Track cycling
Track cycling is a
bicycle racing sport usually held on specially-built banked tracks or
velodromes (but many events are held at older velodromes where the track banking is relatively shallow) using
track bicycles.
Track racing is also done on grass tracks marked out on flat sportsfields. Such events are particularly common during the summer in
Scotland at
Highland Games gatherings, but there are also regular summer events in
England.
Many individuals ride a
fixed gear or fixed wheel bicycle for regular transport and have adapted the track bike (usually with a front brake added) as an alternative to the multi-geared freewheel bicycle.
The
bicycles are designed to reduce
aerodynamic drag caused by the machine itself and the rider's racing position. Handlebars can differ signficantly from the familiar drop bars found on road bicycles. In timed events, riders will often use
triathlon bars designed to allow the rider to extend their arms in front of their body which leans forward almost to the horizontal so as to present the minimum frontal area and thus reducing drag. These triathlon bars or 'aerobars' are often bolted on to traditional drop bars or more aerodynamic bull horn bars. These aerobars are not allowed in mass-start races.
Formats of track cycle races are also heavily influenced by aerodynamics. If one rider closely follows, he
drafts or
slipstreams another, because the leading rider pushes air around themselves, any rider closely following has to push out less air than the lead rider and thus can travel at the same speed while expending less effort. This fact has led to a variety of racing styles that allow clever riders or teams to exploit this tactical advantage, as well as formats that simply test strength, speed and endurance.
During the early 1990s in
individual pursuit events, some riders adopted a straight-armed
Superman-like position with their arms fully extended, but this position was subsequently outlawed by the
Union Cycliste Internationale, the sport's ruling body.
Recumbent bicycles can actually be ridden faster, but are banned from UCI competition. The
International Human Powered Vehicle Association is a separate organisation that runs recumbent races, including the human-powered speed record.
Track cycling is particularly popular in Europe, notably
Belgium,
France,
Germany and
Great Britain where it is often used as off-season training by road racers (professional
six-day 'Madison' events were often entered by two-man teams comprising a leading road racer and a track specialist).
The sport also has significant followings in
Japan and
Australia. It is part of the
Summer Olympic Games, and there are world championships as well as circuits of professional events in many areas.
Track racing reached a peak of popularity in the
1930s in the
United States, when six-day races were held in
Madison Square Garden in New York. The word "Madison" is still used to describe a relay cycling race. There have been numerous World Championships in the last few years and track cycling is gaining in popularity.
Some of the most common race formats include:
*
Individual pursuit*
Team pursuit*
Sprint*
Track time trial*
Points race*
Madison*
Keirin*
Miss and Out, elimination or 'Devil Take the Hindmost'
*Motor-paced events, such as
Keirin racing - cyclists draft behind a
derny, sometimes using specialized track bikes called
stayers
*
Scratch RaceIn addition to regular track racing, tracks are also the venue for many cycling records. These are over either a fixed distance or for a fixed period of time. The most famous of these is the
hour record, which involves simply riding as far as possible in one hour. The history of the hour record is replete with exploits by some of the greatest names in cycling from both road and track racing (including, among others,
Major Taylor,
Henri Desgrange,
Fausto Coppi,
Jacques Anquetil,
Eddy Merckx, and
Francesco Moser). Originally, attempts were made at velodromes with reputations for being fast (such as the Vigorelli in
Milan). More recently, attempts have moved to
high-altitude locations, such as Mexico City, where the thinner air results in lower aerodynamic drag, which more than offsets the added difficulty of breathing. Innovations in equipment and the rider's position on the bike have also led to dramatic improvements in the hour record, but have also been a source of controversy (see
Graeme Obree).
Cities that host the
Summer Olympic games usually construct a new velodrome for the event. World-class competition quality tracks not yet included in this section are located in Moscow, Seoul, Barcelona, Atlanta, Sydney and Athens.
*
US, Trexlertown, Pennsylvania - Lehigh Valley Velodrome - 28 degree banked, 333m outdoor concrete track; built 1975, renovated 1996.
*
US, Portland, Oregon - Alpenrose Velodrome, 44 degree banked, outdoor track.
*
US, Los Angeles, California - 333m track constructed in 2004*
US, East Point, Georgia (near Atlanta) - Dick Lane Velodrome *
US, Blaine, Minnesota (near Minneapolis) - National Sports Center Velodrome - 250m outdoor wooden track, 43 degree banking; constructed in 1990.
*
CA, Alberta, Calgary - 400m outdoor concrete track.
*
CA, Ontario, Forest City - 138m track constructed in 2005.
*
CA, Vancouver - Burnaby Velodrome, 200m track constructed mid-1990s) *
CA, British Columbia, Victoria - 333m track constructed for the 1994 Commonwealth Games
*
AU, NSW, Sydney Dunc Gray velodrome - constructed for 2000 Olympic Games
*
UK, Calshot - Short steeply banked track near Southampton*
UK, London, Herne Hill - a track in a shallow concrete bowl, constructed in 1891.
*
UK, Manchester - 333m track constructed in 1996
*
UK, Newport - Welsh National Velodrome opened in 2003*
Union Cycliste Internationale*
Schuermann*
British Cycling track news and information site
