Hapsmo911

Well I finally got Saturdays off. First thing on my list was starting my required three training sessions at Hellyer. Never been on the track, never road a fixed gear. Rented a bike and spent several hours on the track. Awesome instruction, learned a lot. I had enough fun to start looking for a used track bike. Just need two more sessions and I can try some racing.

Then Sunday went on a road ride hosted by Pete's Coffee and Alison Tetrick. Ended up riding with Andrew Talansky, Johannes Vanoverbeek (Patron Racing), Kevin Metcalfe and the rest of Pete's Coffee racing... Not bad for my first weekend off.

carleton

That sounds awesome. Welcome to the sport!

This is a great time to get started, believe it or not. For those that start mid-season, it can be intimidating to see other newbies flying with skills and confidence. Now, you can ease your way into it and slowly gain confidence via training sessions over the mild winter and spring.

Regarding equipment, if you have a teammate, coach, friend who is experienced, maybe lean on them for advice. Especially regarding fit. I think the most common issues I see new racers make are:

- Buying a track frame that has a top tube too short for this discipline.
- Thinking that carbon is required to win
- Thinking that race wheels are required to win.

Truth be told, your progression from ATRA CAT D to CAT B or USA Cycling CAT 5 to CAT 3 will be exactly the same if you were on an Olympic caliber bike or a steel bike with 36 spoked wheels. Expensive and exotic track bikes are sexy...but not having one isn't what's keeping newbies from winning newbie races.

Focus on getting quality parts that will transfer to any frame going forward.

Read this. It's long, but will answer 95% of the questions you'll have: https://www.bikeforums.net/track-cyc...ack-racer.html

All of your other small questions can go here. No one expects you to read this. Just post your new question without fear of being told "WE ALREADY ANSWERED THAT 5 YEARS AGO....LOL": https://www.bikeforums.net/track-cyc...ions-here.html

Pay attention to what other Helyer racers are using. Ask them why. Find image galleries that show the bikes that local riders just like you are riding, not what the pros use. This is a good one. Start at the end and work backwards: https://www.bikeforums.net/track-cyc...es-2014-a.html