Newport Velodrome - Winter Training Sessions

AlanW

Newport Velodrome - Winter Training Sessions

I have booked the following six dates at Newport Velodrome for a winter series of 3 hour training sessions. All are most welcome to attend and all abilities will be catered for from complete beginner's to the more experienced riders. This is a ideal opportunity to not only maintain some fitness during the coming winter months, but also gain some valuable bike handling skills.

As many people will know, free dates are at a premium at Newport, and I provisionally booked these dates nearly twelve months ago, the dates are as follows below:

Saturday 8th October - 6pm till 9pm

Saturday 12th November - 6pm to 9pm

Saturday 10th December - 6pm to 9pm

Saturday 14th January 2012 - 6pm to 9pm

Saturday 11th February - 6pm to 9pm

Saturday 3rd March - 6pm to 9pm

If you book 4 or more sessions, the sessions will cost £17.50 each. You can however book all six sessions for the price of five, ie £87.50 (roughly £14.50 per session.) The idea is that you can book the whole series in the knowledge that if something crops up and you cannot make one event you're no worse off.

If there are sufficient spaces it will be possible to pay on the day at a cost of £22 per session.

Track bikes can be hired at Newport at a reasonable rate and they do not need to be booked in advance.

If you would like any more info, or better still a booking form, then please mail me direct at alan.weaver 'at' btinternet.com or call me direct on 07500 915448

Alan Weaver

Beacon RCC

http://www.beaconrcc.org.uk/

NOTE
Individual sessions and the series as a whole will only go ahead if there are sufficient advance bookings for them to be financially viable. Payments will be held until a decision is made soon after 5th September and will be refunded if the series is cancelled.

SteveR_100Milers

Alan, who have you got to coach these sessions?

AlanW

SteveR_100Milers wrote:

Alan, who have you got to coach these sessions?

Hi Steve,

It will be one of the Newport coaches and hopefully Courtney. That said, I have always had good service from all the coaches.

But I do hope that we can keep the same coach to maintain some sort of consistency over all the sessions.

AlunJ

I may well be interested in this

oldwelshman

£22 for a three hour session?
For the vets on a friday it is either £6 or £8 for three hours and for LVRC it is £7.50 for their three hour training sessions, do you provide a three course meal afterwards ?
I guess break even is when you get 10 riders to cover cost of coach and track.

AlanW

oldwelshman wrote:

£22 for a three hour session?
For the vets on a friday it is either £6 or £8 for three hours and for LVRC it is £7.50 for their three hour training sessions, do you provide a three course meal afterwards ?
I guess break even is when you get 10 riders to cover cost of coach and track.

I can assure you that this is not being run as a profit making venture, but it has to be costed in so much that I am personnally not at the risk of losing money.

Its costs me £252.60 to hire the Velodrome (including a coach) for a three hour session, times that by six sessions is £1515.60 of my own money. If you book the whole series in advance it works out to £14.50 per session, which I agree is still more expense but I have to allow for certain sessions not making enough money to cover it.

However, if I have a sudden surge in people interested then of course the overall price per session will be reduced accordingly. And those that have paid in advance will receive a refund pro rata.

The profit made will go towards the next batch of sessions and will be shared back to those that paid in advance. As you can see I want people to pay in advance and I am trying to offer as much incentive as I can.

acidstrato

bit too rich for me

The Bounce

oldwelshman wrote:

£22 for a three hour session?
For the vets on a friday it is either £6 or £8 for three hours and for LVRC it is £7.50 for their three hour training sessions, do you provide a three course meal afterwards ?
I guess break even is when you get 10 riders to cover cost of coach and track.

You are comparing apples and oranges. A drop in session run by the velodrome is effectively subsidised and isn't at personal financial risk to someone going to the trouble of organising private sessions. I've been on 2 hour drop in sessions with 4 other people and a coach. How do those sums work? So the velodrome claws back through hire charges. You're having a 'go' at the wrong person.

acidstrato

no ones having a 'go'

but if its not for financial gain and nobody expects to make loss then what on earth is the point of a 3hr session that costs 100-150% more than other 3hr sessions.

if its the same coaches...the same drills and the same amount of track time?

last winter I got 3 x 3hr sunday improvers sessions for the price of 1 of these sessions!

AlanW

acidstrato wrote:

no ones having a 'go'

but if its not for financial gain and nobody expects to make loss then what on earth is the point of a 3hr session that costs 100-150% more than other 3hr sessions.

if its the same coaches...the same drills and the same amount of track time?

last winter I got 3 x 3hr sunday improvers sessions for the price of 1 of these sessions!

To be honest I really don't want this to develop this tread about costing. The point has been made that the drop in sessions are considerable cheaper, and yes I totally accept and acknowledge that.

I have organised a couple of club training sessions at Newport and have always had at least 24 riders attend. The overall cost has been split by the number of riders attending, so even with that many riders is has still cost a tenner each for a three hour session. So still more expensive than a drop in session.

This year, I have taken it one step further and decided to try and organise a winter track training session. The offer of course was open to Beacon RCC club members first, and I always knew that maybe we would not reach the target required in order to keep the cost to a reasonable level.

However, once I thought that all the club members had signed up I then opened it up to others, such as on here. The idea being that the more interest I get, the cheaper I make it for everyone, including my club riders.

Trying to cost such a big and expensive venture when you have no idea of numbers is nightmare as I am sure that anyone can appreciate. The way that its costed right, is if you pay in advance for all six sessions, it will cost £14.50 per session. But the more people I get, means that I can reduce this cost. That said, I would need at least 34 riders before I can even match the cost of a drop in session

If you book 4 or fewer sessions, then each session would be £17.50

To turn up on the day (same as EOL) then it will cost £22.50. It is priced like this to try and encourage people to either book more than one date in advance or better still pay for the whole series and enjoy even more benefit, such as has already been mentioned.


So that's it really, but please continue to slate my efforts if you so desire. In the mean time maybe ask the people at Newport, why they are the charging charging £252.60 for the same three hour session?

SteveR_100Milers

Alan, my suggestion wold be that you cold offer a rebate to the full price payers if you get a greater number. It would encourage riders to bring others along, and so long as you don't have more than 40 riders on the track at the same time its fine. Plus sessions are usually better with more riders!

SteveR_100Milers

acidstrato wrote:

no ones having a 'go'

but if its not for financial gain and nobody expects to make loss then what on earth is the point of a 3hr session that costs 100-150% more than other 3hr sessions.

if its the same coaches...the same drills and the same amount of track time?

last winter I got 3 x 3hr sunday improvers sessions for the price of 1 of these sessions!

so who are you then? I rode almost every Sunday of Courtney's improvers (as an accredited rider). I thought the whole thing worked well, though whether he'll do it again this year with a 9pm finish remains to be seen.

AlanW

SteveR_100Milers wrote:

Alan, my suggestion wold be that you cold offer a rebate to the full price payers if you get a greater number. It would encourage riders to bring others along, and so long as you don't have more than 40 riders on the track at the same time its fine. Plus sessions are usually better with more riders!

That's already going to happen, and its all on a sliding scale, the more riders I get the cheaper it becomes for everyone.

That said, those that will benefit the most will be those that have paid in advance for the whole series.

To be honest, I'm beginning to regret thinking that it would ever work and there was always a concern that I could be out of pocket. Hence the reason why the initial costings were as they are.

As it stands as of right now, only two sessions are just about financially viable to go ahead. The first one in October and the session in January. The deadline date is the 5th September and a final decision will be made then what will happen going forward.

No cheques have been cashed as yet until that decision has been made. The worst case is that people that have already paid in advance will have a full refund, the best case as of now is that the series is reduced to just 2 or 3 sessions.

The sessions are not really for die hard track riders, although everyone will be catered for, I was trying to encourage more people to try the track for the first time. And maybe get some road riders doing some winter sessions instead of sitting on a turbo trainer in the garage like Billy No Mates.

Best made plans and all that............. :oops:

SteveR_100Milers

Alan, I sympathise with you on this - I cannot understand why the velodrome in Newport is so under-used at times. Bet you though that it will be like the underground rush hour after 2012.

AlanW

There was another problem, my aim in the beginning was to hold the six sessions on the first Saturday of each month and at the same time. I wanted 3pm to 5pm on Saturday afternoons, but Newport would not guarantee me these times? Bearing in mind that I started this process nearly 12 months ago.

In fact, they cancelled the first date/time just over a month ago. The only time slot that they would give me that they guaranteed would not get cancelled was 6pm to 9pm.

Which if I am being honest, is not the best time slot, but better than no slot at all I guess?

steveaich

Alan, I've just dropped you an email about this to your btinternet email address. Be good to hear from you.

acidstrato

I'm not trying to slate anyone, but I cant commit to every one. so I'd prefer to turn up and pay, but cant justify a possible price of 22quid. obviously I'm not alone. If close to the dates you say good numbers have brought the price down then I'd like to ride too

Steve, I did sundays throught Dec, Jan and Feb. Most of the sessions I did were 2hrs but some were 3hr. It was ok, numbers were good only problems I had was when the sesh was full by wednesday and I'd missed out. I did my accreditation in Jan

oldwelshman

I am the same as acid, not really having a go at Alan personaly, I was just stating facts, nothing to do with apples and oranges either.
For me I could not commit to all the sessions, I have to drive 170 miles each way so for me it would be very expensive to do a one of, or even a couple of them. This is why I said I do the drop in if possible and also the vets.
The drop ins a best if anyione can get to them as you can do very specific training.
I try to fit the track training around a race or another track session so I stay weekend down there.
To be honest the dates are probably good for guys wishing to improve track riding but for specific track training, funny time of year as most track riders do base miles in winter and not so much track, unless your like Steve and live close
BUt still great fun for people to have a few go's.

Pross

I am tempted, I live just up the road but struggle to find decent sessions to use at the velodrome i.e. not too hard and at a suitable time. Saturdays are perfect as I can still do a Sunday club run but as with others the price is too high for me (no offence to you Alan as I can fully understand the reasoning - we have the same issues trying to get a club session sorted there).

AlanW

Well despite the issues raised in this thread about the costing, which as I have already mentioned is totally out of my control, I have still had a number of people either sign up for the six sessions or contact me about single sessions.

But just to confirm one question that keeps being asked, if you decide to book the whole six sessions which equates to £14.50 per session, and you find that you cannot attend one or more sessions, you can nominate someone else to take your place. As long as we know in advance so that we amend our records for that session.

As it stands, it is pretty certain that the first four sessions are going ahead as planned, subject to the payment arriving that have been promised.

mattsccm

Just a maybe as I would need to do a bit of asking/calling people bluff, but would you fancy 3 - 6 total beginners. Wouldn't even think about anything beyond the first session as it may not be to peoples tastes.
What does the track charge for bike hire?
Matt

AlanW

mattsccm wrote:

Just a maybe as I would need to do a bit of asking/calling people bluff, but would you fancy 3 - 6 total beginners. Wouldn't even think about anything beyond the first session as it may not be to peoples tastes.
What does the track charge for bike hire?
Matt

Hi Matt,

Not a problem with total beginners attending the sessions, bring as many as you like. But as the first session is filling up quite quickly now, I would suggest that you confirm every ones interest ASAP. If you need a booking form, mail me direct and I'll send you a copy, and its one form per person.

I believe that the cost to hire a bike is £7 for the duration of our session.

Hope that helps?

Regards

Alan

mattsccm

Ta. Will do the asking .

AlanW

UPDATE

As its stands, all the sessions are good to go apart from "maybe" the December session.

But to be fair, we are only short of just a couple of people in order to make this date good to go as well. Which to be fair if those that have expressed an interest pay, then this date will also happen.

But we still have more room for others across all the sessions, if you would care to contact me.

dru

I did my first track session on Monday night at Newport. Loved every minute of it.

Will send you a PM regarding this 'offer'

Thanks,

Dru

AlanW

Dru wrote:

Will send you a PM regarding this 'offer'

You have a reply..

AlanW

UPDATE

I am pleased to announce and with a huge sigh of relief, that the whole series has now cleared that break even point, so thank you to everyone for there support in making it happen.

Its also fair to add that while some of the sessions are now at near enough max capacity, other sessions could maybe do with just a couple more people just to make it a bit more interesting for everyone.

So if you fancy giving it a go, its not 100% to late.

dru

AlanW wrote:

UPDATE

I am pleased to announce and with a huge sigh of relief, that the whole series has now cleared that break even point, so thank you to everyone for there support in making it happen.

Its also fair to add that while some of the sessions are now at near enough max capacity, other sessions could maybe do with just a couple more people just to make it a bit more interesting for everyone.

So if you fancy giving it a go, its not 100% to late.

Hi Alan,

Just spoke to you on the phone and made the bank transfer as requested. See you in Newport!

Regards,

Justin.

AlanW

Dru wrote:

AlanW wrote:

UPDATE

I am pleased to announce and with a huge sigh of relief, that the whole series has now cleared that break even point, so thank you to everyone for there support in making it happen.

Its also fair to add that while some of the sessions are now at near enough max capacity, other sessions could maybe do with just a couple more people just to make it a bit more interesting for everyone.

So if you fancy giving it a go, its not 100% to late.

Hi Alan,

Just spoke to you on the phone and made the bank transfer as requested. See you in Newport!

Regards,

Justin.

Thanks Justin, see you in a couple of weeks time!!

AlanW

Well folks, the first one of the six sessions is tomorrow evening, and those that are attending please make sure that you are there in plenty of time and all geared and ready to rock and roll at 6pm please.

In the meantime, if you need to contact me about anything - 07500 915448

dru

Second Session of 6 is tommorrow evening, looking forward to seeing you all there