Track

Anyone here ride the track? From what I've read no-one does in America and I'm wondering why. You too cool for it, is it too hard or have you just not thought/heard of it. Just wondering because in my opinion theres nothing better than track.

 

It's not that American's "don't" want to ride track. It's more that it is too difficult to ride track. The reason being...only three Velodromes in the entire US!!!!!!!!!!!!

I would love to try track, but with there not being any tracks around, it makes it kind of difficult!

 

I've ridden track about five times, and think it's great fun and a good way to train. Must be a lot of fun racing track. The problem is the closest track to me is an hour and a half away. I know some trackies that will go to the velodrom and spend their weekends there training and sleep right near the velodrome, but road racing is so much easier to get to, and much more popular here in Canada. Plus, since there aren't many track events here during the season, I'd imagine training in the velodrome and making left hand turns all day long just to race a few times a year can be a bit tedious.


I don't know what dice is talking about, but I know there are more than 3 tracks in the states. Maybe only 3 that hold national events, but you guys definitely have more than just 3.

Dave

 

Dave,

If you could give me the names/locations of the other tracks in the states, I'd appreciate it.

The only tracks that i have heard of are in Chicago, Kenosha, and Atlanta(i think).

Thanks,

 

No problem. I looked up "usa velodromes" on yahoo. I got a page that lists 18 velodromes and their locations: http://www.juniorvelo.com/index.php?p=7

I was once at a velodrome in Florida (It's on the site: "Brian Piccolo Park") and I remember someone saying something to the effect of there only being 3 velodromes in the states, so I'm not sure where that's coming from, but again, maybe there are only 3 nationally recognized tracks or 3 indoor tracks something like that? Anyway, check out that site. Maybe you'll get lucky and find one that's near you!

Dave

 

I think there's 18 velodromes. Don't mean to lecture you on America's geography, but there's only a slight chance of being within 5 hours of one.

 

Ive opened up a can of worms on this one!

So from what I can gather a velodrome counts as an outdoor flat track as in America and theres only 18! I'm begining to understand now.


I live in the state of Tassie which is the little island on the bottom of Australia. Off the top of my head I can think of 9 tracks, one indoor wooden, that are raced on regularly here. Just about every footy ground has an old track around it that was raced on in the 60's. I think I just assumed that America would be the same.

On the side if anyone here does race track and wants to come down for some racing in the future have a look at www.tascarnivals.com Its the Tasmanian Christmas Carnivals homepage. Theres always a group of Americans down here and if your serious about your track and have some serious cash for a holiday it'd be well worth your while. Around 100 000 bucks prizemoney up for grabs over seven days.

 

Sometimes it`s dull to be out for 3 or more hours! I had two races on track this year and I wonder how anyone can train it every day! I admire that you find a motivation!

 

Srry if I made it appear that I'm a track specialist. I'm not. In Australia track season is from November untill around february (where I'm from anyway) which is the middle of summer. Road season is all year to an extent. In track season when I'm fully training I'll have around 5 track sessions and 5 road sessions a week. Mixing it up and trying to avoid cricket balls, footballs and the motorbike when it stuffs up keeps things interesting! As they say beauty is in the eye of the beholder and tracks pretty damn beautiful to me.

 

track racing is ace! it gets a bit windy when your going fast round corners but you feel like your riding on air when you go round the 43 degrees sloped banks, its ace try it!

 

Yeah i race track here in England....i think the best one i've done is a place called Calshot in the south, 49 degree banks and only around 150m long, the adredline of going around there!

 

Sounds pretty crazy! steepest in Aus is midvale speeddome in Western Australia (250m) (only one I havent raced at) at 47 degrees. Here I think its only 44 degrees (287m). You'd pull a few g's round the corner at yours!

 

Yeah i think somebody said that at full out sprint pace you hit about 3.5-4 G's going round, by the end of sessions ur arms generally are absoltutley shattered, if you're not carefull u end up kissing the rail at the top of the track lol

 

I have never rode at Calshot, but have been to my nearest velodrome (Indoor) 3 times in newport, about 4 hours away!

 

Just an update to part of this ancient thread.

The velodrome list mentioned above is up to 21 velodromes in the USA. Most are outdoors, fairly standard in shape, and have bankings between 25 and 33 degrees. One or two are quite flat, and a few are much steeper. Only the new ADT Event Center track is considered to be "of international standard". It is a 250m indoor track already used for several World Cup and World Championship events.

Actually, odds are good that you are within a few hours of a track if you are in the US. Yes, there are places (even omitting Alaska and Hawaii) where the nearest track is 500 miles away, but those places are lightly populated. On the other hand most of the big cities have a track nearby. Some exceptions include Boston and Washington D.C., where riders would have to travel as far as New York or Pennsylvania to find a track.

The same site (okay, it's my site) has a Google velodrome map which shows velodromes around the world. Coverage is excellent in the USA and varies elsewhere depending on what I have come across online.

If you want to see your favorite velodromes online leave a message on the site. If you can provide a list with the information I need (including latitude and longitude), I will add it.

 

Just an update to part of this ancient thread.

The velodrome list mentioned above is up to 21 velodromes in the USA. Most are outdoors, fairly standard in shape, and have bankings between 25 and 33 degrees. One or two are quite flat, and a few are much steeper. Only the new ADT Event Center track is considered to be "of international standard". It is a 250m indoor track already used for several World Cup and World Championship events.

Actually, odds are good that you are within a few hours of a track if you are in the US. Yes, there are places (even omitting Alaska and Hawaii) where the nearest track is 500 miles away, but those places are lightly populated. On the other hand most of the big cities have a track nearby. Some exceptions include Boston and Washington D.C., where riders would have to travel as far as New York or Pennsylvania to find a track.

The same site (okay, it's my site) has a Google velodrome map which shows velodromes around the world. Coverage is excellent in the USA and varies elsewhere depending on what I have come across online.

If you want to see your favorite velodromes online leave a message on the site. If you can provide a list with the information I need (including latitude and longitude), I will add it.

 

i ride track and i'm from the UK

america have loads of track and its quite popular there

also canada have some great tracks