Armchair kinesiology go!
Originally Posted by GeraldChan
While I am by no means an expert on track cycling, the one time I tried it at Hellyer (San Jose, CA) the coach there advised us newbie not to slow down by resisting the pedals with our legs. He cautioned that this action was bad for our knees and our leg muscles. He told us to instead just ride up the banking.
I think this is only really important with the big gears (85" plus) that track riders are pushing. At 67-80 gear inches, and particularly down at the bottom of that range, it's no big deal to slow down with your legs.