gresam

What is it?
To raise money for the Lance Armstrong Foundation and the LiveStrong Challenge we have piggy backed off the 100 Miles of Nowhere and propose to ride 100 miles at The Superdrome. Whether you think of it as 100 miles, 644 laps or 2,576 left turns it is all for the same purpose:

Registration continues!
So what if you missed out on the cool swag bag and early registration deadline on April 30th? You can still ride and registration is easy. Here’s how it works:

1) Go to https://tinyurl.com/TeamFatty
2) Use the link to donate $50. Donations will benefit the LiveStrong Challenge for FatCyclist.com
3) Forward your confirmation email (receipt) to Will Swetnam (Will@willshootphotos.com)
4) We'll add you to the roster, keep you up to date, and with any luck, you will get a swag bag of great stuff to boot!

If you do not feel that you can ride the full 100 miles, do not fret. We still need you!

• Contribute a $50 donation and you are welcome to attend and complete as many miles as you wish. You will also receive a swag bag for your donation and efforts!
• Contribute any amount in support of riders who are fund raising for LiveStrong Challenge, and you are welcome to come out, take some pulls and get thanks from our riders!

We do need to define a few rules for participation, all of which are mandated by The Superdrome.
Track Rules

• To ride at the Superdrome you MUST be certified in a Superdrome Development Class.
• If you have not taken the class, nor have suitable track time, you cannot ride the track.
• No water bottles are allowed on the track, but I do have clearance for CamelBacks.
• Only fixed gear bicycles are allowed on the track.
• No brakes are allowed, although you are permitted to install hoods without cables.
  
  

What else?

• You are responsible for your own water, sports drinks and food so bring plenty.
• Aero bars ... may be allowed on a case by case basis. Please contact us.
• This is not an open track session. The track is closed unless you donate.
• Brake hoods (without cables) are recommended to provide additional hand positions.
• Don't try to turn too many gear inches.

For more details: Greg (gresam@gmail.com) & Will (Will@willshootphotos.com)
For updates please see: https://SupportLAF.com

StephenH

The Vintage Forum folks were talking about attending a class at the Superdrome. Is that the class that qualifies you for riding there?
And, pardon my ignorance, I just assumed it was easier to cover distance there than out on the roads with hills and wind. Is that not the case?

lotek 

Stephen,

Yes the intro class qualifies you to ride at the superdrome and gets you a cat4 ( Gresam is that right?)
rating to boot.

Marty

txvintage

Ugh, I would assume you need a track bike to do this? It seems a regular road bike would risk some pedal strike on that spiffy new surface.

lotek 

yup, but if you take the developmental class a bike is provided. I wonder if Tim
would rent/loan a bike for the 100 mile ride?

marty

txvintage

Seems like as a good of a reason as any to get a track bike. My problem is I'm on super secret double probation and any bike that comes in has to be offset by one going out

uncaboos

Hmmmm, let's see...should I get rid of a bike that dogs love chase and replace it with a track bike that will never see a dog, never see a stop sign, never see a stop light, never be passed by a car, never have a truck speed up and make a right turn in front of, never feel the bow wave from a passing semi?

Hmmmm...chasing-snarling dogs or a bunch of fun? Hmmmm...seems like a no-brainer to me, you deserve to treat yourself to a track bike and come out to the track and ride with ONLY bikes around you! Go ahead, you earned to give yourself a treat. Yeah, you have deprived yourself too long, go ahead and treat yourself to a track bike!

StephenH

Maybe they could combine this ride with a greyhound race and spur everyone along.

uncaboos

You know, depending upon your approach, you may be able to retain your current fleet AND add a track bike also! Let's see, how does this sound:

"You know honey, I've given a lot of thought to your worries and concerns about me riding out on the road with dogs, cars, trucks and also when I ride my mountain bike with all the trees, roots, rocks, poison ivy, snakes and thought that to set your mind at ease, I should start riding in the velodrome. Really, when I go riding there, the only traffic is bicycle traffic and EVERYONE is riding the same direction! You also would never have to worry about where I am when I disappear for a few hours, as you could come to the track and see what I am doing 100% of the time! My riding on a track will improve my handling skills and therefore increase my safety for I do go out on my road bike or mountain bike. For me to get rid of one of my bikes that I am already very familiar with, will decrease my safety, so I should just keep all of my current bikes and just bring in the track bike as a "safety" bike...I think you would be so much more at ease."

If you present your message in a more or less pleading tone, head down somewhat, with a puppy dog look, how could she resist? Yup, I'll bet that she will be SO proud of you for thinking of her interests and concerns, that probation may be lifted and maybe...just MAYBE, she might get you a rear disk wheel to reward you for being so thoughful of her.

See you at the track...

gresam

To answer a few questions:
Yes, the Superdrome Development class qualifies you to ride this event. We would prefer that you also get some experience during the weeknight training sessions before coming out to ride the 100 miles with us. Pace lining at the track is very different from doing so on a road bike.

Is this easier than riding 100 miles on the street? No.
When you get tired on the road what do you do... Change gears? Slow down to rest? The problem on a fixed is that you have one speed and slowing down means mashing gear (lower cadence) which only takes more energy...
The Superdrome is an open air facility and we still have to deal with wind, plus the bowl shape does not protect from gusts so it can be interesting.
No traffic and no cars definitely helps, and we'll be on a casual pace of 18-20 depending on attendance and who wants to do what.

Can you use a converted road bike instead of a track bike?
Probably. I'm not too worried about pedal strikes as long as you are running a max 172.5 crank arm. And if you do strike the track you won't do much to the surface, but you will definitely crash. Obviously, you cannot ride a standard road bike on the track. Fixed gear only, no brakes. Those are Superdrome mandates. It is recommended that you install hoods (no cables) on your bars to give yourself another hand position.

I rode a 60 lap scratch race last night and my hands were asleep long before the finish... one hand position (in the drops) is hard on the hands, and that was 1/10th distance!

Anyway, the initial post above has been updated with information.
Registration is still open. $50 to register!

mugatu

hemming and hawing about this
I like to ride and have a track bike and am in good shape. I'm not certified for the track though and I'm broke. I do live pretty close to the drome though. Suggestions?

txvintage

Mogatu, do you have your mesenger/fixed with you?

txvintage

You Sir, are evil, lol.

It's Senior Prom and graduation time at TX household.

1. Prom Dress which will be worn once and could have easily financed a modest track bike.
2. Shoes to match
3. Purse to match
4. Hair, nails, makeup appointment on prom day
5. One month of stand up tanning bed time because darling daughter has declared herself pasty white and must be tanned because prom dress reveals more of darling daughter than Dad really likes
6. Prom date/Boyfriend dude has single mom and will be the lucky recipient of girl friend's Dad economic stimulus package for Prom night because if Dad doesn't he will never have another peaceful day for the remainder of his natural born days, or at least until she heads off to college in the fall.
7. Graduation follows closely there after.

Rolling in a new track bike would be political suicide. Note the "no peaceful days for the reminder of his natural born days" part.

mugatu

yeah and I live here now, a block from RBM in Richardson

c_m_shooter

I'm in for this. My fixed gear has bullhorns, will this be okay? I normally use it on road rides, and the club I ride with doesn't mind me being in a paceline with them. Haven't done a century on it yet this year, I guess now is the time.

txvintage

Cool! Welcome back.

I hope to make an RBM run either Friday or Saturday. I also have something to drop off to another BF'er who lives very close to RBM.

How's the Bob Jackson doing these days?

gresam

Let me just say that we would love to have you all come out and support the ride! I have PM'd those that are expressing interest with some more details. The thing is, you have to be track certified. We'll look into getting a class put together for you on short notice if you guys commit to it.

Once certified we do respectfully ask that you get some seat time at the track. Riding in a pace line on a fixed gear is very different from a road bike and the track is imposing for the first few rides. The 44 degree wall that makes up the turns looks a lot more hideous than it really is... honestly it will start to feel flat after 100 miles!

We are putting together a really nice swag bag and a cool t-shirt for the event. For those that register at $50 we'll give you a swag bag... if you don't want to commit to that t-shirts are $25 and also benefit the LAF. If you really want to attend and don't ride fixed, we'll have a few folks in the infield on trainers, too! I know that sounds nuts -and it is- but they'll have the same feeling we do of pedaling for a few hours and getting nowhere! Seriously, come out with your trainer or rollers! We'll have music playing, folks dropping in to shout encouragement and plenty of chatter as we circulate.

I will post a pic of the t-shirt and complete swag bag details soon so stay tuned!

gresam

OK, here are more details...

Superdrome Development Class: May 16th at 9am

Event T-Shirt: Pre-Order ENDS May 19th - Even if you don't make the ride, help us out by ordering a great t-shirt! Its only $20 and $15 of it goes straight to the LAF!

Registration: Ends soon-ish
Want to join us but don't have a track bike or track certification? Bring a trainer and join us in the infield! We already have two people riding trainers and I'm sure they'll love the company!

Swag Bag! - We have firm commitments from Graham Watson Photography, Trek and the LAF! More details to come but so far the swag bag alone is going to be worth a few hours of pedal torture.

mugatu

registered

gresam

Woo-Hoo! Welcome to the ride!
C'mon folks... at least pick up a sweet t-shirt and support the LAF!
https://SupportLAF.com/

tailchaser

It's gonna be epic!

bullschuck

Please be advised that, now that you have uttered the e-word in public, you are now disallowed from using any further overused bike language, including but not limited to, "stiff yet compliant," "smooth as buttah," "corners like it's on rails," "it's on like donkey kong," or any quotes from Breaking Away or American Flyers.

You have been warned.

gresam

What an event! I want to thank everyone that came out to ride and those that came out to lend support. We had a great time with several riders completing the full century, others doing a metric and many more who stopped by to help pull and cheer us on throughout the day.

Once I have links to photos and video I will post them. We have a video tour of the Superdrome to post as well as plenty of event photos.

Someone asked early on if the doing 100 miles would be easier at the 'drome than on open roads... tough to say since both have their pro's and con's:

A Century at the track:
* Having no traffic, no stop signs or traffic lights was a big bonus
* Having only one gear and needing to maintain one pace on that one gear...
* No gliding = no resting
* Pace lining on fixed gear requires back peddling to adjust pace
* One position on the bike leads to a very sore butt
* Banking puts additional stress on your left knee, plus engages more core muscles
... So was it easier or harder? Tough to say. I felt like it was more difficult, but we'll be doing this again in 2010 and you are all invited to come out and find out for yourselves!

tailchaser

So basically, since I did, in fact, utter "it's on like donkey kong," I now understand why my rear tire exploded at mile 4...