How slowly can you ride the banking?

Hi, newbie here,

I've been on the accreditation 2 and a skills session at the Lee Valley velodrome.
Each time I've slipped a bit on the white advertising stickers. The pace has been pretty slow each time it has happened. Probably 10-15 mph. Is this normal? I didn't see anyone else slide so much.

How slowly should you be able to ride around without sliding?

I've got Vittoria Diamante pro pistas, 120psi, lightly sanded, degreased, 150 laps on them.

I've got a pair of GP4000s I could try, would thy make it better? All the hire bikes have contis.

Thanks
John

FYI.. the advertising is painted on, not a sticker. The coating of which I feel is grippier than the track itself.

There is obviously a minimum speed limit on any banked track. 10mph is verging on too low. Technique can also increase grip. Learning how to weigh the handlebars as well as pedalling with the power gong through the inside foot.

I often say that anyone can ride a track fast. The greater skills is learning to ride it slowly.

I have the same tyres in a similar state and they've been great. Was it your front or rear tyre slipping? I've had the rear tyre slip on a hire bike when people in front don't push on round the banking.

Rear tyre.
I'll stick with them a bit longer then. It's fine when the speed is higher.
I obviously lack a little skill, which isn't going to help. Trouble is, you feel it slip, then you start to tense up, which makes it worse.

lean

Lean just the bike and steer a little more right?

left, steer a little more LEFT
no actually countersteering so right, correct

I suppose you want the centre of your tread in contact with the track, so yes lean the bike into the turn and shift your body a bit further out. Does that make sense?

I remember a 4-hour session at Newport which a slow puncture at the rear made gradually more exciting.

dropping the pressure a bit might increase the contact area, thus more grip

I once went too slow at the beginning of a drill and slid all the way down. burnt off a lot of skin in my arm.

This made me lol.

LOL

If I were you I'd get the 'how slow can I go' question out of your head straight away as a good percentage of the crashes we have at the velodrome are from people who later say 'I just wondered how slow I could go'. This is often spoken through gritted teeth as they deal with the pain of a snapped collar bone. Even if you don't break your collarbone, experimenting with going slow is a sure way to pick up some track rash that'll sting like hell in the bath.

If you are doing 10-15mph on the advertising then I presume this is during changing from the front of the group to the back? If so, don't worry about how slow you can go, just go at a speed you feel comfortable with and if it's taking you too long to get to the back of the group, move higher on the track.

Just don't do what I did and go so high you clip the side and fall all the way back down.

icarus !

Not as slowly as the two muppets on the front of the first drill at tonight's Level 2 session tried, who tried to take the first corner above the blue line at a leisurely walking pace. Cue a large pile of bikes and bodies, said muppets having managed to take out over half the session in one hit. Also cue nobody passing Level 2, as most of the hour was spent patching up bike and bodies rather than doing the drills. Time to book another Level 2 session, and hope that it's not so full of fuckwits.

Saw what I think was a level 2 session before the legacy event last Saturday, no one slid down the banking, but there was some seriously sketchy riding going on...so much so that one of the commissars for the legacy event went to have a word with the coach about it. I'm sure it wasn't that bad when I did level 2, or maybe I was just too naive and inexperienced to notice!

It's a lottery. You could get a bunch of experienced racers in your group, or a bunch of people who have only done stage 1 (2 hours of riding slowly on the black and doing a few changes).

Do not want - which is why I went to do my indoor accreditation in Newport in one day, with a bunch of people I know can ride track. No-one fell off. Great success.

If you're a noob like I was, and riding Michelins on a wooden track, not that slowly at all. I've still got ad paint on the side of my sidi.

Wot @dan said. It's a random selection of people, and there's a risk some will be total muppets. Unfortunately the muppet level yesterday was quite high, and the speeds very low.

You nearly fell off if I recall correctly, in the cavernous expansion gap on the back straight Côte d'Azur.... :)

I concur with all of your other comments though.

When riding slowly on the banking you must keep pressing on the pedals and keep your weight on your left arm. Obviousy there is a point where the tyre will slip but 120psi in Vittoria Diamante is not particularly high.

It is not such a bad thing to learn where you tyres start to slip, but this isn't something for muppets to be trying. Slowest rider I've ridden against is Adey Dent the masters sprint world champion. He goes so slow it is scary and I ended up at the front. He beat me by a country mile.

Ha! Its hardly my fault there's a thumb sized gap between the Côte and the concrete! I see that more as a heroic recovery than a mistake :D

I've never followed you since tbh....

Lies, I'm one of the only people you can get a decent draft off

there's a thumb sized gap between the Côte and the concrete!

Is this in London? Guess our wooden apron has it's advantages after all.