On 7th September the Club enjoyed an excellent afternoon of cycling in Hampshire’s very own Velodrome at the Activities Centre in Calshot, located on the Western Spit into Southampton Water and only a stone’s throw from Calshot castle. The group had a mixture of raw beginners, occasional track cyclists and past regulars who had distant memories of riding in their youth, but on different equipment and tracks!
Calshot Velodrome, housed inside an old aircraft hangar, is more compact than the familiar Lee Valley and Manchester arenas often seen on TV. It offers a banked track of 142 meters instead of the more conventional 250 meters. Our instructor James was quoted as saying, “if you can ride Calshot with its tight 45 degree banking and short straights, you can ride anywhere!”. With that ringing in our ears we were introduced to the bikes we would be riding for the next 3 hours – which were fixed wheel, with no brakes 😯!!
Once we had calmed down, James took us through tried and tested steps to get us up and riding the boards as individuals and then in slipstreaming groups. Everybody became ‘expert’ by the end, and we retired to the Jolly Sailor to embellish our performance and plan the next steps of our racing Careers 😉
Look out for future trips on our events calendar or our Members' app Spond.