Bikeforums.net is a forum about nothing but bikes. Our community can help you find information about hard-to-find and localized information like bicycle tours, specialties like where in your area to have your recumbent bike serviced, or what are the best bicycle tires and seats for the activities you use your bike for.spooky308
12-23-01, 02:11 PM
Attention Military Riders
I am a Marine who has started up a program in which I'm taking military members who
have never been introduced to the sport, and I've staked out an oval in a grassfield, and we are out doing all the different races
that you would do on an Olympic Velodrome, including Team Pursuits and Madisons, except on grass!
Since I have become a cyclist and seen the 1984 Olympics I'd always wanted to try out
Track Racing. There was never a Velodrome in my area so I would try to apease myself
with as many Criteriums as I could find.
Around June, I ran across a site with some pictures of the Hertford Derby in England
and that gave me the idea to do the same thing over here! These guys were staking out
an oval in a grass field, and running Match Sprints, Points Races, and even Keirin.
I got permission from the Athletic Dept, Facility Maintenance, and the Safety Dept
over the course of a few months to do the same, and started up informal training
races a couple months ago. I didn't spend a lot of time doing foot work, but I would
make my phone calls through-out the day. Never too much that it affected my work. 5
minutes here and there.
In the mean time, the Athletic Dept has said that they could sponsor a trip for those
that I have interested (A "Team" I geuss) to one of the real velodromes (a 10 hour
trip) so that we might be able to make it a more formal effort.
If every Military Installation had a program in which we would be able to go out and
run practice races, then that could grow into formal events, and even
Interservice Competition (The Military Mountain Bike Championships were just run in
early Nov). It wouldn't even be that far of a stretch for one of the larger bases to
build a banked, asphalt velodrome! (Heck, I've seen bases that have Skateboard
Parks!) At least we'd be able to practice these events, and we could bring a lot more
people into the sport.
This is also something that clubs could even get into if they could just find a willing school to offer a soccer field for use.
If you are trying to convince your community for the need of a velodrome, you could use a flat grass field as a jump off point to build community support! It would only take a couple dump truck loads to get dirt berms/banking built up for the corners! After that all you'd need is one of those contractors that paves driveways to put a hard top on it!
If you'd like to see more information about what I'm doing, I have a website set up
at:
http://home.ec.rr.com/grasstrackracing
Thanks for any advise
spooky308@ec.rr.com
I am a Marine who has started up a program in which I'm taking military members who
have never been introduced to the sport, and I've staked out an oval in a grassfield, and we are out doing all the different races
that you would do on an Olympic Velodrome, including Team Pursuits and Madisons, except on grass!
Since I have become a cyclist and seen the 1984 Olympics I'd always wanted to try out
Track Racing. There was never a Velodrome in my area so I would try to apease myself
with as many Criteriums as I could find.
Around June, I ran across a site with some pictures of the Hertford Derby in England
and that gave me the idea to do the same thing over here! These guys were staking out
an oval in a grass field, and running Match Sprints, Points Races, and even Keirin.
I got permission from the Athletic Dept, Facility Maintenance, and the Safety Dept
over the course of a few months to do the same, and started up informal training
races a couple months ago. I didn't spend a lot of time doing foot work, but I would
make my phone calls through-out the day. Never too much that it affected my work. 5
minutes here and there.
In the mean time, the Athletic Dept has said that they could sponsor a trip for those
that I have interested (A "Team" I geuss) to one of the real velodromes (a 10 hour
trip) so that we might be able to make it a more formal effort.
If every Military Installation had a program in which we would be able to go out and
run practice races, then that could grow into formal events, and even
Interservice Competition (The Military Mountain Bike Championships were just run in
early Nov). It wouldn't even be that far of a stretch for one of the larger bases to
build a banked, asphalt velodrome! (Heck, I've seen bases that have Skateboard
Parks!) At least we'd be able to practice these events, and we could bring a lot more
people into the sport.
This is also something that clubs could even get into if they could just find a willing school to offer a soccer field for use.
If you are trying to convince your community for the need of a velodrome, you could use a flat grass field as a jump off point to build community support! It would only take a couple dump truck loads to get dirt berms/banking built up for the corners! After that all you'd need is one of those contractors that paves driveways to put a hard top on it!
If you'd like to see more information about what I'm doing, I have a website set up
at:
http://home.ec.rr.com/grasstrackracing
Thanks for any advise
spooky308@ec.rr.com