The experiences of a new track racer
Hi All.
I haven’t been posting on here until recently, but have been lurking for a while.
As a track newbie I have found this forum to be a great source of information and advice, so thanks to everyone for that.
Most of the posts here are (or seem to be) from quite experienced riders, so I thought I would add a thread about my experiences as someone completely new to track racing.
I completed my track accreditation a year or so ago but had been stuck between either racing cyclocross or track this winter. In the end I decided to go all in for track, bought a track bike, did a load of SQT sessions at the London Olympic Velodrome and entered the Full Gas Track League there. I am in the ‘C League’ - A being Elite, B being Advanced and C being Intermediate.
I have found it to be very fast and very hard, but mainly.... great fun. I absolutely love it. I think the dynamics of the different race formats is the key to me enjoying it so much. For example, an elimination race is a very simple format to understand, but riding them took me weeks to get used to, and I really enjoy the learning process. The camaraderie and atmosphere amongst the riders is also excellent.
My clubmates asked me to do a write up each week about how it was going and I have been getting some good feedback on it, so I added it to my blog.
If you are thinking of racing on the track - do it! I can thoroughly recommend it. If you read through my write ups from the first few weeks you will get an idea of what it is like to start out as a complete newbie. In the later write ups you will also get an idea of how much it is possible to improve in a short period of time if you really put a LOT of effort in.
For context, previously I had been doing road vets/masters races (usually crits) and have never been close to winning anything. I think I’ve been in the top ten a couple of times. So I’m no great racer.
Write ups link...
https://e17blade.wordpress.com/
Hope you like it.