I
Ilan Vardi
Guest
They broke the world record by over 2 seconds, and gave no explanation other than talent and hard
work. Therefore, they fail the Le Monde drug test.
-ilan
work. Therefore, they fail the Le Monde drug test.
-ilan
Originally posted by Howard Kveck
> I think tracks like Athens (bigger turns, shorter
> straights) are probably easier for points races because after a while, the compression of your
> body on your arms (and crotch to some degree) from the bends is fatiguing. Larger radius bends
> reduce that effect slightly.
So riding a long points race at a track like Ghent or Antwerp (132m!) would get to be pretty
brutal, right? Are you at all familiar with the shape of the Athens track? How does it compare to
Frisco (besides being the same length and similar banking)?
I've only ridden three really short tracks -- the INSEP training track in Paris (166m), a portable track in Buenos Aires, and the Vandedrome.
The INSEP track I've only trained on, and did low to moderate intensity short duration efforts. Therefore I didn't get a sensation of arm fatigue (plus much of the riding was on aero bars, taking lower arm and joint fatigue out of the equation). The most memorable sensation is that of losing track of which is the front stretch and which is the back stretch. That was partially due to the effect of feeling like being in the bottom of a bowl, without visual references to differentiate between the two straights, and because i was hitting each straight approximately every 5 to 6 seconds.
The BA track wasn't designed very well, as I've mentioned in past threads. It was 135m, but the width was only about 4m wide, it had long straights and tight turns that weren't banked steeply enough. It also had the boards oriented perpendicular to the direction of travel (it made for a very loud rumbling race), which were painted with a slippery glossy brown paint. The outer fence was constructed of chicken wire. I did a 6 day race there (of which about three days were rained out, as the track was located on an outside dirt horse showing arena). Between the tight radius, shallow banking, narrow width and slippery surface, the bends were simply not able to handle the speed that the straights would allow. I think I raced in a 49x16. The track was so narrow that by the time you left space at the top for the relief riders, there was barely enough room for two teams to ride side by side. It was so congested it was actually harder to get from the back of the field to the front than it was to lap the field. In the nightly one hour chase, we rode almost 500 laps. Thus, you were only going WFO on very rare occasions. The stress and adrenalin rush of riding on such a precarious track overrode my sense of fatigue.
I do recall arm fatigue from riding on the Vandedrome, as you could ride to the max through the bends. The compressive forces increase with speed. I'm sure that conditioning helps to offset fatigue, so if you were to race and train on a small track you would get used to it.
I haven't seen the Athens track, but as I said earlier in the thread, I've ridden the track in Adelaide in 1994 and they were both built by Ron Webb so they are probably very similar, if not identical. The Frisco track was designed and built by Dale Hughes. I haven't ridden it since 1998. My memory is vague on comparison between the two, but for what I can remember, the Frisco track is a little steeper and has a bit more of a transition between the bends and the straights. I cannot recall differences in the radii of the turns. I didn't really care for the finish on the original plywood (Frisco), so I hope the new surface is better.
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