Welwyn Wheelers organise Wednesday & Thursday night training sessions, road bikes on track. Fee £5
Wednesday evenings – 19:00 – 21:00 (open session)
Thursday evenings – 20:00 – 21:30 (open session)
http://www.welwynwheelers.org.uk
Team Welwyn organise Tuesday night training sessions, starting at 8pm for an 1.5 hours training on road bikes following a derny (motorbike). £5 Fee. For more info, check with Dave D.
Last nights session was brutally quick, although for most of it I was a spectator due to a puncture. It is, to be honest the wrong time of year to be doing speed work behind the Derny, but it’s good fun in a safe environment and by supporting the program through the winter we will keep in Sofie Bruton’s good books for some serious training for the team in the new year.
Sounds like a great session Dave! Do they get a good turnout of riders?
Who is going tonight? I might be interested…
Never been there, where is it? AL8 7BE?
George – The Team Welwyn session on Tuesday had 10 participants with about 70/30 split of experienced and novice riders. This is about the right number for Derny “chasing” as it sorts itself out when the speed ramps up. 8-12 riders is about the norm through the winter and this just about keeps it financially viable. They dont intend to use the Derny every week though. The sessions are generally tailored to suit the numbers (so that everyone will get to do turns on the front) and varied to keep up the interest through the winter. They get more structured and event specific closer to the season start.
Werner – Its at the Gosling Stadium – we pass it on the mid week evening rides. I might swing in tonight (thurs 29th) on the way past.
Good night last night, although the chaps was a bit scared of going fast, so we had to improvise on letting them go and then chasing them down to get a decent workout!
I spoke to Francis of Welwyn Wheelers today, the Wednesday night session sounds really good, they mark out a criterium circuit with cones, using the cycle & running tracks, so you get a really good workout plus improve your bike handling for races (or roundabouts Werner
). Thursday sessions they use the cycle track and do the usual sessions, i.e. taking laps in a group.
Aaah, a crit seems like fun. I assume they map out a course in the parking area? It seems like the best evenings are Tuesdays and Wednesdays…
Is it 45 min and a lap or how does it work?
I might join on Wednesday.
They wont use the public parking area not least because the insurance liabilities and hire are limited to the track and athletics centre. It would be like Hogg Hill if they used the ramp up to the car park!! I’m guessing it’s going to be more focussed on bike handling skills for cornering and sprinting out of corners and awareness with a bit of racing to spice it up.
As George says it does sound a really good workout and should compliment the Tuesday and Thursday road or track when training starts back in earnest.
BTW despite the time of year the Team Welwyn Tuesday road bike sessions tend to be quite tough.
hi just testing
hey Werner who do you reckon this is mate who would have this nickname
It are you Geezer, I mean Paul
hi mate you off to the meeting tonight should be fun
It may seem obvious but it’s worth bearing in mind that the track training sessions (certainly the Tuesday ones) are at risk of being cancelled in wet weather. Also the Welwyn Gosling stadium seems to have it’s own micro climate at night with one side of the track dry and clear whilst the other side is damp and shrouded in mist! The track dries out quite quickly and we can usually get a session in by avoiding the higher damp parts of the banking, but if our crash test dummy slips and slides on the painted bands the session is likely to be cancelled. Forget it when it’s icy.
I made an appearance at the Thursday night session last night. Most riders seemed to be doing the cyclo-cross with less than ten on the cycling track. Like Werner said though, you can improvise and make it more interesting, taking laps etc. Apparently the Wed night crit session had about 30 riders and was a big success, they had a couple of riders fall but I suppose that’s what the session is all about; getting riders to improve there bike handling…