2010 Herne Hill Velodrome Track League

How'd it go? Pissed off to miss the first.

Hard work. Racing with the A's. I am very tired

Mike nearly made a profit on the evening though. :-)

It was short due to the gathering gloom, and cold thanks to the April weather, but great to be back on the track. Tonight was my first track session since September. I missed the warm up race fixing a puncture so my first race was a devil and boy was it ugly. Thankfully I improved as the evening progressed.

Well done riding A class! Don't fancy that myself! Did it start at 7? Gotta try and get down next wed.
Andy, you sticking with Bs at mo or you moved up too?

Dont worry Tom, I am probably the worst of the A's
Got knocked out second lap in the devil and couldn't finish the 10K hair and hounds. Bryan got on the front while I was at the back the pace lifted and I got dropped with a couple of others.
Must try harder!

I can't fucking do this till May - like when it was supposed to start :(

Bryan bloody T! Good one for sticking with it though mike.
Feeling the frustration too BBC, or whatever your avatar is, hopefuly weather will stay good for the last spring onion on sun.

Andy, you sticking with Bs at mo or you moved up too?

I'm sticking with the Bs. JC reckons I'll be shit this year as babies have that effect on cycling form apparently and who am I to prove him wrong. :-)

I was actually surprised at my form last night, I hung on in both the hare and hounds and the final scratch race without major difficulty. I've no top end fitness so didn't have th legs to sprint but the base is there at least.

i was planning to enter the league, seeing that all the fast boys are on the B's I might as well refrain

Are you calling me a fast boy? ;-)

Do it tika, you'll be fine. It might take you a week or two to find your feet but I'm sure you'd cope with it.

i am going to do some mondays first as advised by RPM
and it will be a bit warmer too, too cold for me at the moment

I really enjoyed it, didn't know what to expect but found I was keeping up alright. Had a few school boy errors so definately need to work on my tactics and positioning but I'm sure I'll pick more of that up the more I go.

Think I may have even picked up a fraction of a point!

It was a bit too cold to enjoy the racing last night. I got stomach ache...
And number of new riders/novices made things rather interesting. Hare & Hounds and warm-up scratch especially was a bit hairy.
I'm not quite getting how the league points work out this year with mixing up categories.

The mixed categories gives people the option to switch category on the night, depending on how they're feeling. Last year there were plenty of people riding in the B's who could've handled riding with the A's, but were too scared to commit to stepping up. If they could've just tried one night too see how it went it would've have been such a big deal.

Likewise, there were some A's who got ill/sidetracked for a few weeks, tried to come back a few weeks later, and were getting left behind. After a while they stopped coming. If they had the option of riding down with the B's they could've carried on.

The points work like this. The first 6 in an A cat race get, 6,5,4,3,2,1, whereas the first 6 in a B cat race get 0.6, 0.5, 0.4, 0.3, 0.2, 0.1. All the points count towards the same overall ranking.

From this, you can take that coming 6th in one A cat race, is worht coming 2nd twice in a B cat race. Which I think is reasonably comparable.

For combined races, where A and B cat's race together only the first 6 get A cat level points (6,5,4,3,2,1). Anyone can score the points.

There will always be the combined "warm up" race at the start of every meeting. There will also be the combined long race at the end (10/15/20k), but the last race doesn't count towards ranking points as there are cash prizes on offer. Last night we had a "Hare and Hounds" which was a combined race with combined points, the B's have a half a lap head start.

Within a week or two once we get more light, only the first and last races will be combined, and the last race won't even count towards the rankings.

This really sounds like it will work. Well thought out and explained.

being as I think the warm up race was my best event last year I think this sounds excellent! Seriously, sounds good, I can't wait.

One question, will there be a B cat winner still? and how will that be decided (A cat will no doubt be obvious)? Purely as a matter of interest, y'understand.

Yeah, there won't be a B cat winner anymore as riders aren't defined as A and B anymore. Only the races are categorized and then riders choose which set of races they do.

The highest ranked person who rides only B cat races all year would probably come maybe just outside the top 10 overall I'd guess. Though I'd expect, and encourage someone who wins the majority of the B cat races to at least try out some A cat races throughout the year.

Here's the overall prize table. Bare in mind though, this year there are more point primes, and the money in the last race is spread further (1st-3rd + primes). So more people should have a chance of picking up prizes on the way.

                   **Men’s League**
         1st
     £300
         2nd
     £200
         3rd
     £100
         4th
     £50
         5th
     £50
         6th
     £50
         7th
     £25
         8th
     £25
         9th
     £25
         10th
     £25
         11th
     £25
         12th
     £25
         13th
     £25
         14th
     £25
         15th
     £25


       **Women’s League**
         1st
     £100
         2nd
     £50
         3rd
     £25
         4th
     £25
         5th
     £25
         6th
     £25


       **Youth League**

         Trophies   and Medals

I'm really struggling to get down to track during the week but ... I think all of 'us' at the front of the Bs last year (I'll mention names if need be) should bite the bullet and join mikec in the As whenever we can. (And I think BMMF should probably think about doing so too.) Hopefully in May and June I can swing my work situation so I can do league.

I'm definitely doing the As. No point pissing about. I'm resigned to suffering in silence for a few weeks (after I've started on May 5th), but beyond that, I'll stick my 49t on and get down to business :D

Yeah there aren't that many people doing the A's. For some reason, probably to do with lack of long rides, I am well off the pace and floundering around at the back. But never mind. I have changed my goals for the season :)

We've only had one league meeting so far!

a similar thing has happened to the group I run with over the winter - the 'fast medium' people wouldn't move up to the fast group leaving the medium group massive /too fast, and the fast group dwindling in size and more and more exclusive. (however, am aware that I'm currently part of the problem and talking about it rather than doing anything about it.)

My aim this season was to ride with the A's, I just dont feel that confident at the mo. Guess I just need to get down there this week (if I can) and see how I feel.

The take up is just larger at the lower end of the scale, how many people turn up for induction, 80+? then there's 60+ intermediates, 30 odd elites on sunday and maybe 10 that race Nationals.

People moving up is a good thing though, because it offsets that trend (which is what we want to do) and provides room in the Bs for people to move up from training sessions.