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Another fine warm sunny evening of racing. My goodness, the 15km Points Race was fast. I was hanging in there just to stay with it until I got shelled out with 10 laps to go. But did OK in the Handicap sprint; 3rd or 4th so not all bad news.

Anyone ride the Aussie Pursuit? Did you enjoy it?

and fearing being seen as a sandbagger

I had no fear of being seen as a Sandbagger last year. In fact I am proud to own the tag; Herne Hill TL Sandbagger 2012.

There was some good racing going on yesterday evening with young Kareem Akinnibi holding is own very well in the C Races I noticed. A couple of sandbaggers in the B's and C's and maybe a few who might want to consider riding in the C's.

Once again the old men, Simon Schmidt, Ralph Carter and Kia Apperley showing the younger riders that being over fifty they're strong enough to win and place well with Simon winning the A 3 lap dash, Ralph taking 5th in the 30 lap Points and me picking up a handful of points in the A Devil. Sorry Kia I did not see your results, but know you were putting the hammer down in the Points; I couldn't hold your wheel as you and three others road away to take some lap points, on more than one occasion I think.

The warm-up race is always a bit sketchy. No more so than yesterday with the pace in the first five laps yo-yoing. On two many occasions I found myself having to kick back. This didn't happen in the other races, so why in the warm up. It is a five lap warm up part for goodness sake.

Left to me, the warm up race would be 12 - 14 laps with the first 8 being through and off / rotation / chain-gang (whatever you want to call it) with the pace SLOWLY picking up each lap. If you can't do a couple of turns at the front in the warm up, then I would question whether you should be riding in the A&B's. I'd sacrifice 4 laps of the 20km scratch race to know riders are riding safer and in the right race.

And in doing this it would serve two purposes, as an extension of the Monday race training, encourage rider's track craft to improve as the pace picks up in a controlled manner and give a decent fair warm-up to everyone. Discuss!

We all fall off and there's lots to talk about. Whilst crashes are a part and parcel of racing, they do happen very infrequently and it is sad when people get hurt and I hope they're all back riding soon. But when we all ride safely, with some good hard good racing it seems nobody has anything to say.

What are your thoughts on Jason's comments about some of the B's riding the A's?. If you are a mid-place finisher in the B's would you ride with the C's? Maybe you're a C rider, would you want your races to be harder with a few more B's riding?
How did you get on in the Team Sprint?
Who was the brave rider who took off on his own in the B Devil only to die with just a few laps to go? And who forgot to drop out?
The A Points Race, points every 3 laps, except the judge blew the whistle after one, whilst we are waiting for Simon to change his wheel. Should the A's have waited for Simon?
The A and B 20km scratch wittled down to around 20 riders towards the end, how did you get on? Towards the end it was getting a bit dark, could the lights have been turned on?

A qualifying time trial of 12.30s? Not going to be many people racing if the track league record is 12.40s and no one got below 12.50s in the recent TTs!!!! Will it just be off the fastest times?

So the sprint final will be, Big Miles vs. Little Miles.

7th is my best showing in the 20km scratch and even managed to do a few turns on the front as well. Some strong riding from other old 'uns, chapeau to Kia and Ralph Carter for having more than their fair share of digs and having a go off the front with around 10 laps to go and holding it for 5-6 laps before being reeled in.

From my viewpoint, the A&B warm up race was incredibly hairy, with riders not holding their line well and alot of kicking back going on. And yet the same riders rode extremely well with due consideration to others in the 20km scratch at the end.

The lights are good. Well worth it. A bit of tweaking to the position of some of the lights creating a few dark spots and they'll be great.

Anyone got a spare £3M for some changing rooms, toilets and a cafe?

http://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/raise-3m-for-new-pavilion-or-historic-velodrome-could-close-8646902.html

My thoughts exactly. Haven't felt like I had to push on any of the basics sessions I've done so looking forward to a proper workout at inters next week.

Craig, make sure you are out tomorrow so you can do a proper workout on the club run riding with the fast group as prep for the inters next week!

Thought it was another London nutter.

You mean there is more than one nutter in London?

I should have just gone back to cricket, at least they feed you in that sport.

You get fed in cycling, mostly bullshit!

Basics is full of mad men who want to kill me, Intermediates will be too fast?

If the mad men cannot kill you because you are much faster than them, then you should be ok in the intermediates. If not then it seems that your destiny is death at the hands or wheels of mad men for the foreseeable future.

Hope this helps :)

EoD?

Who is the elder gent on a Pinarello two weeks ago, a Cervelo T3 with disc last week and a Look 496 yesterday? Phenomenal bike collection.

You may find it will be a different track bike with different wheels next week and the week after. Ad infinitum.

first beginners session today, enjoyed it so much! (could be faster overall) Can't wait for next Saturday :D

Amey, I think you'll find the pace is suited to the ability of the riders taking part. I'm sure you'll agree it is more important for beginners to learn good bike skills than to hurtle around fast. Learning to ride a track bike is in a way a bit like learning to walk, before you run. Be patient, the appropriate time for going fast will be with the intermediate sessions, which you may well find test your fitness and bike handling skills further than you can imagine.

Maybe also in the age group of Newport, same as me?

I think it's the D's; 50-54.

Senility. don't even know how old I am!

Currently thinking of scrubbing the Track Masters Nationals at the end of June and focussing on the Euros and LVRC Champs, and possibly the Masters Worlds in October.

It's not confusing.
Newport is for Masters/veterans (same location every year?).
Apeldoorn this year for elite men and women.

Senility on my part

In October, the European track championships will be in Apeldoorn, The Netherlands again.

Still a long time to go, but does anyone have plans to come over?
Trying to organize something during that weekend. It would be nice if some forum members could join.

More within a couple of days, I hope.

Or, the 2013 European Track Championships at Newport in September, but without the classic track bike event.

http://www.bristowevents.co.uk/emtc.html

I'm as confused as you!

+1 on Brooks Cycles, Tony Brooks is an absolute diamond, always a pleasure to deal with.

A good courier also helps.

I see there is Madison racing on Wednesday, and training for it tomorrow. Is that for all categories, and will there be other races on as well for those who cannot train for it tomorrow and are scared at the prospect?

tommmmmm. There will be the usual mix of races as well. Or at least last year there was. Miss the Madison and burn your matches in the other races.

Will mostly miss watching Rich winning the handicap sprint every week with a handicap of about 100 metres,

Not quite true, this is the event where I picked up most of my Sandbagging points. so I will aim to keep Tricky's hit rate down to about 75% as the handicapper continues to move me back towards Richard. Have to see if we can't get Miles down a few more times, with his handicap being, the next county.

Can't play today, wife's birthday. Well I could, but I do need to earn some more track / crit / road race credits.

I had fun at basics this morning but I good it's quicker next week.

Really wish I entered the kid races.

Indraripper, time for you to step up to the plate. Or put another way, time to get on the start line.

Upload failed!

Excellent, now how do I turn that in to an Avatar?

Wanted.

Suggested safe..ish route from London Bridge to Hogg Hill.

Thanks

Is it Saturday? No commentary on today's sessions.

Who know's how to create a Herne Hill 2012 TL Sandbagger avatar?