Meeting up with good friends in London this weekend, and amongst the gigs (Tenacious D!), pubs and general japery, I booked us a taster session at Lee Valley Velodrome.

Any idea what to expect? Is it fun? Will we die?

If anyone wants a laugh, come and watch a huge fattie and his less fat mates try it for a laugh this Sunday at 2pm 🙂

Type 2 fun. But then I’d never ridden a fixie before…

It’s great ! Tomorrow evening I’ll be coaching a dozen 12-15 yr olds on the Glasgow Velodrome 😀

Let’s know how you get on.
I went with little J recently to ride the off road stuff and couldn’t believe how quiet the velodrome was. I reckon it would be bliss to fling myself around the track for an hour when it was that empty.

brilliant fun, deceptively hard. I went on a club session, we hired the Newport velodrome and 2 coaches for I think 3 hours; we were split into two groups (those who’d done a session before and those who hadn’t) and did it in a series of 15 on/15 off periods.

As a newbie first 15 was all on the flat inner just getting used to the fixies and speeding up and slowing down; after that on the track we did some moving up and down the banking, and then got onto ‘proper’ stuff, best of which was lapping nose to tail on the blue stayer’s line, and once you get to the front of the line the coach whistles and you drop down to the black and give it beans to try to get back on to the back of the group. 15 mins of that and taking 3 turns of ‘taking a lap’ which takes 3-4 laps of effort each time makes you glad it’s only 15 minute stints!

Do it!

Great fun – I’m planning on getting accredited this year, but not had time to get beyond level 2. It’s a very different kind of cycling, but if you get the bug it can really help your bike skills and fitness, looking at how some friends have come on.

I reckon it would be bliss to fling myself around the track for an hour when it was that empty.

Track riding is dull as ditchwater if you’re on your own. You need a dozen others there to make it worthwhile, give yourself a bit of a rest in the line and do some group exercise stuff. Very few people can fling themselves round a track for an hour – mostly because it’s incredibly boring and you lose focus but also because it’s just hard.

Put 25 others on it though and have a 1hr points race and it’s bloody fantastic. 🙂

Iain, not that we are competitive in any way (ahem), any insider tips you can give me about how/when to drop the hammer and unleash my inner Hoy?

^^^^ haha 😜. Smooth pedalling and stay tucked behind other riders as much as you can. If you are within half a wheel of rider in front you’re saving 25% energy… Try and use the bankings to help your accelerations and don’t bust yourself accelerating hard up them, save it for coming down !

LOL! I suspect I’m going to be massively shit, and in deep shit the first time I try to coast after a pathetic burst 🤦‍♂️

^^^ yeah, trying to freewheel doesn’t often end well 😁. You’ll only do it once mind you !

Sounds like I need to go to Glasgow.
Nice one iain .
🙂

Did this earlier in the year at Lee Valley. My first track and fixed experience and it was great fun. Really hard work but I loved it.

Great fun.

Very tiring – concentration as much as anything.

Riding at the top of the bank is A LOT harder than the blue line.

I loved it.

I’ve done sessions at Lea Valley, Herne Hill and Newport. It’s great fun but more fun the closer in skill level all the riders are so Lea Valley, whilst a terrific place to ride and experience, was the least rewarding from a riding perspective as a lot of completely inexperienced bike riders on the session.

An evening at Newport with a coach and experienced riders was massive fun. Herne Hill is great too and you can just turn up at the Saturday morning beginners session and work your way up from there.

Grass track cycling is the new golf.

Had a taster session a few years back, loved it.

Just wish there was one closer…

Well that was utterly superb fun!

Myself and 2 friends, plus only 1 other rider, so we got a heck of a lot of cycling in.

Once you got to grips with everything, the feeling of going in to the turn high, then nailing it down the banking, head down, to push it as hard as possible for a couple of laps was just superb. Horrible feeling when after that burst you realise you still can’t coast though… keep pedalling!

We also did a bit three of us teaming up to get faster and faster, front rider peeling off then joining at the back of the wee train. Man, we were pathetic, but even for us we could build up some serious speed.

Brillaint!

It is good – done a couple of times at Newport and most recently at Lea Valley.
Good fun but I found the bike there a bit under-geared…..or more likely my cadence was found wanting!

Glad you enjoyed it!

I meant to post in this thread earlier to say I found it surprisingly fun too. I live nearby and have done a few sessions including a couple of semi-serious competitions with work against other companies. We did a team TT and it was harder than expected to keep a tight formation. Here I am on the practise and we felt pretty close (despite looking a mess!)

@iainc – re. freewheeling, yup I saw a guy switch off and get launched over the bars. Broken shoulder bone :/

Err, don’t try a “gentleman’s adjustment” either 😳

@pedlad – I think the hire bikes have pretty low gearing just to account for all the different levels of strength and fitness.