hahaha. Mate I had knee surgery last year lol. It's pretty flat on my commute. I had a 44 x 15 brakeless and just spun out all the time.

Cool mate thanks for that. I think I may throw the 49 x 15 on for stage 2 and 3. What are they like to do??

Most of the riders in the session will be on hire bikes. Best bet is to match what is on those.
49 / 16 or 50 / 16 - for an 84" gear.

IIRC most of the hire bikes are 46/15...

I am going to try 50/16 next time and see how it feels ! Seat was too low last time so that definitely did not help :)

There is currently a mix between 46/15 and 49/16. Both very similar gears.

However, over the next week they are being changed. With the smallest 2 sizes as a 46/16 (78") and the rest as 50/16 (84").

What's the thinking behind that?

When the bikes were deliverd they had quite a varied gear range on them. We did what we could at the time to make them all similar. Now a year has passed, chains are due to be replaced so it would make sense to change the gearing over at the same time.

Why 78 on the smallest bikes..? At the moment there are only a handful of bikes with Youth gearing. This would allow for every bike within a youth session to be equally geared.

Cool thanks, that's interesting - do you have any idea how far the average bike has been ridden?

I'm going to stick with 48:15 on my bike as that's pretty close to 84".

I'v got a session booked in Friday - Anybody know if shoe hire is available?
Would like to ride with clips, but currently ride with SPD on my shoes.

Cheers,
J

Yeah you can hire shoes with the keo cleats - £6.

Amazing. thanks for the info.

Probably worth mentioning, it's worth hiring shoes or getting a pair of road shoes plus Keo cleats. I rode in Cons last time and the toe-clips were hopeless; loose despite tightening, and painful when braking.

braking.

you're doing it wrong.

Stage 2 passed last night. Highlight was for me powering up the bank in a straight line, 1st time was calls from the bridge "more power captain" as I was approaching staling speed at the top. Really enjoyed it and booked into stage 3 in April. Got a good 11 hrs of track time between now and then 7 of that at Calshot. Coach made every one aware that stage 3 was a big step up from 2 so it should put me in good steed.

why not buy a pair of Keo cleats and put on a spare pair of shoes.

Just done a taster session, we only had 4 people in the group so tons of space to stretch the legs.. Mixed group with different riding experience and fairly shore one of the guys in the group will be on here sorry forgot the name!!!, I did not crash so was happy.. We where offered another hours session after as they had coaches that where doing a assessments (for them not us) sadly due to having a new born at home I couldn't do it and TBH after 45mins of hard effort and coming off long rides at the weekend I was dead anyway..

Defo need to sort my fitness for this type of riding or maybe it was just having a small group meant you could be "on it" the whole session.. Really nice bunch of guys and the coach Chris was spot on, really surprised at how good the rental bikes where and how much having a good line going into the banking makes to overall effort..

Time to start intervals and get stage 2 booked I guess..

Got my first ever velodrome taster session booked, I'm just hoping I don't fall off. Reading through this thread has been pretty helpful, though I'm not sure if I sure rent shoes and clip in or use trainers, bearing in mind I've never ridden fixed. Is it easier to learn with trainers until im confident, or go with cleats as thats what I use every day?

You won't be clipping in and out at all on the taster session, so go with cleats as they're more comfortable with less stack.

Thanks, will do.

If you're planning to do a few sessions but hire a bike it's worth investing in some keo cleats for a tenner to bolt to your own shoes.

I dont know yet, going for the taster session before anything. I have no idea if ill even enjoy it, though it looks like it will be ace.

Guess what I just got for my birthday...

I just booked on to stage 1, quick question about Look cleats - are the 'Look Keo compatible' cleats from for instance Exustar going to be alright or are there slight differences I'm unaware of?