Hello my fellow club members, James Louter here your track cycling in-house nutter!
I am over the moon to announce that Club 100 has expanded its offering to include track cycling as well as all the other disciplines offered to members.
Track is one area of our beloved sport that has suffered over recent years as people turned to the massed start road and MTB events.
The good news is Track is back! And it’s open to you me and everyone who has a personal mandate to have fun on a bicycle.
Ask any one of South Africa’s current crop of elite professional cyclists which weapon in their arsenal of talent is the most important for winning races and they’ll almost certainly say speed. In fact ask the MTN pro riders like Malcolm Lange or Neotel’s Nolan Hoffman and lets’ not forget super stars like Stuart O’Grady and Bradley McGee where they honed his skills in bunch riding, tactics and sprinting to name a few. It’s on the track my friends!
Winning depends on being first across the line. To achieve that, you have to be the fastest, period. If haven’t got it you need to find it - and fast.
The best and most certainly most fun way to bring out natural speed is to get down to the velodrome and get some track training in. Even better, gets some track racing done. It’s easily the purest form of cycle racing and, at the risk of dumbing it down, I’ll explain why.
The bike you will ride has pretty much what most bikes have but with two critical differences: they have a fixed, single gear and no brakes! The reason for the fixed gear and no brakes is that the riding of these bikes takes place on the velodrome, a closed-off oval circuit. The terrain is of a constant nature on the velodrome, so there is no need for multiple gear ratios as on a road bike.
As for the lack of brakes, this is because there’s no need to stop suddenly or avoid any obstacles(usually); and of course, with no other rider’s bike allowed to be fitted with brakes, the racing is not subject to sudden stopping. Rather, riders flow poetically around, lap after lap. Believe or not this makes for much safer riding conditions.
It may occur to you now where the development of speed with this form of cycling happens. It’s blindingly simple; it’s in the use of a fixed single gear. Although you are able change the ratio for different events you are only able to use one ratio at a time. So, when you are on the track and needing to move up through the bunch, attempt a breakaway or blast your rivals in the sprint to the line, it is your leg speed that becomes critical in making headway.
Pedaling style: Energy into motion
Good leg speed is often attributed to suppleness and an efficiency of one’s pedaling style. Using a fixed gear bike regularly develops that efficiency and style like no other method of training. And from this development comes speed, that critical requirement in bettering your times and winning races.
There are other beneficial ‘spinoffs’. Many a shrewd follower of cycling will tell you that cycle racing is a fast moving game of chess, where the smartest can gain one-up on the strongest.
Being able to read a race and react accordingly doesn’t come without experience. Spend some time racing on the track and you’ll learn quickly how to better position yourself in the bunch, decide when to chase and when to attack and how to make the efforts in-race yield maximum results.
I mentioned earlier that cycling is about being efficient with your energies and ensuring you maximize effort. Track bunches are generally more tightly packed due to the shorter duration of track events (200m to 50km). Being able sit close on another rider’s rear wheel will save you energy from working too hard in the wind. This is the energy that you will count on later when implementing your own tactics rather than just following. This skill is developed quickly in track riding and is the same skill we see being used by our heroes in the Tour De France as they ride mere inches away from another’s wheel or handlebar without a care. The benefit for the average Joe Club rider is that he will be safer rider on club rides. The day’s ride more will be fun and relaxing for all to enjoy.
Put it into practice
By now I hope I have raised your interest in this fantastic form of cycle sport. It’s a form of cycling practiced in all the major centers of South Africa. Hector Norris in Wemmer Pan, south of Johannesburg (about 25mins from the Campus, traffic depending of course) has the facilities where you can borrow a bike to try it out. So to all Club 100 rides that are keen to try track for the first time please give me a call and I will be delighted to give you your introduction to the exciting world of Track cycling.
James Louter can be contacted on 078 458 9583