paipo

Well I finally got to partake in my very first foray on a velodrome during a beginner's developmental class. All I can say is WOW WOW WOW ! ! ! Any doubts I had about not liking it were vaporized by the end of the class....and I can hardly wait to return for the subsequent lesson/training. I've been riding roadbikes off and on for years, but this takes the cake for me. I can't believe it took this long for me to do this! And to think I used to live so close to Encino back in the mid-80s! Better late than never, I suppose. Barring fubar riding that'll get me barred or health-threatening accidents, I am officially hooked! I don't know what my 55 year-old body will let me do on the track once the coach lets us loose, but I'm game to do my best and learn from the vets. I envy you guys who've been doing this for years

jasonrobo02

Are you taking the developmental class in San Diego? If so, Monday nights or Wednesday nights?

paipo

Wednesday nights as my schedule permits. Were you there last Wed. night?

jasonrobo02

Naw. I took the Wed class before though. If you liked the first week, you'll love the last couple of weeks because you pretty much race the whole time. Just remember: Do not overlap wheels! You may get away with it once or twice, but you will go down (hard) eventually.

paipo

I hope I never screw up like that anytime soon But as is often the case when there's more than one person involved in any kind hi-speed activity, the other person sometimes becomes the variable to your success...or not.......and that person is thinking the same thing about you! We have a very small beginner's class of six so far, so maybe the overlaps will be kept to a severe minimum

Six jours

When I taught beginner classes, wheel touching drills were introduced early on and practiced every week. Being as overlapping wheels is essentially inevitable while riding track, taking the mystery out of wheel-to-wheel contact is a worthwhile endeavor.

jasonrobo02

That sounds like a great drill to incorporate in beginner classes. What was the procedure for the drill? Slow speed on the apron?

Six jours

I taught at the old Olympic velodrome at Dominguez Hills. They had a very nice warm-up track that was perfect for bumping drills and the like. I'd heard San Diego put one in too, but I may have heard wrong, and haven't been there in a decade or so. Regardless, the apron would work fine, as long as the track itself is not in use at the same time.

We always began with very low-stress drills, done "follow-the-leader" style. I'd begin by having everyone take a hand off the bars and put it on their knee, then on the side of their lower leg (while pedaling, of course) then on the shoe or as close as they could get. Then put that hand back on the bars and repeat the drill with the other hand. As a final "challenge" we'd see if anyone could touch the ground.

Then we'd do some "looking around" drills with both hands in the drops: looking over one shoulder, then the other, then back between the knees out of the saddle. Then I'd have everyone put their chins on their shoulders and do a lap looking at the rider behind them, only moving the eyes - but not the head - forward for a moment when absolutely necessary.

Then we'd pair up, leaving plenty of room between the pair in front and the pair in back. One rider keeps both hands in the drops while the other puts a hand on his shoulder, pushing and pulling a bit on the other rider if they're both comfortable doing it. Then switch riders, and later switch sides. Then we'd begin elbow bumping drills. This really just involves two riders side-by-side sticking their elbows out. The elbows should remain fairly relaxed and should "give" a bit as contact is made. Then shoulder bumping: one rider, with hands in drops, rides a straight line while the other rider leans the upper body in to touch the other rider's shoulder. Early on, it's quite important that it's the upper body - not the bike - that is leaning in. I encourage the rider who is about to be bumped to lean the upper body in toward the contact as well. This is partly to protect the handlebars - knuckle-to-knuckle bumping is a fun advanced drill but even a world-class bike handler isn't completely in control when someone is touching his handlebars - and partly just to avoid "co-dependence". I always told riders "Ask yourself what would happen if the other rider disappeared. Would you fall over without him to lean on? If so, you're over-committed. Lean your body, not your bike". The first contacts are usually very timid, with a lot of "Almost touched that time!". With just a few minutes of practice, the more aggressive riders tend to start really leaning on each other. The note about "over-commitment" still applies, and you also have to be careful of the "death spiral": when you're gritting your teeth and really shoving at each other, you tend to pedal a little harder too, and pretty soon you're going 30 MPH on the warm-up circle with your bikes and bodies forming a tepee. Eventually traction gives out on the front tire and then you learn not to do that any more...

As confidence goes up we expand the bumping drills to include elbow-to-hip contact and so forth.

At this point most newbies are confident enough to try some wheel bumping drills. The safest way to begin, in my experience, is to have one rider ride a perfectly straight line, with the second rider just behind and to the side. The second rider holds his upper body well away from the point of contact. For example, if the rider plans on touching the right side of the wheel in front of him, he begins by holding his upper body far to the right. It may help to visualize it as placing your nose far to the right of your stem. Then you steer your bike (literally steering with the handlebars, like in a car, as opposed to leaning you and/or the bike) to within about six inches of the side of the wheel in front of you, and with a quick flick of the bars, tap your front tire on the side of his rear tire. Being as your body weight is well away from the contact, you are immediately forced to bring your front wheel back underneath you. There is zero possibility of "falling over" the rear wheel in front of you, because your center of balance is so far from the contact point. After you've done it this way for a while you start to lose the "Touching wheels is instant death" feeling that most of us start with and can begin holding your own weight more directly over your your bike.

Most riders, in my experience, surprise themselves with their rapidly acquired ability to bang into things with their front wheels and not fall over. Some will even begin trying to steer the front rider around by leaning into his rear wheel with their front wheel. (The loaner bikes with heavy clinchers are great for this. Doing it to the guy with the silk tubulars might get you punched in the face.)

The ultimate drill is to actually hold your upper body toward the intended contact; intentionally trapping your bike on one side of the rear wheel as you begin to fall toward the other side. The trick, as you begin to fall over the rear wheel in front of you, is to throw your upper body forward, which results in your bike lunging backwards. This gets your front tire clear of the rear wheel in front of you and allows you to snap the front end of your bike back underneath you. It's a good drill to do in tennis shoes at a low enough speed that you can end up on your feet when you screw up. Once you've mastered it, you won't ever fall over someone's back wheel again.

At any rate, I'm sorry to be so long-winded, but it's a subject close to my heart. I'm sad to see how dangerous this sport has become over the last decade or so. Few of the "old guard" seem to be around any more, and most newer riders seems to view frequent crashes as just "the way things are". It doesn't have to be that way...

jasonrobo02

Six, thanks for the post.

carleton

Thanks!

kyle!

SD does indeed have a warm up track and I think I might pass along your drills to the coaches that teach the adult developmental classes here. Good stuff.

paipo

WOW! And I thought just riding up and down the 33-degree banking was wild. Good to know there are drills to get one ifamiliar with random or intentional bumpin'-n-grindin' that are apt to happen.

Six jours

Glad to be helpful. And FWIW, of course there's no reason why folks can't practice this stuff on their own, with a buddy or two. When I was a young racer - decades ago, sigh - group rides usually began with everybody riding in circles waiting for the rest of the group to show up, and killing time with casual bumping and wheel touching drills. That sort of thing tends to keep everyone sharp, and then when the idiot in the SUV causes things get a bit out of hand in the two-up paceline, everyone stays calm, comfortable and safe.