There is a northern cycling club who are organising a weekend 24hr trackathon there on 5/6 Nov to raise funds for UK Youth. Apparently you can enter teams and they will lend you bikes.

That’s all the detail I have at the moment but before I go asking for more i would like to know if anyone here has done this sort of thing.

Is track cycling fun or just a new world of pain?

I had a go at Newport earlier in the year with a group of newbies like me- it was physically and intellectually demanding for the first go but within an hour we were at the top of the banking and beginning to learn simple techniques. enjoyed it immensely, although two or three of the group said never again…. I must admit that I had had some fixed wheel experience on the road 20 years ago which did help adjust

Was looking into this last winter but decided to break my collarbone instead. Calshot do weekend taster courses which I was going to give a go. Thanks for the reminder!

I’ve had a go (at calshot)

small & steep track – good fun, right until you subconsciously try to freewheel round a fast corner 😯

they have a rack of loaner bikes. take yr own shoes & spds.

(they might not let you loose with loads of others unless you’ve done some sort of a session there before)

Haven’t been there for a few years but last time was fun. We booked a private session with coach who knew all of us and got us on to the more advanced stuff far quicker than an ‘open’ session would.
Coming off the banking full tilt and then grabbing your team mate to ‘slingshot’ him up to speed was definitely a new skill.

If it’s a cold night take plenty of warm kit, it gets piggin cold in there.

Is track cycling fun or just a new world of pain?

In a team event it’s presumably a series of short sprints. Don’t underestimate how much that’ll wear you down when done repetitively.

you will not be allowed to just rock up and enter an event you will have to do an induction first.

any shortcoming in your fitness will be obvious, there is no ‘pootle up the climbs and have a breather at the top’ on the track.

We’ve got a session booked at calshot for next month – £270 to hire it out, split between 10 of us so not so bad…
Can’t wait 🙂

found the email that alerted me to it – maybe 24 hours is a bit much for a taster session but some of you guys might want to make a team. Email me and I will give you contact details

Hi Guys
We are considering how to amke the 24 hour more of a goroup ride and less of a grudge match betweens teams . Some Hope I think

We have a cunning Plan . The plan is to measure everyones distance therefore the more riders in the team the further they go.

Also a weaker rider may need time out if they can’t hold the faster guys pace a team could split fast guys on the Blu slower on the red and still contribute to the grand total .

This also give a more impresive target 2640 miles in 24hours .
I need to start working on the promotion of this event with Louis at UK Youth so I you have commnets on the plan could you let me have ASAP .

The more I think about this the more I like it

So a special Thanks go to Richard (Todger) Todd for putting the idea in my tiny little mind

I hope you like this idea and I look forward to the pain

Cheers Graham Hewson

WCA keep me informed. i’ve done the taster session and would be keen to do more. 😀

Tom – You have the details now I hope. I just didn’t want to give out some blokes mobile number on a public forum

Cheers

Nick

I tried to arrnage Calshot with a mate a few years ago and think you have to book training sessions to make sure you’re ‘safe’ on the track. I was trying to build up a track bike for general riding around here and also for the outside track at the Mountbatten centre. If you’re a bit nervous about going straight to Clashot you could try Mountbatten as I think it’s free but I did see something the other day that on Friday evenings there is coaching which is a lot cheaper than Calshot.

That 24 hour event sounds well smart though. Quite fancy that but I have a feeling that I would end up doing what scaredypants did!

I’ve done a fair bit of riding at Calshot. You will need to complete a two session intro before they let you loose, if you’re a track virgin.

It is quite tight, quite technical in groups, and very physical at speed. And whatever you do don’t crash! (There’s sand mixed in the varnish to aid grip in the cold and damp)

But I guarantee you’ll be grinning from ear to ear after a 2 hour training session!