Hellyer beginner sessions - what should I know?
 

I'm planning on heading down to the Hellyer Velodrome this Saturday morning for the Beginners session. Other than what's listed on the FAQ at www.ridethetrack.com, is there anything else I should watch out for?

No, the FAQ is pretty good.

Need helmet. If renting need pedals and its handy to have a set of allen keys and a pedal wrench.

If you're bringing you're own bike, make sure you have a decent gearing for the track (around 85 gear inches for beginner sessions - approx 48x15).

Aside from that, get there a little earlier than the session start time so you can fill in the sign up sheets and get any rental bikes sorted out.

Oh and bring some food/drink for afterwards as it can be a long session and you'll definitely appreciate a little snack afterwards. Theres nothing around Hellyer as its in the middle of a large park.

Correct change for your track fees is always apprecited.

Yeah, I am going this Sat. I was gonna ask, any good clincher tires for the track? (sorry to hijack)

They are fine ... lots of people use them for practicing and such...

I use Tufo tubular clinchers ( Ok, don't get technical with me )...

=)

Cool. How long is the Sat. morning session?

the schedule says 8:30 to 11:30. I'll probably get there a little after 8:00, since I'll need to rent a bike and it'll take a few minutes to put on the pedals and adjust the saddle height.

For Hellyer clinchers are fine. Used a mix of Vittoria Open Corsas, Ultraspeeds and Rubino Pros all without issue.

You want a tire with a decent TPI (threads per inch) count cause the casing is nice and supple and they can generally go to 125 PSI with ease.

I personally stay away from any coloured tires or with coloured stripes, they tend to be not as grippy.

Pedals
 

I want to check out the Hellyer beginner session next week. To rent a bike, are there criteria for pedals? Do you need double straps, or are singles okay?

Single straps are fine for the track and for Hellyer. Most folks use only singles. Doubles are for monster sprinters mainly.

boy, that was a ton of fun, even being the slowest guy on the track.
We did team pursuits, scratch races, match sprints, italian pursuit and australian pursuits.
I'll be back for more in two weeks (I'll be out of town next weekend).

It was pretty fun. Who were you at the session?

I was wearing a plain grey jersey, and my knickers (since they were the only clean bike shorts I had yesterday morning).

You might have also recognized me as "the big guy" since I'm 250lbs these days. :D