Founded 1889

Updated 22 October 2007

Latest results are here... 29-09-05

Want to be the next Jason Queally? Track racing takes place at Herne Hill Stadium on Monday and Wednesday evenings (no, not in the winter!).  But training sessions are held on Saturday mornings (throughout the year) and equipment can be hired.  We intend to increase our track presence next year. We're also aiming to get teams together for the Olympic sprint and team pursuit at the Nationals. We have club track bikes available to members, so come and join the revolution! 

A very successful weekend was spent at Calshot - so good they plan to do it again... check out the photos...

Roy Savery took 2nd place in the 20 lap Points race (sprints every 5 laps) in the National Masters track Championships, held in Scumthorpe on 22 September 2007.	Brian Dacey sweeps the board at the 2003 National Masters championships at Herne Hill. 1st 500mt Time Trial, 1st 10 Laps Points Race, 1st Individual Pursuit, 1st 10k Scratch Race, 1st Sprint.
	Peter Jenn on his way to Third place in the 2000 Masters World Championships

The following items have been supplied by your Past Track Secretary, Alaric Lester. 

Want to be part of the Track Team?

Have you thought about giving the track a go next year? Do you want to be a part of some team racing action? Here are some pointers to help you prepare and to make the transition smoothly.

General
The main difference between road and track events is the higher pedaling speeds involved. Track riders tend to focus on speed, power and technique a little more than roadies. Road racing is an excellent basis for endurance track events, though. To give yourself a better chance on the track, focus your training a little and converting to track will be easier.

• From March, do at least a couple of speed sessions a month, maybe half-minute intervals spinning out at 150+ rpm or five minute sessions at 110-120 rpm. This will help you when the pace really winds up.
• When riding on a wheel, practice keeping your head up and your eyes on the small of the back of the person in front, rather than on their back wheel. You'll have greater awareness of what's happening on the track and be more confident in the close confines of a track bunch.
• Try the Saturday training sessions at Herne Hill. It's easier to get used to the track before trying a race.
• Come to the Calshot training weekends. If you can ride there, you can manage a race at Herne Hill.

Olympic Sprint
Unlike the team pursuit, this event requires little stamina, but lots of power. What we want is teams of three who can sprint.

• Rider 1: must possess an electric start. Power and acceleration are all-important for the first 250m. His work is done almost before he reaches full pace.
• Rider 2: needs to be quick enough to keep up with rider 1, but with a little more staying power. His job is to keep the team at top speed for another 250m.
• Rider 3: usually a kilometre time trial rider, this person needs a combination of power and endurance to ride the final lap without blowing up in embarrassing style.

Like the team time trial, practice helps with the Olympic Sprint, but is not as important. In 2001, there were weekly Olympic Sprint events at Monday Comp. Let's have a some De Laune victories there in 2002!

Team Pursuit
It's an easy event to ride, but a difficult one to do well in. It takes practice and dedication to be good. If we're going to just ride, we can turn up at the Nationals and go. If we're going to compete, we need to train together. Practicing all the aspects can reduce times by twenty seconds. Here is a suggested plan for the season.

• Jan-Mar. Get the miles in. The team pursuit is an endurance event, and a solid fitness base built early in the year will pay dividends later. Weight training also helps.
• Mar-Apr. Team time trials with other prospective team pursuit riders. You get to know how the others ride and hone your techniques. You practice going anaerobic on the front then recovering on a wheel (just like the team pursuit). If you haven't done one before, give it a whirl.
• Mar 10-11. Calshot training weekend. A chance to develop general track technique ahead of the season and to see if you like track riding after all!
• Apr-July. Road racing (and suitable road-race training). The endurance and strength base is maintained by road racing. We only need to taper down the miles and increase intensity around early July.
• Apr-Aug. Track racing. Where better to improve handling and speed?
• May. Start practice sessions together, on the track. Maybe twice a month at first. Riding on the track in a string of four, five or six, practicing changes, keeping acceleration smooth.
• June-July. Practicing the start. Practicing the finish. Doing 2000m intervals, trying different permutations of riders, timing laps. Experimenting with gear ratios.  Some time in July. A day trip to Manchester. What we perfect on the shallow slopes of Herne Hill just won't work on a tightly banked 250m track. We need a few hours on Manchester Velodrome to get the technique right there. Failing this, we can always have a session during the Nationals, but it's leaving things a little late.
• August. Do a storming ride! (Or two storming rides if we get two teams together.)

Team pursuit training should complement your own programme. Depending on enthusiasm and time available, we can scale up or scale down the number of team sessions. The important thing is for De Laune riders to be enjoying themselves, enjoying riding the track and enjoying being a part of the racing team.

Gear Ratios for Track

* Based on a tyre circumference of 210.5 centimetres.

Serious trackies have at least ten chainrings and four or five sprockets. This lets them choose the exact gear for each track and event. Most of us have to make do with a smaller selection, though.

For Herne Hill, 49 x 15 or 46 x 14 is a common choice, although the stronger riders use higher ratios. Manchester is a fast track, so use bigger gears there.

Small chainrings allow slightly faster acceleration, big chainrings roll better. A sprinter might use 43 x 13, a pursuiter would do better going for 53 x 16.

Different events (& people) call for different gears. An elite kilo rider may use a gear up to 100 inches. Graeme Obree used massive gears (and a weird bike).

Experiment. Ask other riders what they prefer. Some training sessions will require you to use a lower gear and spin out. For standing start practice, you should overgear to develop power.

If you don't have a gear chart with you, use these formulae:

Gear (in inches) = No. of teeth on chainwheel x 27" divided by No. of teeth on sprocket

Rollout = No. of teeth on chainwheel x distance for 1 revolution of rear wheel divided by No. of teeth on sprocket

The distance for 1 revolution depends on the tyre. If you use an 18mm tyre, a larger gear is necessary to go the same distance as with a standard tyre. It's worth checking, in case you need to swap wheels unexpectedly.

To work out pedal revolutions for an event, divide the distance by the rollout. Using 50 x 15 (7.02m rollout) for a pursuit,

4000m divided by 7.02m = 570 revolutions

Allowing three seconds to account for the standing start, average revolutions for a time of 5:00 minutes would be:

570 revs divided by (5 + 3/60) minutes = 113 rpm

If you were looking at doing 5:20, though:

570 revs divided by (5 +20/60 + 3/60) minutes = 106 rpm

Alaric