For the last two Wednesdays the GVVA hosted the VCL racers at the Westshore Parks Velodrome. Under the tutelage of Alex Hui, VCL racers were schooled in the art of track cycling. Make no mistake, it is very different than road cycling.
The first session consisted of basic track etiquette, equipment differences, as well as some technical skills (standing starts, dive bombing to sprint, among other things including team sprints). The following Wednesday, we dove right into racing. We had about 20 racers out, and they were split up into an A and B groups.
After warm-ups, the Bs did a 15-lap Scratch Race, while the As did 20-laps – a Scratch Race is essentially a crit, where the first racers across the finish line wins. Then we moved onto an Elimination Race – where after a neutral lap, the last racer across the Start/Finish line each subsequent lap was eliminated. Finally, we did 15/20 lap Tempo Races. In the Tempo Race we did one neutral lap, then 5 race laps, after which we had 15/20 point laps. One point was awarded for the first person across the line each time, and if a rider lapped the field, that rider was awarded 20 points. Individual riders who were lapped were pulled from the race.
While no VCL points were awarded for these races, I will try to get the finish results, and share them here. Thanks to Alex, and all the GVVA people who helped out, we had a great time, and I know you have at least one more interested neophyte track rider in the making.
Trevor – who never forgot to stop pedalling, well, except for just once…
