smitty22

i just saw racing at the first time at the san diego velodrome, and needless to say i was blown away. i've lived in san diego all my life and had no idea there was this type of exciting racing in my hometown. anyways, i was just curious if there are any racers out there and what type of race is their favorite. i plan on riding at the velodrome in the spring of next year, but i must say without doing any riding, it looks like the miss-n-out, or what i think they called the devil take the hindmost, looked the most fun. i liked the way some of those guys would stalk in the back only to sprint past a rider at the last second to avoid elimination

anyone else?

Yoshi

My favorite races are typically points races - I try to break away early and stay off the front as long as possible, getting as many points as I can. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Miss and outs can be really frustrating as I often find myself getting eliminated because I thought there were people behind me.

I also enjoy pursuits but only get to do them two or three times a year.

edzo

pursuit

bitingduck

madison

miss & outs are lots of fun though.

If you saw the racing at the San Diego 2-day madison, you probably saw me racing. I was pretty burned out so finished mid-pack in the miss & out, but generally do alright in them.

justintime8425

I like match sprints... especially ones that involve extended track stands. That race is as much mental as it is physical.

smitty22

yea i was at the 2 day madison. what color team were you? that was a cool event, i'm just bummed i missed out on those intro classes and that i have to wait until march for the new season to learn.

bitingduck

we were yellow- my partner went down (along with the pink team) in the final madison friday night, and then I screwed up the timing on getting in to replace him- I tried to get in as they were at full sprint speed instead of waiting another lap-- and ended up half a lap down and chasing. Then Javier came in to replace John and confused me on the first exchange.

CrimsonKarter21

1.) Pursuit
2.) Points Race
2.) Kilo
4.) Team Pursuit

smitty22

how do the changes work on madison? do you have to trade every lap or is it that you just have to trade, and do it when you need to?

dutret

At least one person didn't just make a list of what they are good at.

I'll go with match sprint. Keirins are fun too and unknown distances can be.

dutret

Depends on your strategy. Every lap can't really happen though since you don't see you're partner that often.

CafeRacer

Im a sprinter so of course Im going to say I like Match sprints. The thing is if you watch a serious one thsese days its just a glorified drag race. There isnt much tactic or slow racing anymore, partly to rule changes. Thats why when you see track standing at BIG races its been staged.

I might be the only sprinter who says he hates Kilo's, I still race em and do a decent job of it but I still hate them.

My favorite race is the Keirin. Untill you hit big races on 250's the style and distances change between tracks. It makes it kinda fun and new every time. Some of them you need a wheel, some you need to be in front, some you want to make the move in the final strait (right when everyone elese wants to also) Or on smaller tracks you wanna go from the gun. A Keirin is a glorified crapshoot, but like a match sprint you can play with a couple riders to get you into a position you want too.

Plus it reminds me of highschool rugby

bitingduck

on a big flat 333 m track you can do maybe every lap and a quarter, or lap and a half, because you can basically stop when you come off, but you still need distance to slow down and speed up. At SD they let you hang on the rail, so you can keep it relatively short.

On a shorter, steeper track it's more like every 3 laps, and as mentioned it might vary depending on strategy--e.g. if one rider is a much better sprinter he might time the exchanges so he's always coming in for the sprint laps.

il capo

Yea that was pretty ugly, it was amazing that John got back into the race at all......I guess his 6k bike is pretty strong.

CrimsonKarter21

Who said I wasn't good at them?

dutret

You posted completely different types of races.

Yoshi

Some people are good at different types of races. Look at Alejandro Valverde.

This is especially true on an amateur racing level where the skill levels vary wildly and very few people really specialize.

dutret

Sure there are allrounders but they usually aren't good at both extremes.
Look at what everyone else posted and think how many people do you know who are good at(consistently win) both kilos and points races/pursuits who aren't just sandbagging.

Actually I just remembered that he is a junior so it's much more likely.

bitingduck

The other John...

My partner John bailed out and made Javier race. When the crash happened I was near the exit of the turn after the start finish and watched the pack go behind the tents and officials stand. then John didn't come out. I thought "WTF?". By the time I rolled forward to where I could see they were already picked up, but I couldn't really tell what had happened.

Dubbayoo

I'm a fan so I like everything - keirin, elimination, team pursuit, etc. When I ran DLV in Atlanta I created an even called the Unknown Points race. a 50-lap points race where the sprints where unannounced til the bell rang and cash primes on each one. It was a 333 track so sprints were normally 5 laps apart. in this case there were two 3 laps apart, two 4 laps apart, two 5 laps apart, two 6 laps apart and two 7 laps apart. If you got it right you could pick up two sprints in 3 laps. If you got it wrong you could be out there for 6 laps and get zilch.

bonechilling

My favorites are the ones where I actually succeed. My favorites are points racers, miss'n'outs, Madisons, and others where longevity matters.

eriksbliss

All hail to the two-day San Diego Madison guys -- I was there racing in the non-madison C division, and might have had more fun watching y'all than I did racing myself. In fact, some of the races that Shaun Wallace "invented" were particularly fun, like the four-man Madison pursuit, which was a total blast to watch.

OP, can't wait to see you join the Tuesday festivities next year. Unfortunately, the C (entry-level) division doesn't do miss-and-outs. But that will b good motivation for you to move up to the B group!

bitingduck

I liked the team win and out too, where the first guy winning and getting out didn't get the team points, but just made the second rider eligible for the win when he finally did it.

genericbikedude

As a spectator, sprints are the most fun to watch. I had a great time at Yoshi's hour record attempt at Kissena, but mostly because it took an hour and we drank beer and ate barbeque.

I saw Elvis

Madison, followed by sprinting and team pursuit.
But to be honest just as long as it's on a track I don't care