It's often commented that I'm prone to starting a cycling conversation something along the lines of "when I used to ride..." and this may indeed be the case here, but ...
When I was growing up and watching Tony Doyle competing in track championships on the very limited TV coverage of cycling back in the 1980's, I could only dream of ever having the chance to ride on such epic looking tracks. The UK simply didn't have many and certainly none available to me. We did have track racing weekly nearby but it was on an open air 440m track with shallow banking and a far cry from the 250m velodromes with 45 degree banking that created such an epic arena for the track sprinting that I loved watching so much.
So fast forward 20, ok 30, years and when visiting family back in the Midlands I discover that 10 miles from my childhood home, there is now a world class £30 million velodrome and it's open to the general public! It seems the UK now has a number of world class velodromes thanks to lottery funding and the success of Team GB and their gold medal winning machine. I became a regular visitor on my 10 day stay and had an absolute blast, brushing up past skills and learning some new ones.
If you've never ridden on a velodrome with steep banking and you get the chance, take it, as it's simply awesome and gives you a greater appreciation of what it takes to ride the boards. It's also a great chance to develop a higher level of bike control and confidence.
Comments