Indoor velodrome riding

Donkey oaty

Hi, I'm a newb at this, so apologies if this is in the wrong place. I'm hoping (read going to) ride all the indoor velodromes in the uk before the end of the year. I have already ticked off three, with the fourth later this week (Wednesday 7th Nov). All good so far, other than as an experienced cyclist, I'm getting fed up with taster sessions. So the question is, has anyone out there got a spare place on a club session at either Glasgow or London Lea Valley before the end of the year I can join in on? I rode a similar thing at Derby two years ago. I don't expect anymore than a space, if available. Riding fixed and/or in a group is not an issue.

Thanks,

Ben.

imposter2.0

Are you not accredited? If not, why not? Road experience doesn't count for much on the track and that's probably the reason you are limited to taster sessions...

Incidentally, there is a track sub-forum on the forums list..

Donkey oaty

Hi, I'm not accredited because of a)cost and b)the fact that seemingly not all tracks accept each other's accreditation. I don't want to race particularly, just ride all the indoor tracks.... I will do them all as taster sessions if I have to, but thought I'd ask.

Thanks for the heads up on the forum, I'll try to post there too.

Donkey oaty

Post moved to the track forum....

imposter2.0

Donkey oaty wrote:

Hi, I'm not accredited because of a)cost and b)the fact that seemingly not all tracks accept each other's accreditation. I don't want to race particularly, just ride all the indoor tracks.... I will do them all as taster sessions if I have to, but thought I'd ask.

Thanks for the heads up on the forum, I'll try to post there too.

I believe accreditation at any of the UKs indoor indoor 250m tracks is now universally accepted by the others. With accreditation, you could book onto any SQT as required.

There's only five indoor tracks and they're all 250m with 42deg banking - what's the appeal?

sniper68

Imposter wrote:

I believe accreditation at any of the UKs indoor indoor 250m tracks is now universally accepted by the others. With accreditation, you could book onto any SQT as required.

A couple of kids at my sons CC have just got accreditation at the Velodrome in Derby.They have to apply to have it transferred to Manchester.Not sure if that's just under 16s though?

imposter2.0

Sniper68 wrote:

Imposter wrote:

I believe accreditation at any of the UKs indoor indoor 250m tracks is now universally accepted by the others. With accreditation, you could book onto any SQT as required.

A couple of kids at my sons CC have just got accreditation at the Velodrome in Derby.They have to apply to have it transferred to Manchester.Not sure if that's just under 16s though?

Accreditation should appear on your race licence - and (I believe) should now be accepted at all indoor venues, regardless of where you were originally accredited. Could be wrong, but that's my understanding. The point being, that you only need to go through accreditation once, rather than at each venue - which would be a massive pain for riders entering national events, like the national youth omnium final at Derby this year, where accreditation was mandatory, despite the regional heats not requiring accreditation to qualify.

sniper68

Imposter wrote:

Sniper68 wrote:

Imposter wrote:

I believe accreditation at any of the UKs indoor indoor 250m tracks is now universally accepted by the others. With accreditation, you could book onto any SQT as required.

A couple of kids at my sons CC have just got accreditation at the Velodrome in Derby.They have to apply to have it transferred to Manchester.Not sure if that's just under 16s though?

Accreditation should appear on your race licence - and (I believe) should now be accepted at all indoor venues, regardless of where you were originally accredited. Could be wrong, but that's my understanding. The point being, that you only need to go through accreditation once, rather than at each venue - which would be a massive pain for riders entering national events, like the national youth omnium final at Derby this year, where accreditation was mandatory.

I think the transfer is easy enough but as you say it's one accreditation not one for each venue.
I did a Velodrome session at Manchester last year.It was good.I don't see the point however of visiting them all as they will all be the same.
I would like to ride the one in Roubaix though just to say I have.

imposter2.0

They're supposed to all be the same and effectively they are - apart from Derby which has a big bump off turn 3..

Donkey oaty

Thanks all for your replies. In answer to why, I'm not really sure!! It was just a target and something to say I've done. Calshot is only 143m and is 45 deg banking, so they're not all the same, but are similar. The differing views on accreditation and its transferability illustrate my point. I've not asked a lot of people about it, but not one of whom I did ask told me it was accepted at all tracks. I guess I could be assessed on track, but once I've done that, I've ridden the track already!! If I wanted to ride any or all of them regularly, I'd jump through the hoops to do so....

imposter2.0

Donkey oaty wrote:

Calshot is only 143m and is 45 deg banking, so they're not all the same, but are similar.

Calshot is a bit of a novelty - I wasn't really including that in the discussion...

Donkey oaty wrote:

The differing views on accreditation and its transferability illustrate my point. I've not asked a lot of people about it, but not one of whom I did ask told me it was accepted at all tracks.

You haven't been talking to the right people then. This is from the NCC website...

UK TRACK ACCREDITATION SCHEME
If you are a member of British Cycling, following successful accreditation there will be an endorsement added to your membership card/licence as a UK Indoor Velodrome accredited rider, and this will give you access to Glasgow, Newport, London and Derby, but please check with these venues regarding registration.

johnmiosh

Even with BC UK accreditation you will still have to gain accreditation from each individual venue to ride their SQTs. This means attending a stage 4 session rather than the whole process. If you just want to say you have ridden, sign up for a taster.