Route Change

[CHARLTON34]

So this season the old birds are going East to West Stoney Cross out to Eastbourne. The y birds are going down into Cornwall down the leg, my question is unless a rule is changed the old birds have to fly the route the youngsters will be flying this year in 2026 which I've never understood, it's hard enough as it is any thoughts on this please. If I've got this wrong Andy then feel free to correct what I've posted.
Regards Dave.

[NeilA]

So this season the old birds are going East to West Stoney Cross out to Eastbourne. The y birds are going down into Cornwall down the leg, my question is unless a rule is changed the old birds have to fly the route the youngsters will be flying this year in 2026 which I've never understood, it's hard enough as it is any thoughts on this please. If I've got this wrong Andy then feel free to correct what I've posted.
Regards Dave.

Hi Dave
Train your old birds in July / August with your ybs but not up together on the new route don’t wait to March next year
I went south to north won the fed 5th race and club top prize winner
Obviously things get better after that year but I joined a north rd so raced experience club north road racers
When you train them have them how you would train sprint pigeons at first keep them a bit tight on grub line on the drive for cocks
You don’t want pigeons to roam about from training ever for sprinting
Routes don’t matter at all for distance racing
My pal mark bulled sent his birds to Thurso 2nd combine as mostly yearlings next year tarbes I think 7th nfc

Sprinters obviously need a direct line so get that in there heads as soon as you can

[Andy]

So this season the old birds are going East to West Stoney Cross out to Eastbourne. The y birds are going down into Cornwall down the leg, my question is unless a rule is changed the old birds have to fly the route the youngsters will be flying this year in 2026 which I've never understood, it's hard enough as it is any thoughts on this please. If I've got this wrong Andy then feel free to correct what I've posted.
Regards Dave.

You are correct Dave. It’s a stupid rule that we as a club tried to change this year but it was voted out. So yes next years old bird program will have to be down the leg. The stupid thing is that if next year they vote to race the youngsters E to W in 2027 the old birds would have to go back E to W. We could in theory be racing different routes every year unless this rule is changed.
Having said that back when we couldn’t fly the channel because of COVID the first race with the BICC, BBC & CSCFC , may not have all gone together, was Guernsey, South, then Penzance, South West, then 4 or 5 races North. The youngsters that year done the same. Guernsey then North.
When we raced North Road back in the 80s and 90s some of our members would also race South in the National. We had 2 Pau National winners in the club that had been racing North previously. Jed Jackson’s Genista flew Berwick 350 miles North two weeks before winning the Pau National South 500 miles.

[Devo1956]

Does it really matter about route change? train on the compass if needed. the line of flight is built up so should not be a problem.

[king]

Does it really matter about route change? train on the compose if needed. the line of flight is built up so should not be a problem.

Your right good pigeons will fly from anywhere.

[NeilA]

Dave would be sprinting don’t forget his birds would already be use to the East to West route the following year they are West to East so he needs them coming asap on this route
Can’t really see why he would take them around the clock when every training toss would be better served going on the line he wants them to come home quickest from .
If you go around the clock with old birds your probably only going to get 1 in 4 on the line he wants to race the following year
He is re-educating old birds to come A to B asap on a new route so train in that route with them for tosses and start after old birds this year

[MIL]

Hi Dave
Train your old birds in July / August with your ybs but not up together on the new route don’t wait to March next year
I went south to north won the fed 5th race and club top prize winner
Obviously things get better after that year but I joined a north rd so raced experience club north road racers
When you train them have them how you would train sprint pigeons at first keep them a bit tight on grub line on the drive for cocks
You don’t want pigeons to roam about from training ever for sprinting
Routes don’t matter at all for distance racing
My pal mark bulled sent his birds to Thurso 2nd combine as mostly yearlings next year tarbes I think 7th nfc

Sprinters obviously need a direct line so get that in there heads as soon as you can

Pretty sound advice there Dave

[NeilA]

I look at it this way Mike
Dave wants to sprint so you listen to people that have fantastic sprints records to me that’s sense , that isn’t me but I can get advice that would help when I need it

I know your more than happy to help Dave

Take Shane Langton fantastic record Shane told me draw a line to your loft from 3 short race points where they cross or the closest point to crossing each other at that point draw a line to your loft and that’s your line stick to that
From training to 25/30 miles of your loft if going further no harm in a funnel to your loft at 50 miles but that was it

Dave being a out and out sprint loft would be wasting time training east with birds that have flown from the east all year when he needs them to now start to race from the west quickly

If he went 4 times a week for 2 months around the clock he would only have just 8 trainers on his new route
It doesn’t need thinking about

Possibly due to the width of his combine he needs to do the funnel shape I totally understand that but otherwise I can’t see one thing to be gained from going east where they would have just spent 4 months racing from the East this summer

Of course the pigeons will come home from all points but thats not the plan
The plan is to re educate on to the best line to win sprint races why waste fuel going the wrong way
I’m not sure if people have read Dave’s question to be honest

[MIL]

I'm with you all the way

Any fool can sprint. Sprinting is just sending pigeons to short races and get them home

Sprinting sucessfully is an art - and a lot goes into it and the margins of error are tiny

Put me in charge of a team of widowers on a Friday and I can totally f^ck them up for the Saturday if I wanted - or I could tweak and improve them a little.

Sprinting well requires A-B as fast as you can. No if's not but's no maybe's

Get out the basket and head for home straight away - no bullsh!t about getting pulled from pilar to post

Last time I looked pigeons that were in the lead had nothing in front of them - their mind is on the job

[Murray]

I must agree.
To get a sprinter winning them in a row everything must be absolutely spot on. No "near enoughs".
One year I had a Van Reet yearling who was 2nd the first week at 83 miles and 2nd the second week at 83 miles.
Then they went to 150 miles and he won 3 in a row. The pigeon had claimed a top nest box, a very amorous mate, the distance suited him and he was a light framed pigeon that didn't need to eat much. So he was easy to build up to the race.
All the stars aligned.
Good loft, good pigeon well managed, you are more than half way there.