Herne Hill Saturday Training

hey Pigfarmer, it will be great to see you! I did Calshot with dave and it was graet to. I fell of course!

Anyway, ***after managing an astonishing 2nd place ***in one of the scratches I now am officially an amazing track rider (lol) and am seriously converted. I had no idea how much fun it is.
(for the novice induction).

I call BS!

People should really be spending a season in the novices before going to the intermediates and at least a half season in the inters before hitting Monday night race training.

15 months before you're allowed to train for racing....funny. 3 years before you're allowed to apply for a license?

I call BS!

Of course it is. 30 Dynamo riders in a confined space and no crashes? Guaranteed bullshit.

I call BS!

There were photo's taken so proof will be there at some stage! Also must be noted neither of the elites were in this scratch and my race consisted of following the old geezer assisting the coaches and then pulling round the front after a 2nd Cat sprinter blasted off with a lap to go.

Of course it is. 30 Dynamo riders in a confined space and no crashes? Guaranteed bullshit.

Lol. I was astonished as well...
But remember our reputation is based on our cycle craft! ;)

30 DynoRod riders??
How did they fit all those Range Rovers in the car park??

But there was no one else there and so they had no one to scream at and they could pretend that they owned the track.

15 months before you're allowed to train for racing....funny. 3 years before you're allowed to apply for a license?

Why not? If you're only doing 2 hours a week of track riding then it's hardly loads.

30 DynoRod riders??
How did they fit all those Range Rovers in the car park??

Actually as it goes no one had a RR up in Wales. Only one 4x4 VW Tiguan; which is more of a mini-van. ;)

But there was no one else there and so they had no one to scream at and they could pretend that they owned the track.

Give it a rest mate. Was funny a few years ago; just simply not really true anyway.

just as a comparison this is Manchester's induction "colourway"

http://pcms.s3.amazonaws.com/ncc/file/1271/accreditation-diagram.pdf

Jeez, If Id had to stick with the beginners group for more than 3 weeks I certainly wouldnt have kept going.

Why not? If you're only doing 2 hours a week of track riding then it's hardly loads.

because some riders might only need one or two sessions, because everyone is different, because a strict and long time rule will discourage instead of encourage.

The goal should be to get them to as high a standard of riding (skills and fitness) as quickly as possible with the resources available shouldn't it?

Forcing people to stay in novices will perpetuate the problem of the groups being too large....encouraging riders of slightly higher standard to take their track riding further may boost the numbers at track leagues, which, who knows may lead to a return to two leagues a week......the then smaller novice groups means greater safety and better quality coaching....meaning people progress quicker and are encouraged to take their track riding further...maybe boosting numbers at track league etc, etc.

the only time i've seen dov on the track recently was the lap at the start of the falling leaves. maybe time for a beginners season refresher to get the hours in?
#stirring

^I was gonna say if you only do <6 sessions a year it might take you a year and a half to be ready to do race training. I think the current system is about right, and at some point you have to leave responsibility to decide whether you are ready for a session to the riders.

Manchester's system is about as strict as you get without going too far and discouraging people. HH's can be more lenient because it's a simpler track to ride. Not mention all 3 track leagues at manchester are full, so they can be very selective, whereas we are always trying to encourage more riders to get into racing.

Comments and feedback on sessions are always very useful as the coaches don't always spot everything. Feedback on the induction from someone who's ridden at others tracks before is particularly useful, as normal it's full of complete novices. More the merier!

told

Also, in all seriousness, the success at Herne Hill is entirely down to the good work of volunteers. Cycling can be a very selfish world with lots of people out to prove themselves and make a name for themselves, even at a local casual level.

If anyone thinks they'd like to do something for the cycling community and get involved helping out at Herne Hill, there are loads of ways to get involved. Helping with sign on, cleaning up the site, giving out bikes, helping the coaches, as well as tonnes of work needing doing behind the scenes. Just ask one of the coaches down there, or me.

Manchester's system is about as strict as you get without going too far and discouraging people.

I think Manchester's system does put a lot of people off. (BTW if you are travelling from afar, they do do one-day inductions at Manchester - usually during the summer - but they aren't very well publicised).

Today was fun. No crashes :)

First time at intermediates for me. I probably need to get a bit quicker.

In for tomorrow at Novice session. Hopefully I'll finally get to give the new track a go.

Track is cancelled today!!!!

what happened?

Lines too slippery, they are saying it's closed until march :-( although I would wait for them to confirm this.

You've got to be fucking kidding me...

Tika. I am going to have to start bmxing with you.