Track cycling

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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.

1 Riding position
2 Main centres
3 Race formats
4 Track records
5 Links to Individual Velodromes
6 See also
7 External links

[edit] Riding position

A Track Cycling Race

The bicycles are designed to reduce aerodynamic drag caused by the machine itself and the rider's racing position.

Handlebars on track bikes used for longer events such as the points race are similar to the drop bars found on road bicycles. The riding position is also similar to the road racing position.

In the sprint event the rider's position is more extreme compared with a road rider. The bars are lower with the saddle higher and more forward. Bars are often narrower with a deeper drop, steel bars are still used by many sprinters for their higher rigidity and durability.

In timed events such as the pursuit and the kilo, riders will often use aerobars similar to those found on road time trial bicycles. They are designed to allow the rider to position their arms closer together in front of their body which leans forward toward the horizontal so as to present the minimum frontal area and thus reducing drag. These aerobars or 'triathlon bars' can be separate bars that are attached to time trial/ bull horn bars, or they can be a one-piece combined monocoque design. These aerobars are only allowed in pursuit and time trial events.

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 horizontally, 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.

[edit] Main centres

Track cycling is particularly popular in Europe, notably Belgium, France, Germany and the United Kingdom 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 UCI Track World Championships as well as circuits of professional events in many areas.

In the United States, track racing reached a peak of popularity in the 1930s when six-day races were held in Madison Square Garden in New York. The word "Madison" is still used as the name for this type of race in six-day racing.

[edit] Race formats

Some of the most common race formats include:

Individual pursuit
Team pursuit
Team sprint
Sprint
Track time trial
Points race
Madison
Keirin
Handicap
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 Race

[edit] Track records

In 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, Francesco Moser, Miguel Indurain and Tony Rominger). 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).

[edit] Links to Individual Velodromes

See also: Velodrome

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.

Country	Velodrome	Location	Notes
Australia	Dunc Gray velodrome	Sydney, New South Wales	Constructed for 2000 Summer Olympics
Canada
	Glenmore Velodrome	Calgary, Alberta	39 degree banked, 400m outdoor concrete track.
	Forest City Velodrome	Forest City, Ontario	50 degree banked, 138m track constructed in 2005.
	Burnaby Velodrome	Vancouver	200m track constructed mid-1990s
	Juan de Fuca Velodrome	Victoria, British Columbia	333m track constructed for the 1994 Commonwealth Games
China	Laoshan Velodrome	Beijing	Under construction for 2008 Summer Olympics
United Kingdom
	The Calshot Velodrome	Calshot (near Southampton)	Short steeply banked track
	Herne Hill Velodrome	London	a track in a shallow concrete bowl, constructed in 1891.
	Manchester Velodrome	Manchester	250m track constructed in 1996
	Wales National Velodrome	Newport	Welsh National Velodrome opened in 2003
United States
	National Sports Center Velodrome	Blaine, Minnesota (near Minneapolis)	250m outdoor wooden track, 43 degree banking; constructed in 1990.
	Dick Lane Velodrome	East Point, Georgia (near Atlanta)
	The Alkek Velodrome	Houston, Texas	33 degree banked, outdoor concrete track, 333.33m.
	The Superdrome	Frisco, Texas (near Dallas)	44 degree banked, outdoor, 250m.
	LA Velodrome	Los Angeles, California	250m track constructed in 2004
	Alpenrose Velodrome	Portland, Oregon	44 degree banked, outdoor track.
	Marymoor Velodrome	Redmond, Washington	25 degree banked, 400m outdoor concrete track; built 1974, resurfaced 2005.
	Lehigh Valley Velodrome	Trexlertown, Pennsylvania	28 degree banked, 333m outdoor concrete track; built 1975, renovated 1996.
	San Diego Velodrome	San Diego, California	27 degree banked, 333.3m outdoor concrete track, built 1976
	Ed Rudolph Velodrome	Northbrook, Illinois (near Chicago)	18 degree banked, 387m outdoor asphalt track, built 1959, renovated 2004.
	Hellyer Park Velodrome	San Jose, California
Hungary	Millenáris	Budapest	412m outdoor concrete track, built 1896