taras0000

If I had a locker that's what I would use it for!

nspace

I heard there is sort of an unspoken 3 strike rule for those booking drop-in sessions and not showing. They have been taking attendance prior to letting riders on the track. Maybe gtrob can shed some light on this. I could be mistaken about this. Hopefully people don't abuse the system. Im signing up for sessions I know I can make. If something came up the first thing I would do is either withdraw online or email Colleen.

Ill be there tomorrow at 6:30am if anyone is riding. This mornings session was good, but lots of surges on the faster paceline. Saw that get broken up a few times by people trying to flex their muscles at the front.

gtrob

We joked about renting an office space and turning it into a Condo, but Im actually sort of serious about it lol. There are some new townhouses across the street id love to buy.

We are looking at a 3 strike rule yes, its really just to track any trends with certain people. A session is full and you dont show up, thats someone else who could have been riding. So we will track it and I think if we see someone booking and not coming, we will suspend their ability to book for a month or something. I already have seen 1 or 2 names more than once not show up.

If a sessions full and you want in, here is my tip (this is off the record kind of thing). If you are a member, go right to the coach running the session and ask if you can squeeze in. If its full, you might be turned away. If its not, he might let you on. If you are a non-member, you have to do this, PLUS go back to the desk and pay, so a bit of a pain and really cutting into your hour. The coach may also make you wait to see 'who shows' so you are not going to get your hour anyway. But if you really want to ride and dont mind the above, you can give it a try and probably get on for the last 30min. If 5 or 6 people try and do this its not going to work... Of course the best way is to just book a space.

gtrob

Not that I want to defer any traffic from this forum, I dont want to clog it up with regional discussion too much.

There is a facebook page that is taking off pretty well, just search for Milton Velodrome for the group and join. There is also a classified group up. I would ask questions specific to that track there as most of the coaches and regulars are on that group often. Of course this forum is the better resource for general track stuff

nspace

Agh why must everything move to Facebook! Hopefully its cool to continue asking some questions here

carleton

Yeah, I hate FB

myth001

Forums are as digitally-social I get. I've never been on Facebook or Twitter.
This thread started for Panam Velo updates, and hopefully continue to be the place for the Milton Velo discussions/updates.

gtrob

Im not a big fan of FB either as its a poor archiver, hard to read through a longer discussion, and almost forces brief interactions. Just saying its there if you wanted to hit a more Milton specific crowd with something (classifieds, hours, etc).

Dan Burkhart 

Especially now that the old people have taken it over. Wait a minute. I am an old people.

Dan Burkhart 

I got the last available spot for Track A Wednesday. Will I be seeing anybody there?

gtrob

carleton

Nice!

Dan Burkhart 

Well, the class didn't go quite as I planned. It ended with a trip to the ER.
Fortunately, nothing broken or dislocated, but lots of pain in my left shoulder.
The class was almost finished, we were working on the last exercise which was exchanges.
The coach, who was first rate by the way, offered if anyone was getting tired, they should start on the front to be the first to peel off.
I didn't need a second invitation for that, so I was leading the pack.
After the first lap on the apron, we were supposed to dial it up and ride the black line.
Well, I clearly didn't have enough speed up, and my pedal struck the boards, leaving a nice mark right on the black line.



All I heard was a bang, and the first thing I thought as I was going down was blowout.
But no, it was just me being a clumsy klutz as usual.
The coach said right away I didn't have enough speed going up and I think I picked a bad spot to start climbing as well, just heading into a turn like that.

Racer Ex 

If it makes the landing any softer, I watched an entire junior field do the same thing at the Superdrome once. You are far from alone.

gtrob

Sorry to hear Dan, we usually have really good success in our A classes. Was this the end doing exchanges and you already had a few laps in on the black? Sounds like you were going slow and fighting the track (steering up), which would have had you on a nasty angle. If you didn't strike pedal you probably were bound to slip like that.

I hope you make it back and you are ok!

carleton

Sorry to hear that Dan. I'm glad that you are OK. It's a normal newbie mistake. Get well soon.

Dan Burkhart 

Yes, exactly right, it was the last exercise doing exchanges. I think my lack of fitness base played into it. I was getting kind of tuckered out and I just didn't have the speed up.
Could have been worse if it happened when I was above the blue line with the riders passing on my left.

Velocirapture

+1 on being far from alone. Going too slowly in a turn early on in your track career is almost a right of passage..

hope you bounce back quickly

Dalai

You damaged gtrobs shiny new track!


As mentioned above, it happens to many early in their track careers. Very lucky you didn't take anyone else down...

Hope you recover quickly, learn from your mistake and get back on the horse or in this case bike if gtrob lets you back in.

gtrob

As Dan probably saw, the track is plenty damaged already the wood is so soft that its impossible to go down and not take a chunk out, and we have had ~1000 new riders in the last 6 weeks.

myth001

Sorry to hear about Dan. Hope you recover well. Falls are a way to the learning process. They often teach us more than not-falling.
The pains and bruises will heal, but the mark stays in the mind. Don't let this bring you down mentally, I'm sure you will enjoy many more rides. Good luck.

nspace

How fast would you say the fast paced sessions are?

I've done lots of drop-ins at normal pace so far. Sometimes I find the pace at the black too slow during those sessions (depending on what I'm looking to get out of my time there) but blue line is good. There has been a few times the blue line has gotten a bit too fast but I can usually suffer through and do my pull, take a breather and jump back on. Just wondering if the fast pace session is comparable to the pace at the blue (but with faster exchanges)?

I am signed up for next Thursday's fast session, just not 100% sure what to expect. I feel like riding with faster guys is the best way to force yourself to get faster!

gtrob

Fast paced sessions are now all on the blue, the black is cleared out so jerks like me can do intervals (200, 500, etc).

Its fast up there, but a lot of people only last 10mins at a time anyway so its normal to be over threshold. We generally get faster as the group gets smaller, when its 10+ riders up there its maybe low 40s. By all means there can be 2 pace lines, last time it was me and 3 others doing 48-52kmh and just going over the other people up there.

I like them better than normal drop ins. Also there is a monday 90min fast pace added, book it up!! 930-11pm, just need to talk someone into bringing beers for after


*edit* to be clear, they are no faster than blue line in a normal session, its just no black line puttering around.

nspace

Perfect! That is exactly what I was hoping. I don't do too many evening sessions, this will be my first. 2 babies at home means the 6:30 am sessions are usually my best bet, but will try to make it out for a few evening ones! gtrob: is that you with the Canadian themed Cervelo? If so I'll come say hi.

Dan Burkhart 

Ha ha. Yeah, I noticed I wasn't the first to make a mark.