My foray into the velodrome

Yes, it’s a strange situation with tyres, stranger still when you consider that I was told the accident that stirred up all the worry was actually nothing to do with the tyres but that’s just where the lawyers found an angle.

There was an attempt to establish some sort of British Standard for the grippiness of a tyres and a level that should be reached for velodrome use right after the fatal accident enquiry at Newport was concluded but this seemed to go nowhere. I think either the cost was exorbitant or it was such a niche that the people that do these things weren’t interested. It should perhaps be noted that grippiness tests formed part of the fatal accident enquiry but they are widely regarded as having been carried out in a way that has little in common with real world use of a tyre on a velodrome so the results of these tests should be discounted.

Our ngb (Scottish Cycling) which is a branch of your ngb (British Cycling) want nothing to do with classifying tyres. Probably because these organisations are predominantly staffed (especially at policy making level) by people who would wouldn’t know how to fix a puncture never mind decide the suitability of a tyre for a particular usage.

There’s also a real reticence for event organisers to get involved in this kind of thing, supposedly due to a case a while ago of a piece of equipment being approved for use in an event which then failed resulting in a large compensation claim.

I imagine the uci would take a similar stance.

At my workplace the powers that be decided that the question would be along the lines of “why those tyres?” and that “because the manufacturer said so” was a good enough answer. Now, I know that there’s a Maxxis tyre that they say is for the velodrome and it’s dual compound so it wouldn’t be my way of doing it but I’m way too far down the ladder to decide these things so…

That's really interesting insight, as I think it's what I suspected that it seems to be more slanted towards litigation rather than establishing some kind of formalised safety standard. In any case at HHV, it's basically a road surface anyway as it's asphalt and can be covered with leaves, ice and cracks from expansion joints, so seems reasonable to use road tyres at an outdoor.

Back to the thread topic, I actually got some photos from one of the photographers at the track that day, nice to see photos of yourself, but mostly because I like to analyse my position!

Pretty happy with my best impression of a bunched up ball here. Second pic I could probably tuck my elbows in a bit more, but overall seem like I have a much better more aero position than before.

Also in other news, I have officially been promoted to Cat B.

Great photos

I have officially been promoted to Cat B

Congratulations, great achievement. Watching the Ferrari flick last night there was a quote along the lines of "if it works well it looks beautiful" which seems very apt here.

Its a great build, makes one want to move closer to HHv

Really enjoying this, a good looking bike getting used in anger! That last photo shows how narrow the bars are too!

There were lots of claims of sandbagging on Saturday, which I would take as a compliment!

B category for Wednesdays too or just Vets League for now?

PS tubeless tyres are fine at HHV, plenty of coaches use them or have put sealant into a tub to repair it. Those Veloflex are the perfect HHV summer tyre IMO.
Funny how pros are allowed to ride tubeless tyres at indoor velodrome whereas mere mortals can't...

Great pictures

Thanks for the compliments guys!

I didn't think so many people would find this interesting. I realised it's been a while and I've come a long way since first doing a taster session at HHV in late 2022. I then went on to do training accreditation and then race accreditation mid last year. I had an injury around that time which stopped me from riding much and only started doing serious training at the beginning of 2024, so being bumped up to B grade after 6 months feels like an achievement.

I used to see the guys training at the track on Saturday mornings and thought they looked really hardcore not that long ago! Now I'm one of those weirdos with super narrow handlebars :)

Haha really? Was that in particular aimed at me? I was actually coming second overall by round 2 in any case. Although admittedly it probably would have been a bit of a change from the last round to see I had completely changed my whole bike, outfit and setup in the space of one month.

I assume it's for Vets League as I haven't raced Wed ESG Track league before, although I think I have more confidence to give it a go. May give it a go in the C's and see how it is as I'm not sure how much of a difference there is with Vets C.

I actually got a response from HHV about tubeless and they said they had no specific policy, but also stated that there was no real benefit.
I guess they don't have a membership to https://www.bicyclerollingresistance.com 😉

One more pic, with everyone's gurn face included

Saw this in the flesh tonight, can confirm that the bike is well fit. Good to meet you @ghettro , excellent riding!

Hey @ElGonzo great to meet you as well! Awesome to see other LFGSS members hitting the track!

Also, @ElGonzo you have a beautiful Vigorelli, should have it's own thread too!

Bit of an update!

I've also started racing in the Open B Category at Track League on Wednesday evenings too, this is with people who I'm old enough to be their dad. Pretty happy with my results as I've managed to get a few top 5 finishes so far in this league.

The racing season is nearly finished now, and Vets league had its Finale on Saturday. This turned out quite interesting as I managed to win the Elimination race and also the Tempo race. Normally Elimination is one of my weakest races, I would typically be eliminated early on and not get any points. Same with the Tempo race, managed to break away for 3 laps and totally destroyed myself and coughed up my lungs.

Overall for the season I managed to get a few trophies

• Most improved rider
  
• Most points that round
  
• Overall Cat B 3rd place!
  
  

Really didn't think I'd get a podium place as I only raced 3 out of 6 rounds in Cat B, but managed to get consistent number of points each round. Super stoked with that, but more particularly winning the Elimination was a highlight as this was something that always dwelled on my mind, that I wasn't good at this race. It just magically happened

Big turnout for the last round!

Elimination race

Elimination Race with 6 of us left...

Last 3!

Won the Elimination race! Not usually one to celebrate crossing the line, but so ecstatic as I would have never dreamed of ever winning this event!

I was really hoping to get most improved rider and got it, so super happy with that. I can still remember when I started this thread, and then writing about my first race experiences back in the Spring. My original goal was to not get dropped in the Vets C cat! So seems like an absolutely magic experience to get to a Cat B podium in my debut season!

Excellent stuff! Well done, you should be really proud of that.

Well done , it was a great nights racing , and the field in the B cats - very strong - so brilliant you made the podium

Good stuff man! And great race pics

Great updates and photos. Must be incredibly satisfying looking back at the progress made in a relatively short time frame.

Won the Elimination race!

Best race to win!

There's a real humility to the way you've described your achievements here. Great reading. Congrats

Thanks for the kind words!

I didn't really talk about it in this thread, but in 2023 I went through a bit of a low period, had to stop cycling for about half a year for personal reasons and lost a lot of fitness. So I spent a lot of time training and not making any progress and became quite frustrated and upset, wallowing in my lack of form. To compound it I managed to hurt my back at the gym and that made it worse. I was also constantly sick, had a bad throat infection and just felt like rubbish.

I began to see a physio and then learnt how to lift properly, now I can lift way more than I ever did with better form. Also at the beginning of 2024 I hired a coach for 3 months to try to get over this plateau. Turns out that I was training way too intensely and not enough volume. So I started on this road in January with mostly Zone 2 training and stuck to the coach's programme strictly, averaging something like 10-12 hours per week consistently. I've been doing that until the present more or less and my goal was to start racing, that was it!

Once I started racing my goal changed and it was to get a podium finish in the Vets C Cat, however I actually forgot about all that as I just enjoyed racing so much. I think I then promised myself if I made it to Cat B I'd build some nice deep section track wheels for myself, so keep an eye on this thread...

I never thought I'd enjoy racing, even now I still get a bit anxious before a race and have a bit of a feeling that I want to bail. However during a race there is a real rush, and afterwards I can't shut up about it. I find it really quite energising and it puts me in a good mood, even if I don't score lots of points!

To be honest the best thing, (and I'm aware this sounds like a cliche) is that the community at Herne Hill Velodrome is so good, I've made so many friends there who I train and race with. Also the coaches are fantastic and I've learnt so much from them and all the training sessions I've done.

Definitely if anyone is thinking of giving it a go, have a spin at one of the track tasters or skills sessions. This all started when I decided to buy a track frame off this forum!

Great perspective on things and heartwarming that you achieved your goals and had a lot of fun along the way.

@ghettro
Congratulations and you get my nomination for thread of the year as it seems to encapsulate what LFGSS is about 👍👌