Brian Ratliff

Deflate, for the sake of sidewall cuts. Rubbing sidewalls of tires at 150psi+ against things will cut the cords easily.

dunderhi

I would say it depends on the officials and the track. At Kissena the officials seem to be more lax about passing underneath and I 've seen a couple instances of passing underneath the past two weekends. At T-Town the sprinter's lane and the cote are strictly enforced. Last year, I noticed some of the non-regular riders get counseled by the chief referee at T-town. In one particular instance a rider moved to pass me underneath on a bell lap while I was in the sprinter's lane in turn one. We bumped each other a couple of times going into turn two and I moved up to let him take the lane rather than let this idiot cause an accident. His number was called immediately after the race and he was relegated. He argued with the ref that he needed to advance his position for the sprint. Of course, he lost the argument.

dunderhi

With latex tubes, I let them deflate themselves to a lower pressure over time. I keep my wheels in tire bags to provide protection, but even in a bag, if I my tire is fully deflated and I accidentally drop the bag, I would be concerned about potential damage to the rim or the tire.

Velocirapture

if you leave the air in, don't leave them in a hot car...

Stas87

Just my two cents: passing underneath is very common in road racing. So if the rider also races road, habits from the road racing tend to show up on the track. I myself have passed on the inside, its more of a reflex as you do this in crits all the time.

queerpunk

it may be a reflex, but rules are there for a reason. passing off the track is a bad idea just like divebombing corners in crits is a bad idea.

wens

And it becomes a very very bad idea very very fast as as the track you're racing on gets steeper.

Stas87

I completely understand and it is something I am trying to correct. Dive bombing corners is my biggest pet peeve in crit racing.

Not the Slowest

Lax may not be the correct word at Kissena. A few things play in there vs T-town. A) Fewer Officials and they also act as scorers B) The Officials Stand Should be Higher with 1 or more Officials Watching the event from the start. C) The Cote is especially in the turns maybe 12 inches from the grass and the surface bumpy both don't help. So it can be hard to actual see if the grass is not cleared.
All that said I agree and have almost been pushed off the track while in the sprinters lane turn 1 when 3 riders came down low and fast. As others have stated its a grass roots type of track. I do think they have dropped the ball a few times, but overall I think safety is their #1 goal.
In anycase all the comments are spot on, just keep your head up, expect anything and if there is someone reckless PLEASE report it to the officials. Of course as one of the Elder statesmen at the track, I'll mention things to riders in races I'm not in about safety issues.

Not the Slowest

I have had similar and actual this week I sounded like I had bronchitis, with a flemy cough, but nothing coming up. I did some research and found that this happens to some riders due to Lung irritation from your exertion and the flem is kind of a protection the body creates blah blah blah.
Solutions? Halls cough drops or similar. Took a few the night of and the next day fixed things.
Wait until allergy season, OYE

Brian Ratliff

1+
Almost suicidal at Alpenrose. If you are on the blue going into the corner... 9 times out of 10 you'll end up on the ground. You'll get relegated real quick for passing on the apron.

MarkWW

Supposing track conditions are usually such that you have a headwind straight down the backstretch, what's the best way to pace yourself in solo efforts like bridging or a pursuit? Do you try to maintain constant power, which would slow you on the back and speed up on the front; go harder into the wind and ease off with the wind to maintain constant speed; or ease into the wind to try to save your legs and then go harder with the wind to take advantage of it?

carleton

I'm not a pursuiter, but personally the surges of on/off the gas bake me faster than steady-state efforts. I'd say hold the same perceived effort and allow your speed/cadence to fluctuate. Maybe try to focus on your tuck on the windy side. If it is really windy, you can feel the tuck make a difference.

queerpunk

I would say 1 or 2. #3 sounds pretty awful.

Brian Ratliff

The rule of thumb I use is "go hardest when you are slowest". This is simply because you spend more time going slow. So I would do the second option: go hard into the wind, recover with the wind. You are going to spend more time in the headwind section of the track than on the downwind section, so bias your energy expenditure towards the headwind to keep your speed up.

As a practical matter, the pack will lose its coordination into the wind if there isn't a group of people actively trying to organize a chase. People will try to bridge on the downwind section. This might work to your advantage if you put the power on during the headwind side and you have half a lap.

queerpunk

There's probably some optimization work that a mathematician could do that takes into account both energy conservation and the effect on speed (and thus, time in the slow part).

But: feh.

One of the road TTTing pieces of advice is to go easy on the hills - don't let people blow, so you can take advantage of the flats to go fast.

But I don't think that quite carries over to the track...

Velocirapture

ah! nice. THIS really makes sense to me. Thanks @Brian Ratliff

rndstr

I got the PX. I ordered both S and M. This one is the Medium (10cm stem, -6deg no spacers):
I think I will probably put the saddle about 1cm lower and 1cm to the back (plumbline check).

Fit good?

wens

If that's where you're going to ride and you're an enduro I'd get your bars higher so you can bend your elbows. I'd go with bars with less drop. If you're a sprinter, shrug, I don't know enough to be useful.

dunderhi

I've been working on a solution to this problem on my track bike, since on a TT bike I just shift one gear while going into the wind to maintain a constant cadence vice a constant speed. So, I've set up a 3/32" driveline on my Paramount with a road crankset with two track rings: 48 & 50 tooth. I don't quite have the mechanism perfected yet, but I screwed a steel hook near the heel of my track shoe. I also realized that putting 48 tooth chainring on the outside helps minimize the pulling force when shifting outward. Shifting from the 48 to the 50 works nearly 100% of the time on the first try since it is a pretty simple pushing motion with my shoe. Unfortunately shifting back to the 48 requires precise timing with a outward pulling motion in order not tp get the hook caught in the chainline. Don't ask me what happens if it gets caught. Unfortunately, this outward shift only works about 50% of the time on the first try. The cool part is that if I can get to work consistently, I think I could use it in competition. I read through the UCI rulebook and since the shifting mechanism isn't attached to the bike, it's the equivalent to having two cogs mounted on each side of the hub. It appears to be legal. Wish me luck.

taras0000

What bars are those? They look like a deep road drop. I'd go with bars that have less drop, less reach, and raise your stem (maybe flip it as well?). Your hands need to be up and more forward, as well as being in the hooks of your bars, not on the flats. They should sit just a little in front of the face, in the bottom half of the hooks, with the heel of your hand centered over the front hub.

Right now your arms are locked straight, with your hands pretty much below your face. Your shoulders are also locked out in a stiff downward reach, acting like pillars. You scapulas retracting up and backwards are evidence of this. With your arms being locked like that, and being so low already, the steering input ends up coming from the larger back muscles instead of the smaller arm/shoulder muscles. Steering becomes accomplished through a combination of straight arm lat-pulldown/shoulder raise and trunk rotation around the axis of the spine. You want your steering input to come from a linear push/pull generated through the shoulder and elbow joints. Extend and retract the arm instead of opening and closing the arm/torso angle. Your position is OK if you're going in a straight line, but...

By bringing your hands up and foward, your elbows will bend, they will tuck in as well (not an issue as you have lots of clearance from elbow to knee). Your torso will probably remain at the same angle, but your shoulders will drop, bringing your scapulae back down. Upper body will relax, improving handling.

I would also lower your seat 1cm like you said. Set back is hard to tell with cranks vertical. Get them horizontal and you'll be able to tell what the set back should be.

This is a good position, although Chris was known for stretching forward as he progressed along in his career.
He's a little relaxed and sitting back in this one.
https://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/...y_1956874b.jpg
Full gas
https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ZkUnhPjhEf...0/_CSP1797.JPG
Just before the big stretch
https://www2.pictures.gi.zimbio.com/C...frREsZH5gl.jpg

rndstr

Wow, thanks for the explanation. The bars are the Alpina Sprint Bars in 33cm (Reach 90mm, Drop 160mm).
Pardon my ignorance but if my hands should move forward isn't the reach fine? If there is less reach the position at the hooks will also be further back. I will take a picture later with implemented suggestions.

dunderhi

No one took my April Fools bait. Congrats to all.

carleton

Don't speak too soon.

I read it twice scratching my head...and I believed it.

I am not a smart man.

Huffandstuff

So I just got my first set of tubulars ready to go, what pressure would be a good bench mark to start at for alpenrose? I'm 155~ lbs.