I remember checking out the Midvale Veledrome (SpeedDome) for the first time. A bit daunting for an adult let alone a kid, but after the intial ‘wow this is a big shed‘ feeling we were all ok.
All they need is a pair of shorts, volleys or similar, t-shirt and helmet and they will get fitted out by friendly experts/coaches with a bike.
A few safety lessons, techniques to start and stop and they were off – “Look Dad no brakes!” Yes we had a few tumbles, near misses, silly mistakes but that’s all part and parcel of learning. Even the most timid are eventually speeding around and around having a ball. If you want help with a DWI charge, you need the best attorney for the same.
I would say your child needs to be around 8 or 9 to start as the smallest bikes are only so small.
I had always thought ‘how boring‘ just going around and around. Not so, there is so much to the actual skill of cycling on a sloping surface than meets the eye.
Parent like it because the kids are pretty safe (no cars). Kids like it because they can race other kids and match themselves in a friendly rivalry. There seems to be a slightly more boys than girls but it’s pretty even – and the girls just love beating the boys! The skills and stamina they get from track stand them in good stead to the world of road cycling as well.
My recommendation would be to check out the Track Cycling WA website to see when’s a good time to get an introduction to Track cycling.
Some useful info:
Costs:
Track Fee – ususally around $10
Bike Hire Fee – around $5
Fun – free
SPR had five club members racing on the track for the Winter Grand Prix. The three ladies Anna, Bec and Lisa and two first time GP riders Chris “Daisy” Ainsworth and I fronted up for some hardcore-leg smashing-lung busting racing.
I arrived a little later than I would have liked. By the time I got there the tack was just closed for practice as the junior sprint qualifying rounds were just about to get under way. Dammit. I wasn’t overly stressed about missing the warm-up, I’ve been out at the track 3-4 nights a week for the last few week so I had plenty of laps under my belt. Just condemned myself to warming up on the rollers.
Chris arrived about 10 minutes later and we set up camp in the corner with a good view of the finish line. There was already about 100 riders in the infield all going through their own routines and warm-up rituals, including Anna Meares who has an interesting ritual that involves walking around kicking the air above her head for about 15 minutes. Maybe that’s the secret… air kicking…
The first race of the day for Chris and I would be a 20 lap scratch. Our normal B-Grade field was bolstered by a few A-Grade ring-ins who had been bumped down by the International riders arriving to duke it out in A-Grade. Chris and I had heard that Jack Campbell and Jarred the ‘Motorpace Champion of Tuesday Night’ fame would be riding with us. As such we had already written off our chances. An ass kicking was on the cards – something which Peter – our ever confident Presodento confirmed on Saturday by saying that we were going to get ‘spanked!’ Thanks Pete – cheers. Confidence is high.
So Daisy (not to be referred to as Chris henceforth), and I decided that conservative racing for the scratch was the way to proceed. Just keep our noses clean and stay out of trouble. With that decided we rolled up to the fence for the start. The first 10 laps or so the pace was on pretty high. The group was stretch out with no real jostling for position going on. Fearing my lurking cold was going to kill my at the half way point I was happy to still be with the group. As the race developed I was just focusing on keeping Jack’s wheel in front of me. With 5 laps to go I was starting to feel pretty happy to have legs left. I was feeling ok – and to be honest really surprised not to be in the hurt box. With 3 laps to go the race really played her hand. The pace came off as people became consigned to the idea that was coming down to the sprint. We all gassed off and spread out across the track with 3 to go. I hate these moments of hesitation in the pack. Someone – usually a kid with massive lungs – will jump and go for it and leaving everyone to chase. Hate chasing. So as we moved into the bend I jumped down and gunned it for about 100 meters to get the pace on again. But it was a feigned attack – as if I was going from 3 out – so I looked under the arm as saw Jarred there as we hit the back bend. I swung up and let him take the pace and sat about 4th wheel behind Jack as we came around with two laps to go. Jack went hard with two to go and put himself into the front as we came around for the bell lap. I have a bad habit of leaving my moves to late so with 200m to go I hit it as hard as I could as jumped past Jack in the back straight. At this point I was totally freaking out that I was in front. I was just waiting to get rolled by Theo or Jarred, or even Daisy! But as we rounded the last corner into the finishing straight I was still in the front. I pushed my massive sack of disbelief aside, put my head down and went for the line. To my complete surprise I won. I beat Theo Yates by about half a wheel. I even let out a gasp exasperation such was my shock. WTF? I just won!
After this I spent 15 minutes on the ground trying not to die. Really hurt the lungs bad.
Our next race was the Westral Wheelrace heat. Daisy and I made the final comfortably. And a big thanks here to Zac and my Dad who discharged their pushing duties most faithfully and with a great deal of ‘heave-ho!’. It’s been a decade since my old man pushed me – and I must say it was a totally nostalgic blast from the past. He still gives it some stick!
The Westral Wheelrace has been running for nearly 100 years. Chris and I were both happy to be part of the final. But these things are made for the scratch markers to win in a blaze of glory. That’s why they are so entertaining to watch. Aware of this, and very aware of the talent behind us Daisy and I only had one option – we had to go from the gun and give it everything. Daisy hit it hard from the gun. It took me about half a lap just to get on his wheel. I yelled at him “On!” when I was there and in the next corner he swung up to take his turn. At that point we had about 4 laps to go. I yelled out “lets go!” and laid down the watts. Unfortunately I gave it too much and blew Daisy off my wheel. By the time I got to the bend to take my turn I looked back and he wasn’t there anymore. At this point I only had two choices 1) sit up and wait for Chris and hope that we didn’t get gobbled up by the big boys in the process; 2) Go for it. 3.5 laps solo. I took option 2 and went for it. The last 500m were the longest 500m I have ever ridden. I laid myself out so hard and dug so deep I couldn’t feel my legs. The only keeping me going was the SPR voices from the fence willing me on. I tried as hard as I could but I died a million deaths in the last lap. I held the field off until the last bend when they all came flying past. I was crawling at that point… destroyed. Scratchies got up for the win, and young Theo Yates got up for third which was good to see.
The last race for us was the B-Grade point score. I hate point scores. They are too much like interval training. 20 laps, sprint every 5 – double points on the last sprint. As my fitness is usually at the crap end up the spectrum I usually have one plan for point scores – win the first and then wait and see what happens. We rolled away from the fence and the first thing that happened was I got in a fight with some big unit for Jarred’s wheel. We probably both assumed that the fittest guy in the pack was the best guy to be behind. The big unit in the Katusha kit started trying to push me off the wheel. Now, I’m not usually one for contact on the track, but this guy wasn’t going to give. So I dished out a few sharp elbows to his leg and eventually he yielded the position. Daisy was behind me at this point – probably shitting himself. Anyway, I did when the first sprint, walked it in actually by about 10m. After that I sat in and tried to recover. I got boxed for the second sprint so didn’t really contest. As the bell went for the final sprint I was totally smashed from a tough day of racing, but I was in a good position. I did what I could but couldn’t bring back Theo who had jumped early. He took the 10 points and I got the 6. Overall I got second place on 11 points to Theo who I think got 15 or 16 total. We think Daisy stole some points in the 2nd sprint too.
I will let the girls and Daisy fill in their accounts of the day, but all in all I think it was tops. Daisy survived his first race carnival and we bought home some results. What more could a club ask for?
Thanks to everyone for coming out. Thanks to Brett for the skewer, Yas for the gluing skills, Zac for the rollers, Mark H and Daisy for the training and everyone else at the club. And thanks heaps for all the cheering and yelling. It really makes a difference out there when you are hurting. I hope you all enjoyed it as much as we did.
Going to the front in the scratch race
Attacking the line for the scratch
The calm before the storm – 3 laps to go in the scratch race
The Perth Winter Grand Prix is best described as a “Festival of Cycling” incorporating different disciplines and activities of the sport of Cycling.
The day commences with 1000 plus road cyclists leaving from the magnificent Speeddome venue to compete in a Cyclo Sportif event over various distances up to approx 100km and then returning to the Speeddome where at 11.30 the Track Grand Prix racing will commence.
The feature of this year’s track racing will be the running of the historic “Westral Wheelrace”. First run in 1887 in the gold rush town of Coolgardie the Westral is the oldest Wheelrace in Australia. Riders from Malaysia, South Africa, New Zealand, China and naturally the elite squad from the Australian Institute of Sport are expected to compete. Included in the programme will be Sprint, Kierin, Scratch and Points races.
While the Grand Prix events take place on the 250m Siberian Pine surface of the track, the perimeter will be the hive of activity with a Cycling Trade Show displaying goods, services, health, club contacts and food stalls.
A VIP lounge area catering for 200 invited guests and “Cycling Reunion” enthusiasts will have spectacular views from the fence line.
Tickets will be available from front entrance from 10.00am on the day.
If you are keen to enter the sportif ride than you will need to register at bwa – the link is below. After the ride you can use the track facilities to shower etc before lunch and racing commences.
SPR will have a stall on the day inside the velodrome – details still being confirmed at this stage. There will also be a few SPR faces on the track to cheer for!
Track night last night and we had another great turnout. The rouleurs lining up for another session on the boards included Jason, Ainsy, Zac, Daryl, Mike, Daniel, David, Mark H, Nick (Paddy) and myself.
In the space of one week two of the boys have already bought their own bikes. Ainsy has gone and got himself a Giant Omnium and Dan B has joined the ultra-retro cool bridgade and got a nice fixie.
To start the night off I helped Ainsy put a new sproket on his machine. It was supplied with a 46 x 17, which is a tiny 71″ gear. Is that a junoir rig? We quickly had him up on a 80.7″ which is still small but definately better. I was excited to see the Omnium do its first lap, but unfortunately as Ainsy and I rolled up the ramp there was a big noise coming out of the drive chain. Shit – something wasn’t right. Luckily after a quick examination we found the problem. Whoever put the chain on at the bike shop had put the quick link on the inside, and this was hitting the spoke. A quick change and we had the link on the outside and everything ran smoothly. The Ominium was off and running.
From here everything was going well. About half of the Rouleurs opted to stay in the novice group for the first session and did the normal drills around the bottom of the track. I was happy (and a little nervous) to see a number of the boy joining in with the motorpace session with me. For those who don’t know the motorpace is usually a long line of riders rolling behind a motorbike for about 80-100 laps. The pace is increased gradually until the last couple of laps when only a couple of the strong guys will be able to hold the pace. I was impressed to see Ainsy make it to about 10 laps to go which was a huge effort for his first time. I made it to 7 laps to go a PB for me also. To give you some idea at 10 laps to go we are going well over 50kph.
After this we did a couple of graded scratch races. Nick held onto for 4th in the C-grade race. B-grade and A-grade were combined for a scratch. I’ve just started riding B-grade, so wasnt too excited to see A-grade joining us. Anyway off we rolled. With about 10 laps to go we were all together and the pace was up. Twice I had a guy in front of me pull out after finding the pace too high – so I had to bridge back to the group both times. I was just bridging up again for the second time when disaster struck. I made it back to the group and let one of the Abritrage guys drop in front of me – I wanted hi wheel for the sprint – then in the back corner with 3 laps to go it happened. I was about 4th wheel when one guy pulled up to take his turn. Unfortunately the next rider went up straight away causing the guy in front of my to get caught up – he had to quickly gas-off and move up to prevent touching wheels but the whiplash effect meant that I couldnt get out of the way. There was mm in it. My front tyre touch Arbitrages tyre. I remember actually bouncing off it about 3 times before I lost the wheel out from under me. Down I went. So I’m sliding along the deck thinking ‘ah fuck i’m down. Fuck.’ I ended up on the infield about 40m down the back straight.
Here is the process of what to do after a crash on the track. 1) Do a quick inventory of body parts. 2) Once all limbs are accounted for make sure everything still works 3) Stand up and move bike off the track 4) Put bike down again 5) Remove helmet and throw it on the ground to make sure everyone knows you’re pissed off. Step 5 is definately the most important.
After this you have the chat with the track guys who are all very good at making sure you and you’re bike are ok. At this point – if you are reading this – I’d like to thank Bobby, Brian and Murray. They guys are brilliant and know just what to do when someone goes sliding.
So the damage report. Skin and splinters. I have a good deal of skin off on the lower left leg and hip. I pulled about 40 splinters out of my arse (leg) with the help of my poor Alana, for whom this was her first rodeo. The most gruesome part of the ordeal was have Jason help me remove a huge splinter from my should with Daryl’s long nose pliers. That was like toolshed surgery at it best! Oh and my skinsuit is a write-off.
Not a bad crash really. Few wood burns and splinters but nothing too bad. It never hurts at the time – the most painful part is always the shower when you get home.
this is an awesome event that many of us have been to the last couple of years. if you have never been to the track before, this is a great opportunity to see it at a very high level of competition. get a couple of friends together and come and support this great event. tickets are available from the link below.
2009 Perth International Track Cycling Grand Prix 7th November
Qualifying rounds 6.00pm. Main program 7.00pm
With A reserve tickets sold out, B reserve $35 and C reserve $25 are selling fast.
Witness firsthand the excitement and thrill of the 250 metre timber indoor Perth SpeedDome, recognised as one of the fastest velodromes in the world. Sit within an arms length of the flashing lycra of the world’s most elite cyclists chasing world ranking points for their nation.
World, Olympic, Commonwealth Champions and record holders will line up in a star studded International field at the Perth International Track Cycling Grand Prix.
Leading the charge for Australia will be West Australia’s own 2009 World Champions Cameron Meyer, Josephine Tomic, Luke Durbridge, Melissa Hoskins and Michaela Anderson. Tearing up the boards of the magnificent Speeddome will be World ranked riders from Malaysia, South Africa, Scotland, Canada, America, Poland and Japan all chasing UCI (Union Cyclist International) points in an extravaganza of speed and lycra. Complimented by the Queen of Cycling Anna Meares in the best form of her career, the Perth International Track Cycling Grand Prix is one not to miss.
Don’t forget to quote the code word TCWA when purchasing tickets online, by phone on 136 100 or at all Ticketmaster outlets.
so anyway, in my quest of being a better biker, i have started going to the velodrome on a tuesday night. it is a scary experience the first time you head out there, but there are people to help the novices along and pretty soon you are scooting along on the banking.
it is good to develop a proper spin to your cycling and also some sense of where you bike is sitting in the group (as you have no brakes and can’t stop pedalling). i seriously have not had to concentrate so much whilst riding for such a long time. oh yeah, and it’s fast. so fast that you are just a blur on the photo.
it is pretty cheap ($10 plus bike hire which i think is $5) and goes from 6pm to about 8pm.
you just need to bring a helmet and pedals/shoes..maybe some bike clothes unless you want to do the whole world naked cycling thing.
there are quite few people that turn up and it caters for all abilities so i encourage you all to turn up and have a go.
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