Track Accreditation Information

So what is this track accreditation for...?  And how do you get it?  This blog it to try and answer these questions and a few more.

So firstly, what is the point of accreditation?  Well, there are two reasons for wanting to attain this.  The most important being that it shows that you are capable on a track, that you ride safely and can control a 

track bike.  The second is that you have to have accreditation before you can consider racing on the track; all racing organisers will want independent proof that you know roughly what to do in a velodrome, and accreditation is the way that they do this.

You used to have to be accredited at each velodrome separately, but now your accreditation gets put onto your British Cycling  membership, so now you can get accredited at one velodrome, and this should be OK for all the other tracks (but check with each first, as some are still wary of this welcome change).

There are 4 levels of accreditation, and to be 'accredited' you need to pass all 4.

1. ​This is pretty straight-forward - it is basically to check you can ride a fixed-wheel bike without brakes around the velodrome without falling off!
2. Level 2 ensures you can cycle in a group with others and can control your speed so that you keep a consistent distance between you and the other riders.
3. Level 3 steps up the skill levels, with exercises to prove you can ride is a controlled group within 0.5 meters of each other, switching from the front to the back, both individually and in pairs, and then stacking (4-5 abreast around the velodrome).
4. Level 4 is where you prove that you have mastered the exercises from the previous levels, and the testers usually throw in another exercise to check your movement through the group in a slalom path.

In the Rocko sessions we can arrange to merge levels 1&2 into one session, where a sound, road-rider can expect to jump to having passed Level 2; as long as they listen and execute the requests well.  Level 3 would take a separate session, which we organise from time to time.  We don't run Level 4 accreditation at the Rocko sessions, as there are regular public L4 sessions, and we wouldn't have enough people wanting and ready to be accredited at the same time as each other.  So what we try and do is get you to having passed Level 3 ASAP, and then you would arrange your own L4 session at Derby when you feel ready.