Originally Posted by
gtrob
serious question to the various regions here, how does one get into racing? Its an issue on the road and track the same, everyone always says 'I dont want to race with a bunch of newbies', but we are all newbies at some point. What is the safest way to do your first few races? Keep the newbies together and restrict gearing? Have a mandatory class? I like the idea of forcing your first 5 races into a 10 person field or something, but we simply do not have enough racing yet. Even on the road that would take you nearly a year to get through here.
There are guys in that masters race that I know for a fact have spent less than 4 times on a track ever. They should not be racing next to national level riders, regardless of their own fitness. But how do you enforce this? We do have a race certification class however it doesn't take a ton of experience to pass, and to be honest if you end up with a bunch of non-aggressive riders its unfortunately difficult to asses people. Add to that if they are unfit they cannot keep up with the aggressive ones anyway, so what do you do with them.
I would love to enforce a mandatory minimum track time in our racing. I dont think Ill be able to of course, but along those lines.
It would be great to have courses you can register for (like the $30~ sessions we have now) that is designed for newbies to racing...where you actually get to race. Similar to what is done in the race certification but more in-depth. Explain the ins and outs of each race, rules, regulations, reinforce safety, and actually hold mini scratch/points/Keirin style races to build experience on the track with people of comparable experience before sending a whole bunch of people to compete at the provincial level in a race that is primarily broken up by male/female under 35/over 35.
What would be a reasonable amount of time time to log on the track do you think? Thus far I've maybe logged 18 hours going about 3x a week on average. I will start mixing in a 4th day on Thursdays over the next couple of weeks. I've signed up for the motorpacing and 2 of the Endurance sessions. I assume these sessions are to build fitness for these races but it would be a pleasant surprise if they ended with a bit of a mock race of some sort!
Even in the drop-ins there is a lot of inconsistencies. People not holding their line, and a lot of different methods for joining pacelines. Usually I will go high on the track and stay out of everyones way—when the paceline comes around I will use the banking to my advantage to roll down in behind the last person so that I don't have to make a mad sprint to catch on or cut anyone off. This morning I saw a couple people trying to ride ahead of the paceline and join on the front or get swallowed up by the group.