# Portmouth outdoor velodrome



## Paulwho100 (21 Nov 2012)

I hear the is an out door velodrome in Portsmouth and was wondering if it was any good and does it have a good track surface??


----------



## StuAff (21 Nov 2012)

You hear wrong RE Pompey. It's at Calshot Activity Centre on the western side of Southampton Water. I know a guy who's been there and enjoyed it. Track in excellent condition AFAIK, certainly not heard any different.
http://www3.hants.gov.uk/calshot/track-cycling.htm


----------



## ufkacbln (22 Nov 2012)

There is one at Calshot, but there is one at Portsmouth as well

The Portsmouth one is at that Mountbatten Centre
It's not my type of thing, so I have no idea about the surface



It can't be that bad as it is Dani King's home track!

There is video here - but not for the squeamish


----------



## oldroadman (22 Nov 2012)

I have been to both. Calshot is a tiny 140 metre wood indoor track, in a freezing old aircraft hanger on the end of Calshot Spit, sticking out into the Solent. The rest of the Activities Centre seems well heated, but the building containing the track is horrible. It's a good place to learn how to ride though!
The Mountbatten Centre in Portsmouth is a peculiar "track", 3 laps to a mile, huge, not a great surface, and is only rarely used as a track venue, because there are two shallow banking each end of the finish straight, the rest is a big curve and flat, so the thing is a D shape. It is used a lot for coaching kids on road bikes, a cycle race school used to run there, training, and for road bike circuit racing in evenings, as it's almost a road circuit without sharp corners! Not recommended for a proper trackie. Oh, and the wind blows in good and strong from a back lagoon of Portsmouth Harbour, which it is adjacant to.


----------



## StuAff (24 Nov 2012)

I stand corrected.


----------



## Shanks (25 Nov 2012)

I don't have experience of any other but the surface there is better than any of the roads around where I live :-) We have been going down to the Mountbatten centre for the last six months or so on a Wednesday night. As OldRoadman says they do youngsters training from 6pm and then an adults session from about 7.45. Now the adults sessions consists of two groups completing circuits for about an hour. The faster group can get upwards of 30+mph and the slower group tends to stay at around 21 or below. It's good fun and don't worry if you don't think you will keep up there is always a few just going round at their own pace. You'll be left alone to do this as long as you keep an eye on the groups and don't get in the way, In general the atmosphere if very good. If you do decide to come along - come early, they have had to start closing the list for the adult session as it is getting too busy, but come early and sign on and if you get your name on the list you will get on. Cheers


----------



## montage (25 Nov 2012)

oldroadman said:


> I have been to both. Calshot is a tiny 140 metre wood indoor track, in a freezing old aircraft hanger on the end of Calshot Spit, sticking out into the Solent. The rest of the Activities Centre seems well heated, but the building containing the track is horrible. It's a good place to learn how to ride though!
> The Mountbatten Centre in Portsmouth is a peculiar "track", 3 laps to a mile, huge, not a great surface, and is only rarely used as a track venue, because there are two shallow banking each end of the finish straight, the rest is a big curve and flat, so the thing is a D shape. It is used a lot for coaching kids on road bikes, a cycle race school used to run there, training, and for road bike circuit racing in evenings, as it's almost a road circuit without sharp corners! Not recommended for a proper trackie. Oh, and the wind blows in good and strong from a back lagoon of Portsmouth Harbour, which it is adjacant to.


 
The surface is pretty decent since I have been riding it- they re-did it a few years back. You're right about the wind though! It is better suited to road bikes rather than track racing. To learn the ropes of track racing it is ok if you get some coaching, but for real track tracking I'd get to calshot, though there are a few chuncks out of the track here or there which you can blame my brother for.

Dani King rocks up now and then which is pretty cool. Rob Hayles was also trained there in his youth.

If you want to get into road racing then it is a great place to go, and a nice way to pick up some fairly easy points if you are a 3rd or 4th cat - Personally I find that there is a lot of testosterone floating. Get down to the coaching sessions and you'll be more than fine with racing. Check out this

Not sure where abouts you are, but a few of the clubs make good use of the track, Fareham Wheelers, PNECC and Iteam to name a few. It is worth joining one of those if you haven't already


----------



## oldroadman (25 Nov 2012)

Shanks said:


> I don't have experience of any other but the surface there is better than any of the roads around where I live :-) We have been going down to the Mountbatten centre for the last six months or so on a Wednesday night. As OldRoadman says they do youngsters training from 6pm and then an adults session from about 7.45. *Now the adults sessions consists of two groups completing circuits for about an hour. The faster group can get upwards of 30+mph and the slower group tends to stay at around 21 or below.* It's good fun and don't worry if you don't think you will keep up there is always a few just going round at their own pace. You'll be left alone to do this as long as you keep an eye on the groups and don't get in the way, In general the atmosphere if very good. If you do decide to come along - come early, they have had to start closing the list for the adult session as it is getting too busy, but come early and sign on and if you get your name on the list you will get on. Cheers


 
The "fast" session is actually a E/1/2/3 circuit race, the "slower" session is 3/4 "race", which usually ends in a crazy sprint, from my small experience. You need to be a BC member,I think, and pay a day licence as both are competitive events. In the 3/4 (again from my few observations) there are a few people who take the relaxed approach, and lose plenty of laps in about 40 minutes, so long as they stay safe and keep out of the way of the "racers" then the officials let them stay in, but just beware of that final couple of laps, it's a bit crazy and falls are not unknown. Once anyone gets 3rd cat., if they have any pretensions to improving, the elite race will give them a good workout (or thorough hammering!), and any silly bike handling is soon "corrected" by "advice" from the senior riders.
Casual coaching and try-out sessions they are not.


----------



## Shanks (26 Nov 2012)

What you say may well be right during the racing season, and I'd certainly agree with the comment about testosterone. But out of season like now it is not run in a formal race style. Each pair leads for a lap then splits off and drops to the back, this repeats till you get to the front again, when the process repeats. It is of no interest who is leading when the organisers blow the whistle to stop. You are discouraged from it but people do switch groups mid run. The session lasts an hour. 
In season the session runs for, I think, forty minutes and three laps. The three laps is when that pace really gets going, and those are run under BC rules. Cheers


----------



## oldroadman (29 Nov 2012)

Shanks said:


> What you say may well be right during the racing season, and I'd certainly agree with the comment about testosterone. But out of season like now it is not run in a formal race style. Each pair leads for a lap then splits off and drops to the back, this repeats till you get to the front again, when the process repeats. It is of no interest who is leading when the organisers blow the whistle to stop. You are discouraged from it but people do switch groups mid run. The session lasts an hour.
> *In season the session runs for, I think, forty minutes and three laps. The three laps is when that pace really gets going, and those are run under BC rules. Cheers[*/quote]
> 
> That is what the participants optimistically refer to as "racing"....still if they are happy and feel good about it, why not? Just cut out the ridiculous antics in the last lap or two and nobody gets hurt....


----------



## Paul.G. (4 Dec 2012)

sorry if this is a bit too late for this thread but just to let you know there is also a decent outdoor track in Reading. Its open to all road bikes each Tuesday and Thursday from 20.15 through to 22.30 and it's £5 per session. There is no structured sessions and you can either just ride along at your own pace or drop onto one of the chain gangs as long as your willing to take your turn on the front for a couple of laps. Really friendly atmosphere and ive been going for about five years and not seen any form of "bike-snobery" or negativity towards beginers.


----------



## oldroadman (5 Dec 2012)

Yes, Reading is a nice easy ride on road bikes, as there is only a very shallow banking, and it's a smaller size than Portsmouth - about 440 metres I think. It's alos still in regular use for track racing, both league and open, with some decent derny paced racing as well. Good bunch of people who run things there.


----------

