Do ye do Track cycling?

[crazycanuck]

Just wondering if we have any female track cyclists lurking?

Tell me about trackies, what's the vibe like?

There's a ladies only night (AT) the track here in a few weeks and am going to gather some strength n go..Just wanna give it a smidgen shot!

[moosterbounce]

I wanna try it too...but I haven't hit my personal goal yet. I could maybe make the night you refer to if maybe if i don't eat for 5 weeks...

[crazycanuck]

Moo..just come along..I'm not a pencil stick!!!

I'm venturing next fri night. Twould be nice to meet ye!

Should you want more time to reach that personal goal of yours, these are the other dates:
April 9, 23 and 30
May 14 and 28
June 18 and 25
July 16 and 23
August 13 and 27
September 24

[CoffsGal]

I have only been a 'tracky' since November 2009...Track is a lot of fun even if a bit intense...I didn't really expect to get interested in track, but once I am out there going as hard as I can for as little as 670 metres it is great fun.

The tactics are intense in a sprint where it is one on one, and we might be just crawling along almost stopped, with the inside rider trying to keep the other rider on the rail...watching their muscles for the slightest hint of a twitch which might reveal their intention to go for it...until the last moment when you hit the pedals with all the explosive energy you can muster, and hope you get to the line first.

I never cease to be amazed at how quickly I tire out when giving all I have...one lap is only 335 metres on our track and by the second lap of a flat out effort I am already fading, with the mind willing but legs struggling.

The other cool thing about track is that you get to have multiple races on a night...sometimes they are too close together though and I am still puffing from the previous one. Races might be as little as two laps or as much as twenty laps.

There is also a large variety of race types to keep the racing interesting...
scratch races where we all start at the same point on the track.
handicap, where based on previous results, we each start at different points around the track.
italian pursuit, where we are in teams starting from opposite sides of the track, and each team drops one rider per lap
sprint, where just two riders battle it out, maybe only two laps
elimination where the last rider across the line each lap is out...
There are other race formats too.

Track racing and crits are only held here during the summer (daylight saving)...non daylight saving we do road racing...

We don't have enough chicks to have ladies only races, so there is often only two women and we have to compete against the guys.

I have my own track bike, but our club has a whole shed full of track bikes members can use...so no need to purchase a track bike if you just want to try it out.

Here is the story of my short track experience...
http://www.bicycles.net.au/forums/viewt ... 8&start=25



My first trophy in track a few weeks ago...

[moosterbounce]

Moo..just come along..I'm not a pencil stick!!!

I'm venturing next fri night. Twould be nice to meet ye!

It's not a case of being porky (I would still be a bit that way at the goal weight), but I need incentive and that was mine. Otherwise I'll keep eating those damn timtam crush mint biscuits

I'll try really hard tho...promise

[giwi2]

my wife has been to several of the Tuesday track nights and loves them. She is pumped every time she comes home. it is well structured and there are lots of people there to help and encourage you. In fact i would say that my wife has had nothing but a posiutvie expericne going to those nights to the point that she has bought a little Avanti track bike.

Only issue is that she has not been riding for several monthes now becuase of a bike prang (road) that caused a bulged disc and shites loads of rehab.

[oldchris]

My Wife will be down there tonight. Bob And Lorraine will look after you.

I will be there also putting new wheels on my bike.

Also If you are over 30 the Laddies have there own races also at friday night racing, which starts next week.

They have a pretty good core group now but are looking for more to come along.

[crazycanuck]

Wow, what a rush! I highly recommend trying track cycling out!!

I'd never been on a fixie-singlespeed bike & it was a bit nervewracking at first . No brakes & speed... The hardest things: starting and stopping-remembering just to let your hand slide along the bar at the bottom of the track, going for it through the corners, keep pedalling and don't hold onto the bike for dear life (sore shoulders and back this morning..)

I spent quite a bit of time just going round n round getting used to the speed I then progressed into the area between the red & black lines for a bit then moved down then up..

I was petrified when they wanted to do an individual time trial-(we didn't have to & although i wanted to, it was just the starting out bit that frightened me. Someone holding onto the bike, the sort of sloped feeling etc..) but it looked like sooo much fun!

I'll continue my core work as it'll help heaps on the track! I'd love to go singlespeed!

I knew quite a few of the other ladies(through mtn biking, swimming) that were there but most of them are quite experienced. Tis ok & will def be going back. It's cheap too!! $15/session!

[oldchris]

Glad you enjoyed it.

Come down and watch the racing on friday night,

Warm up from 6pm racing starts at 7pm.

Its free to watch so come and have a look

[Colin_T]

so where do people do track cycling in Perth these days, is it still the midland/ midvaile velodrome near Roe Hwy?

I only went around there once. I slid down the bank and didn't like it so I went home