The Carpenter

.....amount of riders you have seen on a 250m velodrome at one time?

We had 86 on ADT last night. Yes, ALL at the same time.

mnkyman

pics? lol

The Carpenter

Didn't have my camera with me.

mocella

Were riders lining the rail all the way around to the track or what (was that a race or open-riding)?

I saw Elvis

How many finished up in hospital? At Manchester the limit is 40 accredited riders MAX.

With 86 I would not go near the track and in fact would question who ever is running the session about safety and indeed their ability to coach. 86 would be pointless from a training point of view, there is no way you get any sort of work done with that many.

zzzwillzzz

roger young was probably running the session.

from a couple riders i heard it was one of the better sessions that they've had on the track. there were 3 groups and not a lot of passing. one group at the bottom, another at the blue line and another up near the balustrade.

bitingduck

It's a very structured training session: https://www.lavelodrome.org/Training/RogerSession.htm . It's pretty standard to have more than 40 riders there, and it's still a *very* effective workout for riders from beginning all the way up to elite. I wasn't there, but with 86 riders I suspect he'd run two motor games-- one really fast and one slower. During the intervals, lines will form up and the stronger riders will be out in the wind with less strong riders lined up behind them. You control the intensity by varying the distance you follow the rider in front of you. The strongest riders will typically ride in small groups or solo at the balustrade, with a few lines of intermediate riders at the stayers line and a big line of relative beginners at the black line (and a few solo time trialist types at the black line, too).

UCI allows up to 36 riders on a 250 m track during a madison *race* where half the riders are racing hard and the other half are circling the top at low speed.

40 riders on a 250 when everyone is either on the black line, the blue line, or the balustrade is really not that many. 100 might get interesting at the end of a set, but things usually stay pretty organized as people work their way down to the apron.

The Carpenter

No one went to the hospital. In fact there was not one single problem or close call that I saw.
Roger was running it, and it was a very good session. Bitingduck's description is right on.
Prior to this, the most I had seen at a single session was about 60 or so.

I saw Elvis

Wow, I'm glad it goes OK for you guys, I'd love to see photos.
On a personal level as a track coach I wouldn't be happy with that many, for a whole host of reasons.
But if the riders are happy and it's safe I can only wish you luck, after all riding the track is all about having fun in a safe environment.

I'm assuming that there is an accreditation process, where riders have to pass some form of test before they are let lose in a training situation, is this correct?
I'd be interested to see what you guys do for this?

bitingduck

If you're a Cat 1 or 2 on the track you walk up, sign the releases, pay your money, and ride.

Otherwise there are two different classes that you can go through:
- the 4 session intro class that teaches a lot about riding in general that many riders don't know, as well as how to ride near people and the local track etiquette.
- the accelerated class, which is about an hour and is a discussion of equipment, track etiquette, and general riding tips. It ends with an observed riding session of about 15 minutes. If you look safe then you pass. There's a detailed text summary here: https://lavelodrome.org/Training/AccelClassSummary.htm

A big part of why it works is that during the Tues/Thurs interval sessions are very popular and Roger is on the PA pretty steady throughout the whole thing. Besides calling out the intensity changes, he's giving constant reminders of what riders should be doing, where they should be riding, and how they should be passing etc, as well as occasional corrections when someone (or a bunch of people) do something wrong. It's pretty steady reinforcement of good riding habits.

In addition to that, the same few staff people are at nearly all the sessions keeping an eye on things. If someone is sketchy they'll get tips, and if they do something dangerous they'll be told right away. In the rare event that someone is told not to come back for some amount of time, or not to attend more crowded sessions for a while, they can't show up expecting a different staff person who they can talk past. In general what happens if you do something really sketchy is you hear "the voice from above" on the extremely good PA system admonishing you publicly. It might happen once or twice per session in one of the tuesday/thursday sessions, and it tends to be more related to crossing the track after intervals have started. Much more likely is that more experienced riders will notice if you do something sketchy or stupid and catch you on the apron afterward, explain what you did wrong, why it's bad, and what you can/should do that's better.

And don't knock it til you've seen it-- I went from being a terminal cat 3 to a very competitive 2 with the tues/thurs sessions being a significant part of my training program.

Talon

WOW! 86 riders on a 250m velodrome?!?
you could lap the field without breaking away from the pack!
I'd hate to be the official picking riders out of the Miss-N-Out.

bitingduck

It was a structured training session, not a race, but the motor game does have a single file line of riders behind the motor at the relief line. With 40 it's pretty quick to take a lap if you start near the front... He generally runs two motor games if there are that many riders.