Beginner Track Riding Day with Bespoke.

Picture yourself on a bike at the top of a 25m, 45 degree wooden wall. Your brain is shouting at you that this shouldn't be possible. You turn the bike to the left and you are almost in free fall. You accelerate from 15mph to 35mph in the space of 15m. You're leaning over so far you feel like you're almost perpendicular to the ground to get round the corner. It's like a cycling roller-coaster. It's the most fun you can have on two wheels.

Jono: Bespoke's mechanic in action

At Bespoke, we are very passionate about track racing and have a wealth of experience. Our mechanic Jono is a former Kiwi international sprinter and our lead fitter Ben also represented his country in many different endurance events. The racing at the velodrome was one of the highlights from the London Olympics and next spring they are finally opening it to the public. To ride there, you'll have to complete a four part accreditation process run by the Lee Valley VeloPark. Having prior track riding experience will be very helpful to feel comfortable straight away at these accreditation session. Therefore, Bespoke is putting together a track experience day for our customers at Calshot Velodrome on the 1st and 2nd of March.

Calshot Velodrome

Calshot is a great track to learn on as it's very small (only 142m round) with very steep bankings (45 degrees). This creates a lot of g-force even at low speed and "sticks" you to the banking. Check out the video of a flying lap.

To give you the best possible head start, Bespoke is teaming up with a pair of world class coaches: Dave Le Grys and Pete Mitchell.

Dave Le Grys

Dave's resume both as an athlete and a coach could fill the whole of this blog. In the 70's and 80's he represented Great Britain at 6 world championship and won 40 national medals. He coached at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics as well as being National Coach (and coached a certain Ben Hallam to his national pursuit championship). As a masters rider, I think he has lost count of the number of World, European and National gold medals that he has won.

Pete Mitchell

  

Pete Mitchell may be young, but he has an equally impressive resume. In 2007 he was crowned Junior World Team Sprint Champion, represented his country at the 2010 Commonwealth Games and won multiple World and European medals. He is now bringing that wealth of experience to his coaching.  

To launch our venture into the wonderful world of track riding, we are going to be running a seminar evening on 10th December at 18:30. We'll talk you through the differences between road bikes and track bikes, have some examples of top end track equipment and Dave Le Grys will be doing a short seminar about his experiences and a Q and A for you to be able to ask any question you may have. This evening will be a free event, simply RSVP to events@bespokecycling.com

The Calshot banking is sure to get the adrenaline going 

The beginner experience days will be running two sessions, one on Saturday 1st March from 1-5pm and the other on Sunday 2nd March 9am-1pm. The session will cost £100 include bike hire, 4 hours of track time and personal coaching from Dave and Pete. During the session, Dave and Pete will progress you through getting to know the bikes, getting onto the track and then safely riding at greater speeds and with other riders on track. To keep the coach standard high, there will be limited places available so if you're interested, book early. To confirm your place, contact Dave Le Grys on dlgmastercoach@googlemail.com

Ben Hallam in his heyday 

We look forward to seeing you on the 10th of December for the seminar.