Herne Hill Saturday Training

BloodyMary...I was being facetious.

BloodyMary...I was being facetious.

Ha ha, I wasnt sure, so I thought I would eradicate any stupid questions that could arise from it ;) You would be amazed at what happens. A.M.A.Z.E.D!

I will vouch for Gaz... He has kind eyes.

You would simply be in awe of the amount of people that try blag their way into Intermediates, or Beginners...some riders will even avoid signing on and paying to avoid being caught out...

This is just something that I don't get at all. I'm a reasonably strong cyclist and have been doing group riding on the road for years - I still did every single basic session and induction this year before going to Monday's, even though i had done basics etc last year. Mainly because I was worried about being a liability in faster sessions and wanted as much track time as possible. I then did 8-10 weeks of Monday nights before thinking about Wednesday nights. It's all paid off now as I finish at the front of, or often win C races and will be working hard over the winter before I move up to B's next year.

It makes me angry that certain people don't seem to care about other riders safety and are more concerned with cutting corners and dick waving. Part of the reason I decided to race track instead of crits is because of the pathway and amount of track time necessary before you were allowed to race. I'm self-employed and I need to work to live, if I get taken out by some hairy legged masher on a Wednesday or a Monday I might not be able to pay my rent etc. I was involved in the big crash last week - and despite getting off relatively lightly, I still wasn't able to work properly again until yesterday.

I will vouch for Gaz... He has kind eyes.

But a cold heart...

... I finish at the front of, or often win C races...

fuck off!

But a cold heart...

He's a complicated guy

fuck off!

Hugs

friend.

get a room

I'm not vouching for you now..

This is just something that I don't get at all. I'm a reasonably strong cyclist and have been doing group riding on the road for years - I still did every single basic session and induction this year before going to Monday's, even though i had done basics etc last year. Mainly because I was worried about being a liability in faster sessions and wanted as much track time as possible. I then did 8-10 weeks of Monday nights before thinking about Wednesday nights. It's all paid off now as I finish at the front of, or often win C races and will be working hard over the winter before I move up to B's next year.

It makes me angry that certain people don't seem to care about other riders safety and are more concerned with cutting corners and dick waving. Part of the reason I decided to race track instead of crits is because of the pathway and amount of track time necessary before you were allowed to race. I'm self-employed and I need to work to live, if I get taken out by some hairy legged masher on a Wednesday or a Monday I might not be able to pay my rent etc. I was involved in the big crash last week - and despite getting off relatively lightly, I still wasn't able to work properly again until yesterday.

This is exactly it. It does my head in!!!

I did induction on Saturday, it was great - really good fun and learnt a lot from my first time ever riding around a velodrome.

However, no card/stamps at the end. I asked two of the instructors and they both said it's fine, turn up at basic next week and let them know I did induction. They reckoned (likely rightly) it'd soon be obvious if I hadn't done induction. Shame though, would feel better about the whole thing if I could prove I'd done it and not worry that I'd ride down from Walthamstow only to get turned away.

Well, they are asking people for their cards at intermediates now and no one ever has theirs. I lost mine when I lost my wallet during another cool story, but when I was paying/signing up on saturday there was a guy telling the gents who take the money that he had done the induction last week and was told to turn up at any session because he was a firefighter. WTF? He seemed to struggle with the pace when I saw him going around as did quite a few people this weekend.

There needs to be a better system in place for next season regarding the induction and basic training stamps. Too many people try to wing it and some of the riding witnessed at recent inters sessions has been terrifying.

coaches should be immediately informed of things like that

glad I don't go on Saturdays.

Is it too early to ask for maybe an electronic system?

Part of the induction is filling out a form, forms get put on a web page, people bring ID to sessions, if their names aren't on the page they can't do basic. If they are they get a tick on the webpage...

Surely one of the coaches at each session will have a modern mobile phone?

Very surprised this isn't under more stringent control. Just imagine the possible implications, on top of personal injuries, if someone dupe their way in and are involved in and/or cause a major accident.

Anyone who is not happy with another riders ability has the right to a. tell that rider their riding is not up to scratch. Or if not comfortable with that, to tell the coaches. Stand up and be counted instead of waiting for the lawyers to arrive.

Whatever rules are in place, it still remains the riders' responsibility to ride safely and conduct themselves in a sensible manner.
This really needs to be understood before making any judgements about what should/could/might happen.

Riders need to talk constructively a bit more and bitch a bit less. We've all been involved in those discussions where we stand around going "fark me....the guy on the felt with the Italian flag jersey was sketchy as fark" after the session.

Maybe someone needs to work out what exactly it is he's doing wrong and go and tell him how to improve.

Having said that I told some fella once to stop standing on the pedals during rotation (into the wind on corner 3, on the inside line.....fucker kept coming back to my wheel every time he stood up) the guy just didn't really buy what i was saying. Almost didn't believe that he was causing a problem and I was left with "all right mate. whatever. maybe ask a coach if you don't believe me".

Did have words with a young lad about leaving his line without looking..
His reply of "when I start sprinting I just forget everythin else" hardly inspired me..

Is it on tomorrow? Chain gang or "proper" training?

gangbang