Round the velodrome

ON a bicycle one of the most important things that you really want to rely on are the brakes and the thought of riding without them would seem frankly stupid. But that’s what I did when I ventured into a velodrome for the very first time! When one of my daughters had asked me what I would like for Christmas my thoughts turned to cycling and the velodrome experience seemed like an exciting challenge.

So fast forward a while and there I am approaching the Lee Valley Olympic Velodrome in London, with a little bit of nervousness. The building is impressive, its curved roof resembling a giant Pringle and it remains to be one of the more successful legacies from the 2012 Olympics.

Before my session there is a chance to walk around the spectator area. I head for one of two steep curved banks at each end of the arena which are pitched at almost 45 degrees.

Knowing that I would soon be having a go on it is both thrilling and daunting. I watch the previous group finish their session in impressive style before I head to the changing rooms.

Emerging from the tunnel into the middle of the velodrome is breathtaking. The vastness of the track really hits you and the banked sections now look like walls.

There are nine of us in the group, a mixture of young and old, male and female and we all have one thing in common – it is our first time on the track.

We collect our track bikes and adjust the saddle height to suit. The bikes have no brakes and a fixed rear gear, that does not freewheel, meaning the pedals will keep turning whether we want them to or not.

The session starts with a short briefing from the instructor and some important messages. The main one is, don’t stop pedalling otherwise you risk flying over the handlebars. Then, keep straight and check over your shoulder before overtaking.

And finally, build up enough speed before going into the steeper sections and don’t lean - let momentum do the work.

With the briefing over it’s time for action. Because the pedals will keep turning once the bike is moving, it’s easier to clip our shoes onto the pedals while stationary, holding onto the handrail. Then we push off and do a couple of gentle laps to get used to the fixed gear.

I think it’s fair to say that everyone is a bit nervous and I just keep thinking “don’t stop pedalling”.

Soon the instructor blows his whistle, which means it is time to practice stopping the bike. Because there are no brakes, we slow down by gradually resisting against the pedals and lowering the cadence in time to reach the point where we need to stop. n.b. the closest velodrome is the Geraint Thomas National Velodrome in Newport, Wales.

Then, at the last moment it’s a desperate grab for the handrail. We all manage to come to a halt without tipping over, although some are a bit more graceful than others.

With the basics done, it’s time to get back on the track and build up speed on the lower part of the track, which is the start of the slope. The instructor then gets us to move further up the slope as we pass him.

Now it’s not the thought of having no brakes on the bike that bothers me. I’m a bit more concerned about the steep curved sections at each end of the track.

On road bikes you would slow down for bends but on the track you need to accelerate into them and gain momentum. The first few times I start to go round the steep curves I am convinced that the bike will slide down, but it doesn’t and with that confidence I move higher and higher on each lap.

My target is the adverts painted on the top of the track. From up there you can really see how high you are and you can’t help but think “surely this isn’t right, it’s like defying gravity”.

It’s all to do with the laws of physics but we don’t need to know the details here. The important thing is to maintain a certain level of momentum.

It is surprisingly hard to keep pedalling hard all the time and if you ease off too much the pedals will give you a kick back.

Dropping down from the top of the bank is amazing. You can feel the added acceleration and a rush of adrenaline.

After many more laps of practice and just racing around, we end the session by taking it in turns to do a flying lap. The first lap is used to build up maximum momentum using the steep banks before racing down into a timed lap along the sprinters line at the lowest part of the track.

Our finishing times are displayed on the same scoreboard where Olympic winners saw their names!

Coming away from the velodrome I reflect on the experience. The track and the fact that there were no brakes initially seemed sightly terrifying, but now it is something I want to do again.

I would encourage anyone to try track cycling – you don’t need any prior skills, just the ability to ride a bike, and the courage to try something new!