samuri.co.uk

Bike:Van Tuyl
Distance: 25 miles

Failed to fully maintain all bikes today but did get my track bike up and running sweetly. Off we go, I love riding track, wish I could do it more often. Tonight was OK, not as fast or as hard as I’d have liked but there you go. One time we did the 6 point thingy which is probably the best thing after the devil which we never do. 6 laps, onto the black and going fast on the 5th lap, first three race off the front on the last lap. It all gets very fast and people fight for position to make sure they’re not at the front at the start but are with people they think they can beat. I noticed the chap who I’m not keen on tagged onto my back wheel as we were warming up. Fancied his chances.

Well, we set off on the flying lap with me in front (bearing in mind I’d done 5 laps on the front already). I’m getting much faster now and it feels like I’m putting power down all the way through my stroke, he *just* passes me on the line which is a vast improvement over him completely kicking my ass a few weeks back.

He then does the thing the coaches say never, ever do. It’s very tempting as you cross the line and hit the corner at 40mph to bang right up the banking, which he did, but he didn’t check and the chap behind him was right above him. VERY nearly hit him. The guy behind shouted and there was some conversation I couldn’t hear but he laughed. That’s two times he’s almost brought people off in oooh, two sessions.

Plus there’s an old chap who rides along next to one of his mates chatting like it’s a sunday club session on the road. Fucking liability. But does anyone tell him off? Nope.

I dunno. Perhaps it’s just me being a realtive newbie but there are rules in place to protect people at the track, accidents can happen in a big way if things go wrong but some people seem to be allowed to do what the fuck they like because everyone knows them.