On a roll: Track racing in London
Photo of Nelsy racing at Herne Hill Velodrom by Arpad Ernyes
Interview with Nelsy Casallas, June 2018 at LMNH
Nelsy is a barista and bike-mechanic in training and races for the Look Mum No Hands (LMNH) team in London. I had a chance to interview Nelsy before her scratch race. This is an interview that takes you from 2008 to 2018, north to the Lee Valley and south to Herne Hill. Nelsy talked about her start in fixed gear crits, how she trains whilst also working full-time, and about a cycling group that enjoys beers BEFORE their ride.
Flora: Let’s go back in time! How did you get introduced to fixed gear cycling and what encouraged you to start racing?
Nelsy: I would go back at least ten years, where I just became obsessed with the simplicity of the fixed gear bicycle. I worked in a really quiet office as a receptionist for two and half years, and honestly I just ended up with lots of free time. I would watch YouTube videos of fixed gear cyclists and watch people cycle through the streets of New York or London. It was mesmerising and really relaxing, like watching water. It took me another three years to actually get a fixed gear bicycle, because I was so scared of them as well. I got a geared bike and converted it to a fixed gear, which had its own troubles, as it was difficult to convert it. And to be honest, the first time I got on I was like, “What have I done?! What’s happened?” Then I just rode around for three years and just learned how to do that.
F: That’s incredible! So no one taught you how to skid or you didn’t join a girl gang like SHE36 to learn how to trackstand and take silly photos for Instagram?
N: Ha, no! I wish I did! But Instagram wasn’t around then, or maybe I just hadn’t heard of it. I just rode around a lot and it was my commuter bike. And then I got my Cinelli Mash a year ago. I wasn’t going to buy a bike, I was just looking at what I could buy if I had the money and then I decided to get a credit card and then thought, ‘oh I guess I’ll get a bicycle’. I still haven’t paid it off! It’s a good investment in the long run, it’s a good bike and good frame, as I use it everyday and it has a flip flop hub to make it single-speed, so I’ve cycled it to Rochester, Oxford and Paris.
As for racing, how did I start that? Velociposse! Someone told me that some of the Velociposse usually meet on Thursday evenings at Cycle PS in Camberwell (but Cycle PS closed down unfortunately). It was for a social fixed gear ride organised by Fixed Beers, where they have some beers and then cycle.
F: I like that they did it in that order!
N: Well, they usually have just one beer and then head off. I wanted to attend one of their fixed gear skills sessions but I never had the time and a part of me was too shy to approach them. Then I found out they do these races at Herne Hill Velodrome at the track league so I went along and saw them all there, you can recognise their kit. Finally I went over to one of their members and asked how to get involved. She just said to come along to this skill session they run in east London. They were awesome and friendly. Velociposse nowadays cater to a range of races and the skills involved, including road racing, track, fixed crit and just supporting women in all types of riding.
F: How does the bureaucracy work in London in terms of track cycling? In order to cycle at the velodrome in Berlin you need a licence and also need to be a member of a cycling club. Is there that much red tape in London?
N: At Herne Hill and Lee Valley, you don’t need to be part of a club to train nor race and you can even rent a bike for track sessions! I didn’t know it at first, but LMNH still had a team registered with British Cycling, and now I’m a one woman team for LMNH! So no matter where I come, even if I come last, I still win, ha! I’m not sure about Lee Valley but Herne Hill has an accreditation process, and it is a really good place to learn. Herne Hill also has a lot of women’s sessions on Sunday, from 5pm to 7pm, it’s a really good group of people!
F: Wow, it sounds like something is actually more affordable in London for once, compared with in Berlin where you can’t rent a bike at the velodrome and you need to pay for a licence and annual membership fee at a cycling club! What does your training schedule look like? How have you been building up your skills?
N: I did my own kind of training for a while and it was bascially hills climbs. I just cycled up hills in south London, everesting for strength because there is nowhere you can really cycle continuously in London – it’s impossible, with all the traffic, the lights, and pedestrians. Then Juliet Elliot posted a competition on Instagram where you could win a one-on-one training program with her in Devon, and I won! So from that day two months ago she has been giving me weekly training plans to fit around my schedule. I was super, super lucky with that and it’s helped me so much just to have an idea of what I need to do and also how to increase my training in a structured way, like Monday it’s hills and Tuesday it’s circuit training at Regent’s Park.
F: How many hours do you train per week now with the new plan?
N: It’ll be three days of specific training, like circuits and sprints and every day I cycle to work so I guess that’s incidental training for bunch riding with men in lycra. It’s 40 minutes each way and I work full time from 06:45 to 15:00. At first I thought I wouldn’t fit it around work but if you do cycle to and from work, it’s training in and of itself and I realised that I can do this. Also I’m not an Olympian. I’m just going to do as much as I can. I think one thing that I want to try to remember is to have fun because I can get really competitive, and that can get in the way of the fun of track cycling and racing. As long as I’m having fun, I’m happy.
F: What does fun look like in that context though? As long as you’re winning it’s fun? One-footed track stands?
N: Ha! No, I thought about it earlier today. I’ll get the nerves because I’m racing tomorrow, and there are four races, two of which I’ve never done before: the scratch race and the sprint out. What makes it exciting and fun is doing something that’s new to me, to try something that I’ve never done before. And then there’s beer after!
F: The best kind of fun! So apropos beer afterwards, let’s talk about the other part of training. Did Juliet Elliot give you any tips about nutrition and the psychology of racing?
N: No, that hasn’t come up yet but she’s been really open and said if I have any questions just to ask. Nutrition is a big one for me, because I’m vegan and I did wonder whether I can sustain that amount of activity and recover properly and get enough vitamin B12 and protein. I feel absolutely fine and am not tired. I’m not going to make any drastic changes because I do eat healthily anyway. There’s loads of examples of athletes of plant-based athletes.
F: What’s the mood on the ground like when you are a newbie to the track racing scene, especially as a one-woman team?
N: In my personal experience, everyone is definitely a bit reserved but that’s just nerves before you actually get on the track before a race, and then you see and recognise people because you raced with them last month and start chatting and don’t want to stop even though you should probably start warming up. Then it’s absolutely fine. There’s a lot of the Velociposse there and they’re super friendly and welcoming. And tomorrow I know I am going to see a lot of them, it’s like seeing friends on track and it’s a really warm environment to race. I found that with Thundercrit, although I was so nervous it was really fun and respectful racing environment.
F: Cool! Tell us about your bike, about your gear ratio, and the tweaks and adjustments you made!
N: I’ve actually got two! What stopped me from track racing back then was that I just had one bike that was perfect for the track and tricks but it was also my commuter bike and I didn’t want to crash that. I was so scared of that happening that I just didn’t do it. Then luckily one training session, a guy at Herne Hill came up to me once when I was warming up, as he saw that I kept hiring slightly ill-fitting track bikes that were the wrong size or had really uncomfortable saddles, and he said, ‘Look, my son doesn’t race track anymore and he’s 14 and just rocketed up and grown out of his bike. It’ll fit you, would you maybe like to have it?’ So now I’ve got a small blue Dolan Pre Cursa which I call it Li’l Blue, because somebody I met at the cinema said to me, ‘Oh you’re the person with the li’l blue Dolan!’ Yes, that tiny, tiny bike. You see a lot of them around on track. It’s kind of a popular bike. As for the Cinelli, I run a super low gearing on it – 48/18 – and just use it for commuting. I also have a 15 sprocket for it which I can take easily off and on just to get used to cycling in a higher cadence. I feel like I’m really good at high cadence cycling instead of pushing harder gears.
F: What have been the highlights of the process of getting into competitive cycling?
N: Can I say just doing it? Literally, just doing it! I joke that it took me a year to get into it, and Alex interviewed me a year ago. There was a lot of fear if you don’t know what to expect, you don’t know if you’re gonna die or make it to work the next day, and on top off that you don’t have a bike. It took a lot of courage to go and just get on the track. That’s the definite highlight.
F: Thanks for being so candid about the fear!
N: No, there is!
F: I know there is, but it’s good to hear people talking about it.
N: Yeah, that’s why Herne Hill has been such an awesome place to do it, it’s really comfortable. They run so many introduction sessions. I was there on a Saturday actually and it looked like a group of friends went to do an introduction. It looked like they’d been up the night before, and that this was their Saturday plan, and it was awesome. I would never do it hungover, but go for it!
F: Haha! I actually really admire Eeva from Velociposse. I used to follow Red Hook Crit and last year at London there was an accident during the last lap, major carnage, and she stopped to help a rider with a broken jaw. I know it’s a race situation and you are in adrenaline mode and have to go go go and maybe you don’t see what just happened, but I thought how great that her humanity and kindness won out that she helped this crumpled, bleeding woman on the side rather than finish in the top 10.
N: She did a blog about it, because people asked her, “Why didn’t you get back on your bike? The finish line is just there!” And her answer was pretty much, “There’s a human being in front of me who needed my help.” I thought that was awesome of her. She wrote a blog post about it [https://velociposse.cc/blog/red-hook-crit-london-and-the-king-of-fomos/]. A lot of them write blogs after races and some have written about their intro to cycling and racing as well.
F: And what’s the outlook? Will you sign up for more races over summer? What about winter training?
N: Definitely! My plan is to get a geared bike actually, so I can do tours and go abroad and start doing road crits. I want to visit places with my bike!
F: Thanks for your time Nelsy and good luck for your race tomorrow!