Track cycling not just for mid-life cyclists

Helping cyclists making informed decisions while training is just part of the challenge of training track cyclists for Wintec Sports Science student Vicki Fleming.

Vicki is studying towards a Masters degree in Sport Science and Human Performance and balances this with life as an athlete and podiatrist. She coaches track cycling at the Avantidrome near Cambridge.

Vicki mainly coaches two predominantly Masters’ riders’ groups at the Avantidrome.

Each rider undertakes the exercises set to the best of their ability, yet each set is balanced with some ‘active recovery’, she says.

They aim to work hard and have fun and Vicki has some advice for those contemplating a track cycling experience.

“If you’re lucky, says Vicki, “you can start the sport when you’re young, but many people, including myself, find the sport when they reach adulthood.”

Vicki says track cycling is a wonderful sport where you ride indoors (most of the time), around a velodrome.

“The bikes have a single fixed gear, meaning you only have one gear of choice and you have to keep pedalling, so there’s no free-wheeling.

Most velodromes approved by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), the world governing body for sports cycling, are built to a standard where the measurement around the outer edge of the black (pole) line, measures 250 metres.

Read Vicki’s full blog post on The Coach.

Find out more about studying sport science and human performance at Wintec.