Combing my hair….

This is what fear looks like. The brutal realisation that the corners of the Manchester Velodrome are banked at up to 42.5 degrees and therefore the outside of the track is 12 feet above the inside. Pictured just before a two hour taster session organised by Sheffield CTC it was certainly an experience. The knowledge that your bike handling skills as a complete novice to riding fixed on the banked surface are matched by the nine others on the track makes for a certain heightened level of awareness. Actually slowing down was the the bit I found most difficult, and the one person who fell off during the evening did so just as they came to a stop at the rail. Chris Hoy I am not, but then I think I knew that already.

The team pursuit must have been hilarious to watch. Not so much two tightly disciplined groups of riders, more two groups of riders linked nothing more than they were moving in the same general direction.