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Skills Drills The skills drills listed here are generally lower intensity activities that can be sandwiched between more strenuous efforts. They build from drills that develop skills all riders should have to those developing skills that are primarily important for match sprinters. With new people, skills drills are best run from the infield. Before the drill starts, collect everyone together and explain what you will be asking them to do. Stress the following 4 rules: • if you get tired, drop down onto the coté and come off. Those behind you will ride over you (to your right) • if you don’t feel in control doing something, work up to it slowly. E.g., if you don’t feel comfortable taking a hand off the bars, take just one finger off and work up. Or just do the thing on the straights and not in the turns • do not feel compelled to do what you are asked to do immediately (but for two important exceptions: when you are told to speed up, and when you are told to get down onto the coté). Take the time you need to be in control. This includes taking the time you need to get off the track. • ride slightly higher on the track than the rider in front of you. If the rider in front of you slows or crashes, always ride over them (up track, to the right of them) and maintain or increase your speed Many of the drills listed here can be combined in one exercise. Get people up on the track and, watching from the infield, ask them to do first one, then another of the drills described here. Keep your eye on how people are doing and modify or stop the drill if they look to be having problems. Learn people’s names and if a specific person is doing something wrong (usually going too slow) use their name. If people are going too slow, don’t ask them to “pick it up” — too many don’t understand what this means. Give clear, loud instructions, like “faster!” Keep in mind that it will be hard for people to hear you. You will need to shout in your loudest voice as people are coming towards you. They will not hear you if you shout at them from behind. Don’t panic. People will only get better at what they are doing as the drill progresses, so things are bound to look worst at the start and improve from there. If it seems that havoc is about to ensue, calmly ask people to ease back into doing something everyone can handle and work back to the problem activity more gradually. Crashing is most likely when people are leaving the track so be particularly careful to get them to do that gradually. Get everyone up to the red. Then have the last 3-4 people in the line drop down to the black, slow and get off while the others continue to ride around. Repeat until all are off. If there is a crash make sure everyone still on the track stays high and maintains their speed until the track is cleared. Shoulder checking and changing lines Using the track to brake and accelerate |