Far Out Son of Lung...

Velodrome

Rock Gal took the track photos during my Development Class a few weeks ago and I took the crappy shots of the bike last night. I need a tripod or a steady hand or something. The track photos will give you an idea of scale, as well as a better feel for the banking of the track. The apron at the very bottom is flat, banking on the straight is 17 degrees and in the corners it is 44 degrees. Total track length is 250 meters with 200 Meter Time Trial events starting from the white line that bisects turns 1 & 2, and other starting from other locations depending on length and the style of racing.

The sprints (200 meter time trial) are the most fun because you drop from the rail (outside of track) down into the Sprinter's Lane (between black & red lines) as you progress through turn one. The banking acts like a downhill and you pick up a lot of speed, which is also a lot of fun. The hard part is maintaining that speed and keeping the bike below the red line in the corners.

Since there are not any brakes on the bike we use the banking to slow down as well. If you turn right you go up the bank and lose speed pretty quickly, which is also a lot of fun. You can also back peddle, or resist the motion of the peddles to slow down, which works better in a group of people to maintain a speed, but you can't really stop the bike that way from high speed without a lot of room. Since everyone is just going all the time, in the same direction and roughly the same speed, it is not necessary to stop while you're out on the track like you would on a regular road or trail. I know it sounds strange, but it makes sense once you see it in progress.

I'll get some better photos on Thursday but this at least gives you an idea of what the heck I've been doing.

My power has been increasing steadily as has my speed. Most of my workouts last about 2 hours, but that does include some downtime for rest and water. Typically I do intervals of either 250's with rest laps, or a build up from 250 to 1000 meter sprints, with two to three rest laps between each effort.

posted by GreSam @ 10:07