The Dark Side of the Dark Side...
Yes... not just road bikes, but road bikes on a TRACK! Please bear with me on this...
I was hoping to get to Watlington tonight for a night ride with the Chilterns 1XV (a very welcoming, only vaguely formal club with all sorts of abilities... just register for the forum for details of the very regular activities). Work overran so "Plan B" was enacted:
During the off-season, (September to March) Tuesday and Thursdays nights between 8pm and 10pm the Palmer Park track is used for open training sessions. Come down on your mountain, road or fixed wheel bike; we even get tandems and recumbents in the chain gangs of 50+ riders. (Once again check with PP management for times or just ask me nearer the time)
http://www.readingcyclingclub.com/features/maxtrack.html
At this time of year, with salt-splattered,pitch-dark roads full of myopic drivers, this is a nice, relaxed way to get a workout. With hub deep mud covering many of the trails, it's nice to have a reminder of what riding a bike fast feels like. It's good fun and, particularly if you try to hang on in a fast group, can provide a half decent adrenaline rush too (that's what riding inches from the wheel in front at 25mph on a tight inside line does... especially if you know you'd take out the twenty riders behind you if you mess up!).
You don't need any track experience. There is very little banking compared to indoor velodromes - virtually none at all, in fact. On paying your £2.95 a session, you have the option to take a sheet with a few simple rules - I got the hang of things very quickly when I first went along in December.
Not everyone's cup of tea I'm sure, but a good option for keeping up a bit of fitness without having to plug through the mud or dodge incompetent drivers on country lanes.
I was hoping to get to Watlington tonight for a night ride with the Chilterns 1XV (a very welcoming, only vaguely formal club with all sorts of abilities... just register for the forum for details of the very regular activities). Work overran so "Plan B" was enacted:
During the off-season, (September to March) Tuesday and Thursdays nights between 8pm and 10pm the Palmer Park track is used for open training sessions. Come down on your mountain, road or fixed wheel bike; we even get tandems and recumbents in the chain gangs of 50+ riders. (Once again check with PP management for times or just ask me nearer the time)
http://www.readingcyclingclub.com/features/maxtrack.html
At this time of year, with salt-splattered,pitch-dark roads full of myopic drivers, this is a nice, relaxed way to get a workout. With hub deep mud covering many of the trails, it's nice to have a reminder of what riding a bike fast feels like. It's good fun and, particularly if you try to hang on in a fast group, can provide a half decent adrenaline rush too (that's what riding inches from the wheel in front at 25mph on a tight inside line does... especially if you know you'd take out the twenty riders behind you if you mess up!).
You don't need any track experience. There is very little banking compared to indoor velodromes - virtually none at all, in fact. On paying your £2.95 a session, you have the option to take a sheet with a few simple rules - I got the hang of things very quickly when I first went along in December.
Not everyone's cup of tea I'm sure, but a good option for keeping up a bit of fitness without having to plug through the mud or dodge incompetent drivers on country lanes.
posted by Jon Hall at 10:33 PM
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