Track Racing at Hellyer Park
Go to : www.ridethetrack.com,
the Hellyer
Velodrome website, for specific information
about events, records, training and more.
Information from Kevin
Worley regarding training for Track racing
Note from Kevin regarding training
schedule:
Since I got back from Natz
in August, I’ve
had more than a few folks from the club ask
me about my training schedule, and could
I help them with theirs. 2006 is going to
be my last year racing seriously and then
I’m going to try my hand at coaching.
Racing successfully doesn’t always
mean coaching successfully, but for some
silly reason, I think I might be good at
it.
For
2006 though, my main focus needs to be
my own training, so with a couple of
exceptions, I’m not going to have the time to
work closely with anyone else. On the other
hand, my training schedule might be helpful
to anyone who’s interested in competing
in the same type of events that I do, and
there’s no reason why I can’t
post it.
So,
if anyone in the club is interested in
doing the sprint events on the track – Match
Sprints, Kilo, or 500 meter time trial – I’ll
be posting my training on the LGBRC
web site at the track blog site. I’ll
put up each days workout and why I’m
doing it. I’ll also try to cover
some of my thoughts on equipment, nutrition,
supplements, weight training and anything
else that pertains to my training.
Please
remember that the schedule I’ll be
posting is designed for my particular circumstances.
My events, my strengths and weaknesses,
and my schedule off the bike as well as
on. If you have any questions, please keep
them to general training and fitness questions
and post them to the comments section on
the blog site.
Hopefully
this will be useful to some folks. If
you do want to race at the track, come
down as often as you can. We’ll be having
our sprint tournaments again in 2006, starting
in March. Have a great season, and have
fun.
Kevin
The
Q&A on San Jose's own Hellyer Park Velodrome
From Mike Hardaway, former Hellyer Track President
I'm interested in racing
on the track, how do I get into it?
The best way
to start is by attending Saturday
AM beginner sessions. These are
every Saturday morning at 8:30
a.m. You may rent bikes and
will receive basic track instruction.
$5 track usage fee, plus $5 to
rent a fixed gear track bike if
you don't have one.
Do
I need a special bike for this? Does
it really have no brakes?
There are occasional special training sessions in
which the track is open for riding with "road" bikes.
However to race and do the majority of the training
sessions on the track you'll need a special track
bike. And yes, they don't have brakes but you can
still control your speed by resisting gently the
motion of the pedals and by adjusting the path of
the bike on the banked surface.
Are
there special sessions for Juniors?
Yes. With signed
parental release, juniors can ride the track
in any session whose purpose is matched to
their skill level. Additionally, There are
two regularly scheduled sessions on afternoons,
with very different goals and functions.
The most important facts specific to riders under
18 are:
1) Parents/Guardians must sign a release annually
on behalf of minors who use the track.
2) Juniors can ride the track for free, and get free
use of the fixed gear rental bikes for training.
How
big is Hellyer Velodrome?
Each lap is 335
meters - or about 0.2 miles. The corners have
about 25 degrees of banking to them.
How
do I get to the Velodrome?
Getting
to the Hellyer Park Velodrome is easy.
The track is located just off of Highway
101 at the Hellyer Ave. exit. From the
680/280/101 interchange take 101 south
for 5 miles to the Hellyer Ave exit. At
the bottom of the off-ramp turn right.
At the stop sign go straight into Hellyer
Park and follow the signs to the velodrome.
The spectator gate is located on the south
end of the velodrome ( from the parking
lot walk counter clock-wise around the
track to get to the gate).
See ridethetrack.com for
more info. Rain cancels all track sessions.
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