Gauteng Track cycling

[Rolling Stone]

A -Batch  sharpening their racing skills on Saturday afternoon

[Rolling Stone]

This is where you start

[JanJan]

I am really keen to try this! Is Hector Norris frequently open for training?

[Rolling Stone]

The Track is open 7 Days a week.

You just pay R10 per car to the Groundsman Rajab.

Hoot at the Red Gate and he will open for you. If he is not there when you arrive, just go in and sort him out as soon as he arrives.

Can take your Road bike on the track  as long as there are no track bikes training.

 

A number of roadies use the track to get some safe miles in.

Or stay above the white line, although they might ask you to get the road bikes off the track as soon as there are a number of track bikes on. Remember track bikes have no brakes. It is always good etiquette  to ask the Track Cyclists if you can take your road bikes on the track if they are already on t.he track. They may be busy with a drill that requires them to use the whole track

On a Wednesday afternoon training session you will do between 35 and 40 km. Mostly intervals. Track bikes only.

Jeremy Martins from VWE runs the Wednesday sessions. Starts at 15h30 until about 17h00

JMPD are usually on the track until about 15h00 on Wednesday afternoons with their road bikes. I am sure they will not mind you joining in. On most Saturday  Mornings or Sundays there will be some roadies on the track. Just make sure there is no training planned at the time. Will usually be posted on VWE Facebook page.

[Dirkitech]

I am happy that you managed to get on the track. It should have been a lot easier I agree.

I am not specifically pro HNP or Pilditch. Yes HNP is my local track. As you can see my first link to a learn to ride post was for Pilditch.

I would suggest just pitching up at HNP on a Saturday afternoon and meeting the guys face to face would be the best way to go.

I think that Pilditch have their rides on Sundays. If someone that rides at Pilditch can post their program it would be very helpful. George does a wonderful job at Pilditch.

Yes, Pilditch training is on Sundays and George posts the program weekly on a whatsapp group for us- he only adds people after they completed the introductory course and they "pass" which I found very important and good for safety. There is a facebook group for booking a spot in the intro class on Pilditch. Unlike VWE though, its free, as they claim they do it to promote the sport.

[Rolling Stone]

I have messaged George and invited him to participate here as well.

It is an oportunity to put his contact details, programs etc out there.

Your point about intro courses at Pilditch being free is worth looking into. 

 

I am trying to get the southern regions (Central Gauteng, Eastern Gauteng and Sedibeng)  together to see if they will be willing to support the track development. I have a feeling that Gauteng North supports the track initiative at Pilditch financially. I do not think that they have costs to maintain the track and facilities as it is part of a bigger facility.

 

HNP has a bit of a different setup and needs to be fully maintained by the cycling community that uses it. The  budget only stretches that far. 

 

Having to fork out R350.00 a head  is surely a stumbling block to getting more kids on the track.  But think about it, that gets you a training course, bike rental and lunch. 

 

I am sure that if you can get a group of 10 people together, we can convince a coach to offer the course at a lower, fixed fee for the group. Excluding lunch of course. You can bring your own sarmies and coffee and Join the B or C batch that same afternoon in the league races. Best would be to organise through your region or club. 

 

Right now these coaches do it for a living. That is how they put bread on the table and believe me I do not see any coaches coining it.

[Dirkitech]

I have messaged George and invited him to participate here as well.

It is an oportunity to put his contact details, programs etc out there.

Your point about intro courses at Pilditch being free is worth looking into. 

 

I am trying to get the southern regions (Central Gauteng, Eastern Gauteng and Sedibeng)  together to see if they will be willing to support the track development. I have a feeling that Gauteng North supports the track initiative at Pilditch financially. I do not think that they have costs to maintain the track and facilities as it is part of a bigger facility.

 

HNP has a bit of a different setup and needs to be fully maintained by the cycling community that uses it. The  budget only stretches that far. 

 

Having to fork out R350.00 a head  is surely a stumbling block to getting more kids on the track.  But think about it, that gets you a training course, bike rental and lunch. 

 

I am sure that if you can get a group of 10 people together, we can convince a coach to offer the course at a lower, fixed fee for the group. Excluding lunch of course. You can bring your own sarmies and coffee and Join the B or C batch that same afternoon in the league races. Best would be to organise through your region or club. 

 

Right now these coaches do it for a living. That is how they put bread on the table and believe me I do not see any coaches coining it.

When I spoke to George on the track in March, he said they pretty much pay for maintenance out of their own pockets and have to do the line paintwork themselves.

I have a very negative opinion on HNP just because of the many times my attempts at contact went unanswered, but I've ridden there before and did enjoy it, so its still good to hear and see that there's so much track cycling going on there!

Either way, I'm planning on going to Pilditch again the 25th of May when the next intro day is planned for.

[scotty]

Not sure if Grenville Scullard is still involved but they used to have a few spare track bikes available at HNP for those wanting to try it out. 

[Rolling Stone]

Yes we do have some spare bikes.

If you look in the track bike section you will see that we are trying to build up and repair again. VWE however have a stock of bikes that you could arrange to use/rent  for training and league. Best to arrange beforehand. They will however insist that you do a track intro firsst if you have not raced track before. Can be done at Pilditch or HNP.

And yes Grenville is still there and as fast as ever.

 

But before we get drawn into the politics of cycling again lets just remember why I started this thread.

[Rolling Stone]

Kids on bikes

Sportsmanship and fun.

 

[Rolling Stone]

Please post a link to that facebook page

I fould it very difficult to find all the sites and Facebook pages when we started looking for cycling oportunities for the kids.

Yes, Pilditch training is on Sundays and George posts the program weekly on a whatsapp group for us- he only adds people after they completed the introductory course and they "pass" which I found very important and good for safety. There is a facebook group for booking a spot in the intro class on Pilditch. Unlike VWE though, its free, as they claim they do it to promote the sport.

[Dirkitech]

Please post a link to that facebook page

I fould it very difficult to find all the sites and Facebook pages when we started looking for cycling oportunities for the kids.

https://www.facebook.com/pilditchcycling/

 

This should be it. I cannot log into facebook at work to confirm, but it looks right from the public page. I also found out about Pilditch through word of mouth and not google searching.

 

edit: it's the correct one.

[Rolling Stone]

Final Reminder about This Saturday's event for the kids.

Hope to see some new faces there.

Hector Norris is having an open day for kids on Saturday 19 May. If you know some kids that would want to come and ride on the track or just have a look to see if they might be interested, please also let them know. They can bring any bike they like. There will also be some track racing on the day with a braai afterwards. For more info, Contact Tanya at VWE track academy info@vwetrackacademy.co.za

or go directly to the VWE Track Academy  web site or Facebook page for more info and to see what is happening at the track.

Or just contact me.

[Rolling Stone]

Random HNP pics

[Li Mu Bai]

Are the Tuesday and Thursday evening training sessions at HNP still going?

[Rolling Stone]

Not at the moment

Lighting is a bit of an issue.

We have had some cable theft around the reack - Hoping to get things up and running soon again.