2010 Herne Hill Velodrome Track League

At this rate, you won't have long to wait.

Still up for our team sprint next week though Rob. Don't worry, if my bike disintegrates I will be at the back so you should't feel a thing :)

How serious is a big dent in the top tube? Not cracked I don't think just a big dent. What sort of forces are applied to the top tube? I guess its a linear force so not as critical as say the BB or chain stay areas?

I don't want to fork out $s on a new frame :(

There'll be quite a lot of twisting forces acting on the top tube when you do fully loaded touring on it.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/34755013@N04/4729062016/in/set-72157624343571884/

Checking to make sure the first aiders are there before falling off?

There'll be quite a lot of twisting forces acting on the top tube when you do fully loaded touring on it.

And trixs and skidz

Checking to make sure the first aiders are there before falling off?

He looks asleep!

But look at those roadies ^ boys, you don't have hoods you know, hold the bars like men.

what is going on here?

Krisz is winning the 5 lap dash.

I guess its a linear force so not as critical as say the BB or chain stay areas?

Linear force is basically correct and a tubular section is excellent at carrying it as the force will distribute evenly around it.

The issue is because it's in compression any imperfection out of the natural plane kinda wants to fold up on itself. So a large enough ding means that the tube loses loads of it's resistance to buckling.

Cheers for the info James. Maybe I can get a few people to look at it, give me their opinion on whether it might last the season. I am in no position to purchase a new one right now.

How big is the ding? 10p sized? Larger?

Yeah its not massive. It is a dent though and it is clearly there. I will get some opinion on it next week I reckon

the dent as i remember it looked like a thumb press, not excessive.

That's what bartapes for. Damn sprinter wannabes...

what is going on here?

That was nearly an accident for me. The VCL rider in front of me, 77 stops peadling just before the line. I had now where to go, but just managed to get past him, I spoke to him after the race and asked him why he stoped peadling and he said his legs just locked up. He also pushed the guy on his inside off the track
Last week, he just moved down the track in the devil, did not even look and crashed into me.My bike when off the ground and I only just managed to stay on the bike. Who ever he is he is dangerous.

yea, saw that, moved up a bit after the line in that sprint as well and nearly wiped out. The guy on the inside deserved to be ridden off the track tho cos he came up the inside on the cote d'azur. words have been had!

the crash was totally unnecessary and avoidable, I'm more than a bit annoyed being involved in this. was hard getting up this morning with sore hip and neck, but cycling was easier than walking.

There were quite a few dodgy moments and silly moves throughout the evening, and mostly from the lack of experience and skill of some of the riders. It's all good to encourage people to take part, but safety of the riders is more important and they really need to learn the basic skills before taking part and putting others at risk.

A few of the important rules maybe need to be drilled vocally in a bit more often maybe. Its common sense really, but reminders about moving off your line without looking, undertaking a rider below the red line (or whatever it is).
At least before the mass start A+B races, which is when most of these crashes seem to happen.

I agree y-s, safety should come first otherwise no one will want to race.

Some of the riding was poor. I didn't feel safe in the B races at all and skipped the last race because of that.

Maybe a Newport style accreditation program is needed for racing.

I think they introduced that after a number of accidents.

Get well all that fell.

Hope Euan is feeling better.

It's all good to encourage people to take part, but safety of the riders is more important and they really need to learn the basic skills before taking part and putting others at risk.

Agree 100%

Racing is a very different scenario to training sessions, where it's easy to grade riders and coaches are in charge. With racing, it's the commissars' jobs to make decisions about dangerous riding. Unless riders talk to them nothing is going to happen.

Comments like this:

Last week, he just moved down the track in the devil, did not even look and crashed into me.My bike when off the ground and I only just managed to stay on the bike. Who ever he is he is dangerous.

Are becoming common, but the problem is if someone is dangerous one week and nobody brings it up with the judges or organisers that person is likely to still be dangerous the next week! This was particularly true in the case of the accident that put Stelle out of action.

We have agreed to bring in an accreditation system for track league next season, where new riders will have to attend a minimum number of Monday sessions and be assessed before signing up to TL. This brings us into line with most other velodromes.

I don't think it was just sketchy in the A+B races, saw someone move down the track without checking it was safe to do so in the last lap of the B 5 lap dash and nearly causing a crash.

My theory for the A+B races is that too many people are on the limit, desperately trying to hang on that they forget about important things like safety.

My theory for the A+B races is that too many people are on the limit, desperately trying to hang on that they forget about important things like safety.

Someone mentioned this theory at the meeting we had after the first bout of crashes, you might be right to an extent. In which case people need a whack with the reality stick, it's a local grass roots league not the Worlds!

the crash was totally unnecessary and avoidable, I'm more than a bit annoyed being involved in this. was hard getting up this morning with sore hip and neck, but cycling was easier than walking.

There were quite a few dodgy moments and silly moves throughout the evening, and mostly from the lack of experience and skill of some of the riders. It's all good to encourage people to take part, but safety of the riders is more important and they really need to learn the basic skills before taking part and putting others at risk.

Its always the neck isn't it? My neck is killing me this morning. I forgot you went down as well y-s. I guess you must have been right behind me?

I can't really comment about what happened all I know is that the 2 riders in front of me went down and I couldn't get out of the way fast enough.

But there were some hairy moves taking place on Wednesday I did notice that and something does ned to be done because I do not want to make a habit of crashing and I don't want to have to fork out £500+ on a frame every season

Are you insured Mike?

I recommend it for racing as you rightly say, frames aren't cheap