Columns

trackcycling coach Lee Povey returns with a selection of useful things to consider as you build up to the 2012 outdoor track league season.

It takes many new riders a while to realise that the strongest rider doesn't always win the bike race - and that's never more true than in the points race. A clever rider can do well through good tactics and reading the race well.

It is hard to pin down the start of the track season on the west coast of the United States.  The west coast racing season starts with hill climbs on New Years day and ends with Cyclocross races the week before Christmas.  While the UCI track races are screaming in exotic locals through out the winter, California grassroots racing just rolls on rain or shine, it never really stops.  The big west coast races start running in June and July as the weather settles into an equilibrium of hot days/cool nights down south and temperate dry season up north.  Until mid summer the local races are a hodge podge of weekly events and fast tempo training events attended by pros, world champions, and the dedicated racers that make up the core of west coast racing community.  Following the results can be challenging but since all the tracks have set up their own websites and Twitter accounts getting updates has been a little easier.  While some tracks like San Diego, Hellyer and LA Velodrome have races all year most regular series get started in April and May – while real racing has started yet its not hard to tell who is taking this year seriously.

When Rob Good opened Forest City Velodrome back in 2005 many people asked “Why an indoor Velodrome, and why in London Ontario?”

Ontario didn’t have a usable facility anywhere in the Province. Ontario Cycling Association was beginning to hold their Track Championships in Detroit Michigan or Bromont Quebec. As a result, the Province of Ontario had not won a Junior Track medal at the Canadian Championships for nearly 15 years.

There was a much improved performance by The Australian Track Team at The World Championships in Poland, which managed to finish top of the medal table with 10 medals made up of four Gold, four Silver and two Bronze medals - ahead of France with three Gold, two Silver and one Bronze. Great Britain finished third on the table with two Gold, four Silver and three Bronze.

trackcycling's head coach Lee Povey presents the first of a regular series of articles on training and preparing for track racing. The first instalment covers pre-race preparation and warm up.

The 2009 World Cycling Championships have come and gone. After the United Kingdom literally rewrote the medal cerimonies through out 2008 we witnessed a remarkable improvement from the rest of the world. This should set the stage for some very exciting racing in the next 36 months leading to London 2012.

Welcome to the first trackcycling South/Central column. We'll be looking back at an excellent Winter League series from Calshot and looking ahead to Reading Track League which kicks off in April.

This year's Calshot Winter League may have been short of 'A' riders, but the competition proved fiercely competitive and big fields saw the 'B' races frequently split into two fields.

Confused by the bewildering variety of events at the World Track Championships? National Masters Sprint Champion and trackcycling coaching columnist Lee Povey explains all.

For years the heart of tracking racing in the United States has been the Lehigh Valley Velodrome in Trexlertown. T-Town, as it’s commonly known, has benefitted from a combination of strong financial support, local interest, well managed grass roots programs and international level calibre racing. In recent years that leadership role has started to shift to the west coast as the popularity of fixed gear culture and racing has sparked new interest in the Western states.