Southern California - UCI World Cup in Carson Jan 19-21

Just a heads up for everyone that Track World Cup is back in LA January 19-21, 2007. It's a chance to see the best riders in the world going at it in all track disciplines (from sprints through madison) in a nice venue where you can see all the action all the time.

Unlike the Tour o' California where they go past in about 45 seconds at the slowest part of the race (top of Balcom Canyon) you can see all the racing all the time on the track, plus the warmup and cooldown, and somtimes the riders who are done for the day or the weekend will come up and sit in the stands to watch. They're often pretty friendly and will chat or answer questions, too. I sat behind some women from the british team while their teammates won the madison one year, and chatted with some of the kiwi team another time.

Details about World Cup (and riding on the LA track in general) are here http://lavelodrome.org/Events/WorldCup.htm


(mods: this really is a socal thing, not a track thing-- there are tons of people from the Socal forum who live within about 30 minutes of the track and don't visit the track forum but might like to watch, and there are about 5 people in the track forum total, most of whom live in other countries and couldn't get here by the 19th).

Doh - I should have mentioned that. Among the riders you missed are Anna Lang from San Diego, Michael Blatchford (from cypress, who grew up racing at Encino), probably Paul Che (probably riding for Peru), I don't know for sure that either is riding WC, but both are likely candidates. Southern California is probably better represented in this WC than any other region of the world.

Sarah Hammer is the reigning World Champion in the women's 3K pursuit, as well as World Cup previous gold medalist in the points race and scratch race.

Becky Quinn scored a pair of silver medals (points race and scratch race) at last year's LA World Cup, and is one of america's most experienced track racers, including a top 5 result at 2006 World Championships.

Sounds like fun!

How about the swapmeet? :p

How about the swapmeet? :p

Sounds even funner! :lol:

I've got tix for Saturday 6:00pm :D

How about the swapmeet? :p

That's the following weekend.

Is it general admission or assigned seating and how much???

Is it general admission or assigned seating and how much???
Both- General Admission $18.50 + all the Ticketmaster fees
Assigned Seating- $38 or so

Are general admission seats available at the door for Sat evening?

Are general admission seats available at the door for Sat evening?

Probably, though saturday night is the night most likely to sell out.

Both- General Admission $18.50 + all the Ticketmaster fees
Assigned Seating- $38 or so

Tanks

Probably, though saturday night is the night most likely to sell out.
If I remember correctly, last year sold out. My wife and I were going to go, but couldn't get tickets, a couple days in advance. That may have only been for assigned seating though. It seems like tickets went up about $10 a piece.

Bitingduck- Is Dan going to be racing?

Dan's not racing the WC but his madison partner from Nats, Austin Carroll will be, along with a bunch of other SoCal riders. Jamie Carney is also racing for his UCI Team Fuji.

Even general admission tix are good-- there are no bad seats, and there's standing room behind the seats in the corners where I like to watch from anyway. My favorite place to watch from is the corner after the finish line or just at the exit of that turn where you can see through the corner and get a good view of the line, too. For pursuits you want to be on one of the pursuit lines so you can compare positions.

LOCAL GIRL MAKES GOOD!!

Christen King, of Manhattan Beach, qualified for the U.S. National Talent Pool. Her qualifying test, the mass start test, consisted of a 500mTT which must be completed in less that 34 seconds, followed immediately by a 1500m endurance trial, which much be completed in under 2 minutes. she rode a spectacular race.

now, she is eligible to train with the U.S. National Team, and eligible to go to Worlds in a couple months, and the pan American games later this year.

hurrah for Christen!!
there are now 7 local so cal people in the talent pool -- neva day, austin carroll, becky quinn, sarah hammer, jennie reed, adam duvendeck, and cody o'reilly (wait -- that's more than 7), and travis smith who rides for canada.

the VP, transforming into proud mother hen

I'm going on Saturday with the Father- it's his B-day present, so I figured I'd splurge on the VIP tickets at the finish line. Excited!!

Hi,

I'll be there working the video camera outside of turn 1 with one of my clubmates. Same job as last year.

It's also possible to watch some of the practice sessions-- probably something like 10 am to 7 pm. The concourse should be open, but there's no guarantee. If you live nearby and have some free time it might be worth a spin by the track, but since there's no posted schedule it's probably not worth a long trip.

Anyone end up going to this? Went tonight and saw some great races!

The coolest part is that Hammer and Quinn rode for the same team I ride for (Hammer last year and Quinn two years ago) and Neva Day currently rides for the club ad I believe King does too.
Hammer in fact will be a speaker at our team get together thing.

Oh yeah, Che rode for our team a few years back.

The coolest part is that Hammer and Quinn rode for the same team I ride for (Hammer last year and Quinn two years ago) and Neva Day currently rides for the club ad I believe King does too.
Hammer in fact will be a speaker at our team get together thing.

Oh yeah, Che rode for our team a few years back.

Anyone end up going to this? Went tonight and saw some great races!
Yup, and this morning and yesterday and tomorrow... my back is killing be from those horrible seats.
Was able to get quick ride in between morning and evening sessions to loosen up. Had wanted to run out to Redondo/Palos Verdes but the early session ran late and didn't give me enough time.

Notable races tonight that carried a lot of tension from the qualifying rounds this morning:
Men's Match Sprint - Bauge edging out Chiappa by inches; twice.
Men's Team Pursuit - Ukraine upsetting Denmark in the last two laps.

Hammer's breaking the US record in the qualifying round for individual pursuit was also amazing to watch.

Bringing the kid tomorrow, she's a big Madison & Keirin fan.

i was there friday night and saturday night.

awesome racing.....i am now actively looking for a track bike to ride in that velodrome.

i was there friday night and saturday night.

awesome racing.....i am now actively looking for a track bike to ride in that velodrome.
I would use their rental bikes for a while first. Better to crash on a loaner than your new ride and then you can get a feel for what you want.

I would use their rental bikes for a while first. Better to crash on a loaner than your new ride and then you can get a feel for what you want.


i disagree....crashing is part of it. these aren't priceless works of art and i know what kind of bike i want. :rolleyes:

i disagree....crashing is part of it. these aren't priceless works of art and i know what kind of bike i want. :rolleyes:Cool, what kind? BT would be my choice but I have neither the cash nor motor to deserve to ride one. And yes crashing is a part of it but you tend to crash much less once you get a handle on some of the basics.

Cool, what kind? BT would be my choice but I have neither the cash nor motor to deserve to ride one. And yes crashing is a part of it but you tend to crash much less once you get a handle on some of the basics.

Most people don't crash much when they're learning and just riding recreationally. Crashing comes with racing and in general you can't race the rental bikes. You also don't want to plan on crashing anyway.

i'll be getting a teschner: http://www.teschnergroup.com/products/teschner/framesets/trackPro/images/trackpro_large.jpg

$2500 for the frame and fork, full carbon. http://www.teschnergroup.com/products/teschner/framesets/trackPro/

You also don't want to plan on crashing anyway.
+1 :)

Also, here's a shot of Sarah Hammer starting her gold medal ride in the Individual Pursuit:

http://www.pbase.com/cleavel/image/73386574/original.jpg

I'll have some more shots later if you're interested.

i disagree....crashing is part of it. these aren't priceless works of art and i know what kind of bike i want. :rolleyes:

I've been training and racing at the ADT since last March, and I have never fallen or crashed on the velodrome. (I've crashed and fallen several times at Encino, but never at ADT.)

What Biting Duck said is consistent with my experience -- if you follow the track etiquette, and do exactly everything that Roger tells you, and listen to the experienced/pro level people around you, you'll be fine. Also, the number one cause of crashes is simply not going fast enough for the track (minimum 15 mph). The number two reason is doing something stupid.

That being said, as one of my friends put it, track cycling is the most fun you can have on two wheels.

And the racing this weekend was phenomenal!!

VP

PS my bike is a work of art beyond price, magically fast, and gorgeous beyond description. However, if I should crash, it's steel and inexpensive to fix (it's been resurrected before), and I wouldn't trade it for the world.