Wednesday track session.

Well, last night was the first 'trial' of the winter training schedule. I thought it went quite well for a first effort, some tweeks needed but what did you think of it?????

We started a rota of names to help out on the gate, signing on, trackside assistants etc, volunteers welcome to put their self forward as everyone wants to ride but cannot do so without others helping now and again.

Thanks for organising these sessions - particulalry as standing around on cold and blustery Wednesday evenings can not be great - so thanks to the coachs, gate openers and reg etc for the signing on.

I've been to the last 2 wednesday rides, being in the 'early' middle group and from my perspective they have gone really well.

How have the later sessions been going?

Are any changes likely to be in the pipeline based on feedback form these first few weeks of the season?

Thaanks for the comments Justin, more feedback would be appreciated. We expect to finalise things after the committee meeting next Weds after which everyone who wishes to ride will have to be 'inducted' and signed on. A coloured number will then be allocated and this will determine which session and group the rider is expected to ride with.
Any questions can be brought up in the meeting after the track next week, things aren't agreed just yet and so may be subject to changes.

I had my first track session on wednesday 26th and just wanted to say a big thanks to Liz, Ceri, Bernard and Mark for the excellent coaching.

Great stuff.

The only thing I would say is that it was a little confusing at the end of the 6pm session as to whether we could continue to ride or had to leave the circuit. I wanted to stay on but can completely understand if the number of riders prevents this.

I guess the colour ticket scheme will help with this.

Thanks again,

Mike. :D :D :D

Hi Mike, sorry for the confusion. The official line which will be adopted very soon is that you should ride in the session and with the group you are placed with. This could be 6pm to 7.30 or 7.30 to later. Riders from the earlier session will be expected to leave when the later one starts.
We have been a bit flexible to start with but we will soon be getting more organised and more strict with timing.

Yeh that makes sense, thanks for the letting me know.

Mike.

Oops, I apologise for cycling in both sessions! In each case with the 'medium' group.
However my observation may be useful in that the first medium group is 3-4mph faster than that in the second session. Though this week's second session did speed up as the session progressed.

It's difficult to get to Maindy for 6:00 pm for my part and cycling in the two sessions for about 2 hours is a very good workout!

I endorse Justin & Mickeys comments on the coaches during each session, great stuff!

now that is interesting if its true.

Julian has been looking after the early middle group the past few weeks - and my garmin etc had us at 21mph to 25mph for an hour after the warm up, similar speeds the first week too.

Are they any set speeds that these groups should be looking at doing?

I was about to start to go in the later middle group as I assumed that it would give me a better workout than the earlier session, but if the opposite is true, that would make it a bit harder to make the jump to the fast group later in the winter.

Any feedback regarding the new format for the Ajax Wednesday track session from last nights committee meeting?

General feedback seems to be that the sessions are working well.

There will be a few slight changes, which will be emailed around soon.

The first session is going to become "Beginners" below the blue line, and "Improvers" above the blue line. And then the later session will be "Medium" and "Fast".

This is because there are a lot of people who are new to the track, and who have got the hang of it, but aren't quite comfortable at the pace of the medium group. There is also a group of people who are not beginners, but aren't fast enough for the medium group - so we need an in-between group for these groups of people.

The later session can then be run at a faster pace, for those who are confident on the track and want a good work out.

Has anyone else got any comments?

Can we have an approx idea of what the speeds of the the said groups will be please?

Most People have computers etc so if the groups know what the speeds should be, then this will definately help with the groups being correct and also staying together.

It will also help people know the split between improvers and medium, where it has been suggested that the 'improvers' session is much quicker than the medium one :)

Cheers,

Personally, I don't like the idea having approximate speeds for these sessions, but I'm sure some could be made up if you wanted! People tend to get a bit anal about them and then get upset if the group rides over the "target range" - if it's a nice evening, with a big group full of people who are confident on the track then there's no point in restricting them to 22mph. And it doesnt matter if the "improvers" are going faster than the "middles" - it's about everyone in each group being comfortable at the pace and getting a good work out. Towards the end of the session, the pace usually naturally picks up - no one will get any better if we ride at the same speed for the whole night, every week... and it would get seriously boring.

The coaches do a good job of shouting from the middle if they notice that things are getting a bit fast - maybe we should just splash out on some loud speakers for them instead? Or a few people in each group could wear these: Speed Vest

But that's just my opinion, and I'm off to Aberystwyth for 8 weeks so my opinion doesn't really matter! Hope you all enjoy the rest of the Winter training :)

Wise words Charlie. This has been a problem on the summer chaingangs as well, where there's even more variables in the conditions from one week to the next. Forget staring at your bloody Garmins and enjoy the ride.

Have a good time in Aberystwyth!

I think the issue is not that the groups go too fast - that can be marshalled - I think the initial issue and feedback is that some groups are going too slow ? ie the middle one on the later session? less than 20 mph average - in a group on the flat thats like walking (!)

(These are from comments I've heard - I've not attended the middle group yet due to timing)

Hi Charlie Thanks for the reply and info.

Its also good to see other comments on the forum (good bad or indifferent).

The more the comments the better

As for group 'speed' I agree it is not a good idea to set a target speed. Better to let the 'lead rider(s)' in the group control the speed.

Secondly from my experience the period Oct thro' to Dec is for developing strength and stamina, i.e. the base for improving speed work later in winter, usually Jane/Feb, bearing in mind the race season does not start until March/April. I have witnessed all too many riders 'flying' in winter only to peak too soon for race season and not perform at their best and then have to recover and miss the early racing - your choice guys

The middle group in the later session have been doing russian pyramids, i.e normal recovery/chaingang but with reducing recovery or increasing efforts (chaingagng) through the session and towards the end introduce an increase in speed on tired legs.

Personally I'd like to see a proper club race training programme constructed particulalry for those wishing to race rather than each to their own

Comments welcome