This Tuesday saw a number of Knights taking advantage of the opportunity to experience riding in a velodrome. For some it was their first experience, while others had been at least once before. We may not have performed like the professionals but with us all in club kit we certainly looked professional.
The day was brilliantly organised by Michael. Departing from Beverley on the 0905 train via Hull changing at Sheffield then on to Manchester Piccadilly. Once there, we headed for the tram service to take us the Velopark. So far, everything had gone to plan. After checking in at reception, we were issued our helmets and shoes and pointed in the direction of the changing rooms. I’m sure some of us took a moment to consider that we were now walking in the footsteps of some of the greatest in the sport of track cycling past and present.
Sizing up for the bikes was a bit heath Robinson. “I’ve been doing this twenty five plus years” we were assured by Mr “No-Measurements-Required” as each of us were given the “eye-over” and handed a bike of appropriate size. After wheeling the bikes into the “D”, it was time the final “guesstimate” for the saddle height followed by a safety briefing regarding behaviour on the track. Finally it was time to head out to the “concrete” and mount up. The first “task” was to “push off” from the railing one at a time to complete a couple of laps on the “blue” and practice slowing down and stopping which was a bit novel since the fixed gear bikes don’t have brakes. Once we were all comfortable on the bike, we proceeded onto the real track for a short warm up.
As our confidence grew, so did the speed and the further up the track we could ride. Eventually we all pulled in for the next briefing. When we returned to our bikes it was a job to remember where we’d left them as each bike looked exactly the same except for Neil’s which had small blue sticker on it.
The final part of the session consisted of an individual time trial. This consisted of one lap of the track as fast as possible from a virtual standstill. On this occasion the ‘gold’ went to Dan with Michael taking ‘silver’ and Neil the ‘bronze’.
All too soon, our session came to an end and thoughts turned to food and drink. Italian cuisine was the food of choice and we all felt we’d have more options by taking the tram and heading back to Piccadilly. After a short walk, we stumbled upon a pizza place called Rudy’s. It turned out to be a great choice with an empty table for eight ready to be filled by eight thirsty and hungry cyclists. The drinks flowed (including a round “on the house”) with the conversation becoming more and more animated. By the time we’d reached the end of the meal we’d had a thoroughly good time however it was time to head back to catch the train home.
Negotiating our way through the station at such a busy time proved to like crawling through a nest of ants with people heading seemingly at random in every direction trying to reach their own destination. In the end we made our train by the skin of our teeth only to find that the ants had now turned into sardines and were packed in tightly with standing room only until stopping at Stockport. Arriving at Sheffield we found our connecting train had been delayed causing further delays on the way home all of which took some of the gloss off what had otherwise been an excellent day out.
