Dunc Gray Training Session

As a celebration of a mate and work colleagues (Gerard Rummery) 40th Birthday in late April, he hired Dunc Gray Velodrome and a coach for a few hours of track cycling fun, and luckily I was invited along. This was my first time on a fixed wheel bike, so it was going to be a lot of nerves and excitement to start with, but what a venue to learn on!
Here is my trusty stead for the day. It costs about $20 to hire the bike which is then setup for you by the coach - all you need is your own pedals and shoes. Having a Cycling Australia licence also discounted the cost of the day.
For those in the know, this was the only bike in my size, and appropriately "white"! I felt at home from the start. Gearing was for junior riders 48x17. Very small, but plenty of fun.

After entering the centre arena, Gerard tests his track stand technique.

A break in proceedings. We had just finished some skills training that takes you to the top of the banks at either end of the track. For the record, they are 42 degree inclines. It is interesting that in the region of the red line, the bank is noticeable and you can feel uneasy. As you get higher up the bank, I felt more at ease. Maybe it was the proximity to the angle transition at the duck boards? Who knows? Another point for the uninitiated, when cruising around at the fence, don't look down the slope, it is then you realise how high up you are and how steep the banks are!

What a load of crazy fun track cycling action was had at Dunc Gray! Big, hilarious excitement for all, not mention the lactic overload due to very small gearing and trying to out-do each other.

Here's some video footage from the day. Gives you a bit of a sense of the scene taken by one of Gerards mates, Stuart.

Barry, Our Trainer
A font of track cycling knowledge + folklore. He had some great tips and training beta for us, but he also had some terrific anecdotes about cycling and cyclists he'd come across. Here he shares some of that Old Guy Gold with the eager young pups: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSKcwyTx1ts

After the training and lessons were done, we were set loose to do some hot laps just to burn ourselves out. Here we started out doing a 4km Pursuit, as each tired and dropped off, we waited until the leaders came around again, jumped back on and kept going until the legs just couldn't keep the pace. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vbw-QNvGbbI

Fantastic morning ride. I reckon we covered about 15km, but on small gearing it left the legs feeling very heavy indeed.

Time for a track bike this summer?? Very tempting. Very tempting indeed! Even considering switching over those old Shamals to track wheels. Stay tuned.