Manchester veledrome taster session

Dave1441
Dave1441 Posts: 96
edited September 2012 in Track
I am planning on going to a taster session and have some questions...
What can I expect to do in the session? What track techniques does it cover? Do you get to have a race on the track at the end of the session?

Thanks for any replies. :D

Comments

  • Pross
    Pross Posts: 40,207
    Don't know about the Manchester version but based on Newport it will probably be some basic getting used to the track by riding on the various lines, some weaving through cones, riding a paceline doing lap and half lap changes, stacking (i.e. riding 5 or 6 deep up the banking and changing each lap) and taking laps. I doubt you will race but they may do some flying lap time trials.
  • AlunJ
    AlunJ Posts: 40
    It's all good fun until you do stacking :lol: That's when talking to the group you're doing it with becomes serious!
    Enjoy it! I think we did a race or two at newport when we got on to the improvers course but that was about it.
    Alun

    Road: Dolan L'Etape Carbon 105
    MTB: 2016 Voodoo Hoodoo
  • Agent57
    Agent57 Posts: 2,300
    Dave1441 wrote:
    I am planning on going to a taster session and have some questions...
    What can I expect to do in the session? What track techniques does it cover? Do you get to have a race on the track at the end of the session?

    Thanks for any replies. :D

    Depends on the group. If no one has ridden fixed or on the banking before, it'll start off more slowly than it might otherwise I think. On my taster session, only 2 riders had ridden the track before, and some weren't regular cyclists, so for the first 30 minutes we were just free riding on the track, as people got used to it.

    Later we did a 1 lap TT from a standing start, and later still we split so the more confident of us rode above the blue line. I teamed up with some other riders and we did 30 minutes of through and off above the blue line.

    The coach asked us what we wanted to do though, so if you're with a group of experienced riders or pick things up quickly, you should be able to do a race if you want to.
    MTB commuter / 531c commuter / CR1 Team 2009 / RockHopper Pro Disc / 10 mile PB: 25:52 (Jun 2014)
  • I am doing my 1st 'taster' session on Sunday this week, having done 2 closed club sessions. I am looking to go for accreditation and start racing in the leagues.

    Anyone advice on the process?
  • Dave1441
    Dave1441 Posts: 96
    I went today for the taster at 12-1 the coach was very nice, we did not do a race but I got up to the highest line (the blue one) for about 15-20 laps. I did not crash and overall had a great day. :lol:
  • jscl
    jscl Posts: 1,015
    fismaster wrote:
    I am doing my 1st 'taster' session on Sunday this week, having done 2 closed club sessions. I am looking to go for accreditation and start racing in the leagues.

    Anyone advice on the process?
    As an NCC coach, all I can advise is that you be confident. You'll have to ride in a four-man line on the blue for several laps to demonstrate your confidence and do changes from the blue line, changing right up to the top of the track. Key is, don't be overconfident. Just like a driving test. Good luck!
    Follow me on Twitter - http://twitter.com/scalesjason - All posts are strictly my personal view.
  • I did my first taster session yesterday and it was excellent, so much so that I'm going back next week! The coach offered good advice and there were some seasoned riders on hand to get pointers from as well. I enjoyed it so much that I'm going to look into accreditation as well...
  • JamesB5446
    JamesB5446 Posts: 471
    Girlfriend and I are doing a taster session next month, really looking forward to it.
  • oldwelshman
    oldwelshman Posts: 4,733
    JSCL wrote:
    fismaster wrote:
    I am doing my 1st 'taster' session on Sunday this week, having done 2 closed club sessions. I am looking to go for accreditation and start racing in the leagues.

    Anyone advice on the process?
    As an NCC coach, all I can advise is that you be confident. You'll have to ride in a four-man line on the blue for several laps to demonstrate your confidence and do changes from the blue line, changing right up to the top of the track. Key is, don't be overconfident. Just like a driving test. Good luck!
    Maybe you can explain why only Manchester accreditation is accepted at Manchester? I always found this weird given that other tracks use BCF qualified coaches to do accreditation.
  • It was really good fun. We were the n00b group so we just had half the session getting used to the track then the other half free ride.

    I'd love to pop back and do the accreditation, it's a bit of a pain with it being on the other side of the country. Scunthorpe is the nearest velodrome to us, but it's an outdoor one.