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New circuit in Fife

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URL: https://forum.bhpc.org.uk/forum_posts.asp?TID=6811
Printed Date: 28 March 2024 at 2:26pm
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Topic: New circuit in Fife
Posted By: Arellcat
Subject: New circuit in Fife
Date Posted: 22 October 2018 at 10:18pm
Already posted on FB, but not everyone is on there.  I wish I weren't, but needs must.

On Saturday I took a trip to the Fife Cycle Park – https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fcyclepark.fife.scot%2F%3Ffbclid%3DIwAR1447wMP8q_tlypxhq3jtcBPim2kA_Zb8gfHDYuRhCwI4sgj_nAHHU1svk&h=AT3WdG2ULPTLwpxYXRK3-I3ppJE1EBns23OA3qXutMQgOw13NS6zK-l97i_RUle1omyru9Pl8Jv35pA38cVXLFPA-Qkj898BwFtVvJLKkizZRSnWJJwtUlF24cyp_DPZjKOWLfIc02mnVpyifT2XaBYMG5KP" rel="nofollow - https://cyclepark.fife.scot/ – which is between Lochgelly and Lochore. It's the first purpose-built road cycling circuit in Scotland and it opened in May this year. The Park was holding an open day, mainly for children, as evidenced by the generous amounts of fruit juice, colouring in pads, and traffic cones and marshalls/helpers on the track.

Between the open day finishing and the circuit moving to a booked group session, I did a lap of the full circuit to find out what it was like, just in case we (that is, you) ever fancied an expedition to the wilds of northern Britain. The track has a few variations with different names – The Hairdryer, The Jelly Bean, The Gellydrome and The Wiggle – though the full lap is perhaps on the twisty side for going fast on three wheels. The two main straights are good fun, because the land dips gently towards the north (good for picking up a mile or two an hour as you dash for the line).

The main building is staffed. There are generous changing rooms with showers and lockers, a kitchen (but unfortunately no café), and a 60-odd capacity mess hall that opens trackside. I had a chat with the team and they have a timing system on site as well. Plenty of car parking is available. Less than a mile down the road is Lochore Meadows Country Park that does have a café (and a sandy beach and an adventure playground should you bring your little ones with you). A mile back up the (steep!) road is Lochgelly railway station, which is on the Fife Circle line.

On Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/beqi/albums/72157696780844870" rel="nofollow - I've posted a few photographs (including track layouts and pricing).  I've no idea if the prices are good value or not.

I also made a short video so you can see what a lap looks like.  I didn't go all out as I still had to cycle home.  The one thing you'll notice is the plethora of lighting columns, which would be a good incentive to not deck your streamliner.




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carbon Quest, Lightning P-38, RANS Sequoia, Kona Sutra, Orange Five, Elephant Bike, Brompton, Stumpjumper



Replies:
Posted By: Woolly Hat
Date Posted: 23 October 2018 at 8:23am
That looks a great track. Hopefully we'll see it in the schedule at some point. Not sure about the health and safety aspect of all those lights at the edge of the track. Handy for dark days or early evenings but could do with some padding just in case anyone has an issue.

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Ross Low Racer 77 and coming soon Radicality 0.9!


Posted By: RoyMacdonald
Date Posted: 23 October 2018 at 5:10pm
Anti clockwise I only saw a couple of lampposts that could be an issue but the bends looked safe enough. Most lampposts were on the opposite side of the track to the way you would be turning. Nice circuit.
Thanks.
 
Roy


Posted By: fitzer
Date Posted: 24 October 2018 at 9:16am
Hi all, there is also a brand new closed circuit track in S Wales at Pembrey country park
https://vimeo.com/263499332

I contacted the local BCF rep and he provided the following details;
£60 ph
£300 full day
liability insurance required if not an affilated BC club/member.

seems a bit steep, but then again I have no idea what the club usually pays for circuit hire?


Posted By: atlas_shrugged
Date Posted: 24 October 2018 at 2:11pm
The Fife track looks really nice. Hopefully we can get an event organised there.
 
Postcode for the track is: KY5 8AA


Posted By: HeatherF
Date Posted: 24 October 2018 at 5:25pm
In terms of the cost:
The full circuit allows for the most variation in race formats but it is £75 per hour. We normally hire a track for 4 hours so we're looking at £300 which is at the very top end of what we have paid in the past (excluding the Olympic park at £500). We would need 30 to 40 riders to make this break even. Hiring less than the full track is cheaper but perhaps not so interesting.
 
(We have the required public liability insurance.)
 
Treasurer!


Posted By: RoyMacdonald
Date Posted: 24 October 2018 at 6:08pm
If we are struggling to find hireable circuits, why not increase the club's race fee? Compared to all the other costs involved in racing something over £7 is not going to be an issue I would have thought. I had an idea it cost more than that 25 years ago. If it can be done for Derby Velodrome as proposed.....

Roy


Posted By: HeatherF
Date Posted: 24 October 2018 at 7:08pm
Derby Velodrome is a one-off. It costs £750 so we charge racers £25 and it isn't included in the championship points. It would become increasingly complicated if we did this for many other tracks.
 
We have not increased the race fees recently as there are many tracks which are affordable and which attract a significant number of racers, thus making them viable. We are not struggling to find hireable, affordable circuits. Also we have reserves which we could use to subsidise racing if we wanted to.
 
The argument has also been made before that £7 is a very small part of what people spend to get to races and hence a small increase would not be too much of a burden. I proposed at the AGM that we didn't increase race fees and that was supported so, at least for the next year, they remain at £7 and £10
 
Hiring of circuits is the (pretty thankless!) job of the competition secretary so whether or not we add Fife to the calendar will be Chris's decision.


Posted By: Kim
Date Posted: 24 October 2018 at 9:50pm
Given the distance that most active members would have to travel to Fife, it would seem to be worth making a weekend of it, somehow. Perhaps by combining it with some sort of social ride?


Posted By: atlas_shrugged
Date Posted: 25 October 2018 at 6:42pm
Would support the idea of Kim. Other possibilities would be to piggyback it on to something like the Edinburgh festival.
 
Other ideas would be to find some form of sponsorship for the days event from some Scottish organisation / company / individual.
 
Finally we could try and negotiate with the track for a reduced price based on the fact we are a smaller club.
 
 


Posted By: GeoffBird
Date Posted: 25 October 2018 at 8:30pm
Perhaps, using the reserves (or increasing the race fees) would allow us to try having events in places where we may not get many competitors, so take more risks, or, to put it another way, provide something for members who do not live near London or in the Midlands. If we choose venues purely on the basis of whether they are cheap enough and we get enough competitors to break even then perhaps we are not fulfilling the purpose of the club, which is to encourage as many people to get involved in HPV-related activity. 

I agree with Kim and Brian, that combining race events with other activities is something we should try again (it has been done in the past). Although the Edinburgh Festival would create all sorts of travel and accommodation issues!

As Heather says, we have fairly substantial reserves. I would like to see some discussion amongst the membership as to how they would like those reserves to be used.

Personally, I would rather they are used to broaden the activities of the club and attract more people to it, rather than use them to cover shortfalls in operating costs.


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Right Time - Right Place - Wrong Speed


Posted By: RoyMacdonald
Date Posted: 25 October 2018 at 9:52pm
I think we should consider the membership impact of racing at some tracks where we get publicity just by being seen racing even if they are expensive. For instance we no longer race at Herne Hill Velodrome but we picked up a number members back when we used to race there. Me for one.

Roy


Posted By: RoyMacdonald
Date Posted: 25 October 2018 at 11:36pm
I think LaidBack Bikes could come up with some ideas.  http://www.flickr.com/photos/66067108@N08/albums/with/72157644428169669" rel="nofollow - http://www.flickr.com/photos/66067108@N08/albums/with/72157644428169669

Roy


Posted By: atlas_shrugged
Date Posted: 31 October 2018 at 11:34am
@Arellcat would you like to lead on getting funding for the BHPC use of the Fife track?
 
https://www.transport.gov.scot/news/first-awards-from-2m-sustainable-travel-fund/" rel="nofollow - https://www.transport.gov.scot/news/first-awards-from-2m-sustainable-travel-fund/
 
We could also use the funding for a media bliz of the event. Although I am loath to suggest tapping the government shilling our treasurer is right that an event must pay for itself. We are faced with a chicken and egg issue having events at the edges of our country (e.g. Cornwall and Kent) because travel distance keeps the numbers low. If the event can be made a weekend event then people will travel (e.g. WC2018).
 


Posted By: Yanto
Date Posted: 31 October 2018 at 4:21pm
Having read what the funding is for "Sustainable travel" I don't think a BHPC race falls into that, and minimum grant is £5k, or am I not understanding the purpose of your proposal?


Posted By: RoyMacdonald
Date Posted: 31 October 2018 at 6:24pm
A demo of velomombiles on race tracks is promoting sustainable travel I would have thought. Velomobiles are ideal for Scotland. They have pretty flat cycle pathes and cold wet weather. Can't think of anything I'd rather use for most of the year.

To quote Mr B if they want the points they will come.

Roy


Posted By: GeoffBird
Date Posted: 31 October 2018 at 8:08pm
Many years ago, Steve Donaldson organised a BHPC British Championship in and around Edinburgh, with about four events (including a road time trial!). This was well attended, perhaps because of the draw of being crowned British Champion or because there were a sufficient number  of events to justify the travel?

It must also be remembered that we do have quite a few members in Scotland! As I suggested at the AGM, perhaps we need to map where our members live, as I did when I was trying to organise Local Reps - there may be clusters of members in places where you wouldn't expect?


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Right Time - Right Place - Wrong Speed


Posted By: RoyMacdonald
Date Posted: 31 October 2018 at 9:59pm
We used to race every year in and around Edinburgh in the UK BHPC Points Championships 20 odd years ago when I was racing. It was always well attended. There are two recumbent bike shops in the locality. One in Glasgow and one in Edinburgh. Which must help with attendances.

Roy


Posted By: RoyMacdonald
Date Posted: 31 October 2018 at 10:03pm
Originally posted by GeoffBird GeoffBird wrote:

Many years ago, Steve Donaldson organised a BHPC British Championship in and around Edinburgh, with about four events (including a road time trial!). This was well attended, perhaps because of the draw of being crowned British Champion or because there were a sufficient number  of events to justify the travel?

It must also be remembered that we do have quite a few members in Scotland! As I suggested at the AGM, perhaps we need to map where our members live, as I did when I was trying to organise Local Reps - there may be clusters of members in places where you wouldn't expect?

I think there is a Google app that you can use because the Volvo owners club has an interactive Google map that you can enter your own home and it shows you where other members live.

Roy


Posted By: Yanto
Date Posted: 01 November 2018 at 2:21pm
Originally posted by RoyMacdonald RoyMacdonald wrote:

A demo of velomombiles on race tracks is promoting sustainable travel I would have thought.

Roy

Well not really, it would demonstrate that velomobiles can race.  However, back to the crux of the matter and the first barrier, the funding matches money put in by the applicant, the minimum matched fund is £5k, it doesn't cost £5k to hire a track, plus looking at the other approved applications they are not only for sustainable transportation but also of a sustainable nature, i.e not one off events.


Posted By: RoyMacdonald
Date Posted: 02 November 2018 at 12:46am
Originally posted by Yanto Yanto wrote:

Originally posted by RoyMacdonald RoyMacdonald wrote:

A demo of velomombiles on race tracks is promoting sustainable travel I would have thought.

Roy

Well not really, it would demonstrate that velomobiles can race.  .

You haven't been listening to Mr Burrows. Wink

Roy


Posted By: Yanto
Date Posted: 02 November 2018 at 7:27am
Correct Big smile 



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