Free come and try track racing sessions Herne Hill

For all of you that got inspired after the good friday track meeting, here's the following.

For the next 3 Mondays 16/4, 23/4 & 30/4 Herne Hill Track League will be holding free come and try tack racing sessions. These will run from 6pm until dusk and will consist of training, practice races and an opportunity to meet experienced riders and the league officials. All are welcome from complete novices to experienced racers. Herne Hill Velodrome have a large number of track bikes that can be used.

For more information contact vclhernehill@hotmail.co.uk

Extremely tempting. A few of us said we'd like to try one of the introduction things on the Saturday mornings.

6pm might be hard to make... can you just turn up a little later and still be fine to try it out? I'm thinking more like 6:30.

Oooh, another question, helmets... compulsory?

I believe helmets are compulsory, don't think it's a huge problem if your a bit later but have no idea to be honost. Someone at the VcL emailed me about it so.....

For general track rules you might want to read this aswell:

http://www.vcl.org.uk/startingout/

really up for this, will see if I can drag some others along

See you there!

I'll definitely be going - meant to go to the Saturday training sessions all last summer but never dragged my ass out of bed!

helmets are compulsory, if you want to use your own bike, it must be track legal, or use one of theirs...

no brakes, bar plugs compulsory, no flat bars or low-pros....proper drops, no extras like bottle cages etc...

See you there for at least one of them too....

and NO! skidding on the track

i'm deffo up for this if i can get out of work in time

What sort of helmet should one buy for the track? Do you need to bring your own pedals?

just an ordinary roady lid.

I'd have thought any helmet with the BS stamp would be acceptable

You need one of these;

My g/f wants to try track riding, or so she says - so maybe one week will end up there.

not gonna make it tonight.

too much sun/booze yesterday + too much hard work today.

deffo next week though

I'm hoping my new brake lever arrives this week... if it does, then it's next week for me too (makes for easy removal of brake you see).

I went yesterday for the first time and it was great fun. I got stuck with a really crap loan bike and will be ditching the brakes on my Condor for Saturdays 10.30 session. The loan bike had loose cranks, the heaviest wheels ever and perished like 30cc tires that looked like they'd come off a 60s pashley canal track crawler lol! I'd advise turning up really early if you’re going to borrow a bike.

I was going to ask if anyone went along.

How did you find it? And had you ever tried it before?

I think I'll try and take my regular bike and just swap the bars for drops rather than use a borrowed bike given that description. Though I'm right in thinking you can reserve a Fuji track bike for a small monthly/annual fee?

I found cycling in a pack a bit unnerving. You need to be very aware who’s on either side of you. I thought I was from the road and cycling in groups of 2-6 but I felt a bit out of my dept with 20-30 people surrounding me in the middle of a group all trying to find the right position. Within the pack there seems to be a mix of people who are really vocal on where they are and those who just say 'stay' when passing and use occasional hand signals to let the rider behind know what’s going on ahead.
The banks of the track where fine and gripy, I was a bit nervous I might slip.
The instructors where great at showing the ropes and explaining the types and method for the races. One took me up on the pack when I had dropped off and gave me some tips on not causing a crash (always useful) and another answered all my newbie questions without making me feel like a plonker. There where about 4-5 instructors or at least veterans joining in and giving advice.

It was a very inclusive fun way to try race training.

Don't know about the fuji's but quite a few people where riding them from the other shed.

I heard the same thing about reserving fuji tracks.

I was keen to go yesterday, but a combination of a 6am start to the day and the temptation of a drink in the sun stopped it from happening. I'll be there next week if the weather is good.

They do 2 beginner session on Saturdays also if 6pm doesn't suit. The later one is at 10.30am.

The Saturday novice session is at 9am-10:30am. The 10:30am session is for people who have already attended a novice session; it focusses more on skills & drills. If you're new to the track it's important to do one of the 9am sessions first as you'll learn lots of important stuff about track safety and etiquette etc. which the later sessions assume you already know. You can always stay on after the 9am session and do the later sessions the same day - 4.5 hours of track time packed into one morning. Cool!

link to HH sessions etc: http://www.vcl.org.uk/?section=whatson

badbean.com

Fuji bikes are available for Annual (2007) rental of £35.00 only....meaning the bike will be reserved for your individual use only, you bring your own pedals which will remain on the bike all year.....it's a pretty good deal if you don't want to make the commitment to buying a track specific bike as they are significantly better than the other hire bikes....grab one quick to get one in your size.

As far as I am aware they are for use at HH only and apart from pedals no other mods can be made......A guy won the "B" league three lap dash final on one only this last Sunday!

Good to see so many people showing an interest in track racing last night.

Winston

London Courier Track Day: www.addicts.tv

It was sooooo much fun! I brought along my own bike and set up some tubular wheels with a 51X15 gearing.
I think I will definitely need some lycras very uncomfortable wearing jeans and t-shirts. Looking forward to the next time.