Revoloution 17

Spent an enjoyable evening on Saturday at indoor track in Manchester, avoiding the Rugby (although it was on in the bar) and watching the Revolution Track meeting, one of a series of events that gives a competitive outlet for our established and up and coming track riders. The format developed over the past couple of years gives the public a chance to see top class riders in a series of events to showcase their talents, a few guests and notables are also thrown into the mix to encourage a sense of fun and (god forbid) entertainment.
This edition had a selection of road racing 'stars' to enliven the proceedings so the new generation of British Road men Cav (Mark Cavendish) and 'Gee'(Geraint Thomas) were pitted against Francesco Chicchi 2nd in last weeks Paris Tours and his Liquigas team mate 'Big' Magnus Backstead (to be fair the Brit lads were both world Champions on the track before going on to road success) and made mincemeat of their continental counterparts although they had their work cut out beating our other world class track men in a season that will culminate in the Beijing Olympics.
Britain is classed as the best track nation in the world (god it feels great to type that) and our traditional strength in the Pursuit has been consolidated in the Sprint and Endurance events and i have every confidence that British track cyclists will do us proud over the next few years, the Hoy's, Staff's and Queally's of the past few years are now being elbowed (literally) out of the frame by the new generation, Jason Kenny having a particularly good evening.


On the Sunday morning I had a session on the track myself, anybody can do a taster session (£9 + £9 for bike hire ) and most were in combat shorts and a T Shirt with a sprinkling of 'serious' cyclists. It's 15 years since I last mounted a track bike and got on a banked track, not since falling off and breaking my collar bone the week before the National Track Championship in 1992. I used the same bike that has hung on the wall all those years, replacing the shredded white tape and newly rebuilt high pressure wheels on my old trusty 'Campag' hubs. The wooden track was super smooth and hardly a mark on the newly laid surface of Siberian Pine, It was as if I had not been away, circling high on the banking and back into the feel of a fixed wheel on a steep track. To be fair I had ridden a fixed to work that week just to get used to the sensation but there were people in the session that had not ridden a fixed before so to combine that with riding the track and all the riders did very well
I had a puncture just before the end of the session (1 hr.) and managed to make an exit down onto the inside without embarrassing myself and I can't wait untill my next outing, roll on Newport