Velocity!

Firstly many many thanks for all the comments, stars and hearts that you gave me for Thursdays Sunrise Blip which saw it spend much of Friday high in the spotlight. My third ever appearance on the Spotlight page. They are most appreciated and I will reply when I get chance, this weekend is a bit busy.

On Saturday I went to Manchester with my Dad to go to the National Cycling Centre to watch a session of the National Track Cycling Championships. It was great fun travelling on the train (although I had to stand all the way back from Manchester) and then on the Trams! It's over 50 years since my Dad has been on a tram he told me.

The velodrome was a brilliant place and when we took our seats we realized that the finish line was directly in front of us. The session we saw was dominated by the Men's Sprint competition, with a couple rounds of the Mens Points race (60 lap race with points awarded for sprints every 10 laps, all very confusing to follow), and the Womens Team Sprint. It's the first time I've been to watch track cycling having been watching various road racing events over the summer. The action on track was pretty much non-stop which was great.

I've chosen this shot taken through the barrier in front of me as part of the mens points race hurtled across the start finish line, as I think it conveys the sense of speed of the event. In the sprint races the fastest riders were regularly clocking average speeds of 40-43 mph!

Thanks for looking and I'll catch up with comments when I get chance.