All quiet on the Velodrome front!

Hi all

I thought I would give Andrea the chance to put on any last comments but she's sorting out her bits 'n bobs to take north. On top of that, I got the short straw to try to follow her inimitable style of writing. There's no way I could match that!

There's a bit of 'do' for her tomorrow as it really is her final day. My, she'll be a hard act to follow.

You may have seen from the Velodrome Website Webcam that things are looking decidedly un-changed. The kit is a bit sensitive and whilst making it work, it sometimes throws a wobble. I will endeavor to tweak it (I'll give it a kick) tomorrow when back on duty. Hopefully, when the work actually commences you will see the changes as they happen.

It may look as though nothing is happening but we had to set the 'window' up for the job to commence and prepare for the crew to start. In a few days the first drastic cuts will be made and we should have a couple of pics of the pieces we will be selling.

Talking of which, event though Andrea will have departed by then we are still using her e-mail address for you to apply for sections of the track. So, keep looking and sending to tdo at manchestervelodrome.com (got to do it this way to try to stop the robots), 'cos once its gone, its REALLY gone.

Tony O'Brien

It's all over!

It was never all excitment!

Last post and all that.
What a wonderful 8 years. Just wanted to thank all of you who have helped make my life so rich, both people who came to the Velodrome as punters or as staff. I am very privileged to have known you all. Special thanks to the staff of TVT who have put up with me, supported me and made me laugh - and despair at times. Jarl, Paul, TinyTony, Anthony, SearlySteve, Nicola, Paula, Damien, Simon, Samantha, Gordon, Tracy and not forgetting The Fishwife [Diane] and The Poisoner [Rosaline] - without whom my time at the Velodrome would have been all the poorer.

Look here, a snap from the early days with two of Yasumitsu-Schlapp's national champs - Ian Gorgeous George and Jon Norfolk. Gosh, how young we all look. Don't we? We do as it happens - just in case you had not realised.
Lurking somewhere behind was this chap - Lord Hoy - already a star but awaiting the arrival of the Worlds at Copenhagen to launch him into super-stardom and the unlikely appearance on Five TV and some thing called [actually I can't remember what it is called but look for an earlier post.]

Anyway, soon I shall be sitting on the beach, hanging on for dear life so as not to get blown all the way to Greenland, rain lashing down horizontally and I shall be thinking of you lot.
A bit. Maybe.World Masters Pursuit champion 2007 Eve, my partner on Isle of Lewis whare we are soon to live. someone has to do it!

PS. I know some of you like to have a look at some of my snaps - and if you have little else to do you can see them here www.boxesbellows.blogspot.com

Track bits

Just a reminder; we have 93 year old Wilfred eager and waiting, Woodbine poised behind left ear, flat cap jauntily sat atop his shiny pate for the flood of expected track bit orders.
It works like this;
A. You email tdo[at]manchestervelodrome [dot]com detailing how many 12" bits of track you want. £10 for bare wood, £15 for stayers/sprinters/datum, £30 for finish line.
B. TDO or admin peel off the email from the pooter, taking care not to fray the edges and then write the order on the back of a fag packet [the only documentation Wilfred has ever used].
C. We then await while Wilfred has a sharp and distinctive intake of breath with the inevitable "That'll cost you" honed from years in the building trade and then lovingly sets to work sharpening his tenant saw.
D. Sometime later, old Wilfred will [hopefully ] have carefully sawn out the piece of track and thrown it accurately onto the Velodrome floor from whence Mr Hardy will collect it and...
E. Stamp the wood with the Velodrome authentication stamp, match it the Authentication certificate and pass it through to reception
F. .. who will then whinge about all the extra work, the mess and Wilfred smoking outside of t'Velodrome door but eventually, after much too-ing and fro-ing put the wood and certificate into a padded envelop, spend a few days finding out how to turn on the pooter, find the correct file
G. telefone or email the buyer - "Gish us the dosh mush" or some such phrase will be uttered, then when the moneyarrives actually address and post the envelop to you dear reader should you actually order the wood in the first place !

Oh, and the new wood will be exactly the same stuff as before - Siberian Pine.

OOh it's quiet here.....

So, the track is as quiet as I have ever known it - and I have been here a long time. It's quite erie with lovely soft light glowing gently on the old boards as the glaring track lights aren't on.
I took the liberty of sitting in the middle of the home straight this morning quietly taking a few snaps with my old camera and wondering if I could raise enough energy - despite my hangover [Schlapp do last night you see ] and make it to my cupboard. Well I did make it and now I wonder if the place will ever be the same again.
Since I won't be here to see it I suppose it needn't concern me too much. But I have had fun here.

Peter

Peter Deary; Sometime track coach, commisaire and occaisional derny driver.

Posing.

Please note the Velodrome will be closed as from Sunday till the track has recieved it's new track surface and Andrea has gone off the scene!

The Vital tandem Omnium run by YAsumitsu-Schlapp was a great success with National records and great racing - all won by Jon Norfolk/Ant Kappes - Yasumitsu-Schlapp/Vital.

Photo; M Gill

Paralympics and fings

The Paralympic World Cup http://www.visaparalympicworldcup.com/ is doing me 'ed in already since outside my cupboard some chap on the microphone is winding up millions of kids that are watching the well-good wheelchair basketball and as a result they are screaming as if Justin Timberlake or some other minor celeb chanteur was in the place. Can't even hear the re-run of Late Junction on tinternet in my cupboard! I shall just have to go and have a watch :-)

Must sort the two outstanding prtojects though before I retire to my little island. Firstly Yasumitsu-Schlapp/Vital has a tandem omnium on the evening of May 14th with 19 tandem pairs!!!!!!!!!! What with the Aussies here and the Irish plus a bevy of fast GB tandem pairs, it looks like it's going t0o be a good event - and only £2 to watch. Starts @ 6.30pm

Then there's the wood from the track to sell. Plain bits £10, sprinters and datum line bits @ £15, finish line £30 etc. If you want a bit you can e-mail me on tdo@manchestervelodrome.com with your order! Shipping June 07. Cool.

TDO downsizes

TDO downsizes
After eight frantic years at the Velodrome in Manchester, Track Development Officer Andrea Ingram is hanging up her whistle and making a big career move and lifestyle change by moving up to the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides.

“It’s been great fun at the Velodrome – most of the time – and I have met some lovely people but time moves on and my partner Eve and I have decided we need a change of lifestyle to something better and a more relaxed way of life in a beautiful place. For the last five years I have been suffering from Chronic Fatigue and it sometimes has been a bit of a struggle – although the Velodrome have been very supportive.

Having worked coaching all sorts of people on bikes and tandems, introduced thousands of new kids and adults onto boards, I feel that I have done my bit. The highlights for me have been my partner Eve winning a World Masters Pursuit title last year plus Aileen McGlynn and Ellen Hunter taking Gold in Athens on the tandem – which was nice as Ellen came through the Women’s Track Cycling Days originally and is my Yasumitsu-Schlapp club-mate. Aileen has mostly stayed with us at home when she comes down for training at the Velodrome and I was heavily involved in coaching and getting the equipment for them for the Paralympics back then. The low-point was perhaps when Ellen broke her back.

It’s going to be a big change from the hustle and bustle of life at the Velodrome with hundreds of people to speak to every day to living on a remote island in a small settlement, but I hope to stay involved with cycling in some way – although not as a full-time job. The Outer Hebrides is the sort of place that runs at a slower pace and I’m hoping to have time to develop my photography – my new darkroom is almost ready to use – as well as taking on new challenges. Exciting as track cycling is, there’s only so much of people riding round in circles on a bit of wood that you can take every day before beginning to feel a bit constrained in life – and I’m not commenting on the people still there either – honest!.

I shall miss all the characters at the Velodrome, the Velodrome and BC staff, The Fishwife, WCPP Mafia ‘boss’ Shane Sutton bending my ear [again] over something – making me an offer I can’t understand, chatting with Craig, Chris, Victoria or some other multi-medalled super-star. But most of all I shall miss the punters; the kids from the schools around the UK, the schools tournaments, the ‘Buena Vista Social club’ on the Tuesday lunchtime Taster, the SQT crowd, the Vets sessions, the ‘Worst Jersey in the World’ competitions, those little kids I knew as mites who now have world titles and are winning big races round the world – like Christian Light and Ben Swift, Yasumitsu-Schlapp/Vital, Michael Hutchinson – despite the fact that I drink black coffee and he wrote I drank white in his book [and just maybe I shall write about this period from MY point of view], the Japanese Keirin bods and other foreign riders I have had the pleasure of making friends with – basically everyone.

I shouldn’t forget my club – Yasumitsu-Schlapp/Vital which was started by Graham Wilman and myself and which originally comprised of a bunch of misfits and novices but over the years has won shed-loads of medals at National and World Level – including Ellen & Paul Hunter & Ian Sharpe’s Gold and Silver and Bronzes in Athens. I can’t remember all of the medals and championships we have won but as well as the Hunters and Eve, Jon Norfolk has a load, Ian ‘Gorgeous’ George too – along with Glynis Francis, Gwyn Carless, Angela Undrell, Joby my nephew, Graham Wilman, Carine vanSchie, Denise Hampson, Joanne Wilman, Anthony Kappes [world champ and record holder], James Griffin, D Smith Esq, Dave Robson etc etc. Still a brill group of riders with new RunnerBoyGill taking the headlines at the moment. I’ll still be in the club – but ‘resting’.

Thanks for all the fun I have had, thanks for talking to me and thanks for letting me be part of your lives. And if you happen to be passing by, do call in for a chat in North Tolsta, Isle of Lewis”