taras0000

Snowball is tough to gauge how to ride if you don't know the people that you're up against. It certainly helps a lot if you do, then you can tailor your tactics to the situation. In the longer races, you can feel out the riders, but in the shorter ones, you sort of have to pre-plan your strategy to play to your strengths and stick with your plan. These "fun" races can play out so many ways so it takes a while to be able to make the most of your abilities in them.

queerpunk

Ugh. So true, and well put.

I also think that snowballs and point-a-laps tend to race like a wave breaking. You have to stay near the front, because that's the only place the race is happening. The back never gets back into the race - it's just this constant pushing forward, pushing forward, pushing forward, and reducing of who's competitive. If you go out too hard, gain a few points, but then blow, that's it - you're done. You're either going forward or going backward, and the trick is to surf the front of the wave long enough, and maybe grab a few points, until you're ready to go off on your own and can hold it until the end.

taras0000

BOOM! Best way to describe the dynamic of these races.

dunderhi

Been there, done that. I soloed for the first 6 laps only to get lapped over the final 6. I was totally fried.

carleton

Fresh meat:

carleton

carleton

Notice how both Hooglan in the men's gold final and Lee in the women's bronze final were both taken high up track in turn 1 of the final lap.

Notice how they responded differently...with different results

carleton

McRussellPants

Was the move at 1:40 in the first video a Relegation? seems pretty sketchy.

carleton

I thought it might me, as well. But, no it wasn't. Maybe because Hoogland didn't go under the red line from what I could see. I guess it was a judgement call and they "let them race it out".

queerpunk

Ton of cool stuff in this race...

For starters, Baranowski slotted in 5th, got jumped by Volikakis and got a perfect armchair ride to the front of the sprint. Nice. I think he almost missed that move, too.

Puerta goes to the front as soon as the motor is off. Perkins gets extremely swarmed as Volikakis hits the front - this is probably why he lost the race.

Baranowski maybe got a bit too eager to see the wind too soon, got flicked uptrack by Puerta. This could have been the end of his race but he was lucky that Perkins seemed to have a hard time getting his gear going behind him and Baranowski had enough room to slot back in.

Coming around on 1 to go it really looks like Baranowski is absolutely riding out of his skin to stay with the front of the sprint.

Perkins managed to find his way out of 4th place on the last lap. Puerta was obviously disgustingly strong, but Perkins maybe should have won if he didn't get bounced too far back by the early move.

I'm kind of surprised that Van Velthooven and Levy had such a quiet ride in that final, too.

Man, what a good keirin.

queerpunk

And there's this one. I want to be happier for Missy. It must be a strange feeling to have a great result because you survive a carnage keirin. This race sort of feels like it's over as soon as it begins. Guo and Junhong hit the front, Guo knocks Ward, and that's kind of it. Guo's relegated for bumping Junhong and it's Junhong, Braspennincx, and Erickson.

Guo is pretty used to winning. The next year should be interesting.

The Dutch have been good lately too, huh. Between Braspennincx and Wild.

carleton

I know, right? The Dutch were strong in the early/mid 2000s and seem to be headed to being a top team again.

SBUndefeated201

Hey guys. At the race night tomorrow, I am going doing the 3 races for my class that include Point a Lap, Miss and Out and a 30 lap points race with sprints every 5 laps (I think). I know how all the events work but any race-specific tactics for each event? They will most likely be in that order as well in case that matters.

carleton

In local races, especially at lower levels, it comes down to:
- Knowing your opponents.
- Marking the right people. Meaning keeping an eye on the people that are most likely to place well. If you know someone is straight up faster than you, you can certainly ride their wheel into 2nd place in every sprint.
- Not getting trapped. When sprint laps are approaching, the experienced riders will work hard to not get boxed in. So, they'll start making moves long before the bell.
- Finding the fast group and pace-lining around with them. If the race is long enough, you can ride their coat tails and lap the field.

In the point-a-lap, there are some basic strategies:
- If you are more of a sprinter than an enduro, but can finish on the lead lap. It may be worth it to pick up a point (or two) early on to get on the board and get like 3rd or 4th place even with 1pt.
- True enduros will "wait it out" and let the idiot sprinters (like me) beat each other up for the first few points. They know that the sprinters won't be around late in the race and some will even drop out and lose all points that they accumulated.

Miss n Out:
- BE CAREFUL. I can't stress this enough. People surge then slow down while others are still surging in and wheels overlap.
- Don't try to go wide and stick your nose in and try to "thread the needle". If you guys are 5-wide all it takes is for 1 guy to waver a bit to make a mess.
- If you are strong enough, you (and maybe a buddy) can TT off the front and win from the front.
- If you are really strong, you can win from the back and play the "devil" and pick off riders every lap. This is fun to watch, but exhausting to do. I've seen road pros do this a lot.

Here is Laura Trott schooling these kids:

carleton

This is probably the toughest Keirin win I've ever seen. Jennie Reed (USA) wins the World Championship in 2008.

Both Reed and Victoria Pendleton left it all on the track for sure.

Watch Pendleton (furthest back, NOT up high as the commenter suggests) mark Reed early on when the sprint starts. The woman up high is Anna Blyth. Blyth has likely been assigned to be the leadout for Pendleton. See how Reed keeps an eye on Pendleton as Pendleton shoots off of Blyth's wheel to catch and overtake her. Reed relaxes a sec and sits in on Pendleton's wheel then launches a full 250m drag race along-side Pendleton on to the win.

SBUndefeated201

Thanks for the tips and video reference Carleton.

Baby Puke

Did anybody see the second round of the men's gold final? WTF was that?? I have only seen the condensed coverage on YouTube, but it looks like the Russian just says **** it and takes Hoogland to the rail in the finishing straight, very nuts looking, and not clear how that all developed and/or played out. Looked like a fairly murderous move.

carleton

There was contact with the Russian's arm almost taking his wheel out and he (understandably) over compensated with his steering.

Here's the full video of all 3 rides: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQKGO1NmTV0#t=90

wens

My read is Hoogland was trying to keep it tight and moved down some at the same time as the Russian tried to move up track and get some space, and bad things almost happened.

Baby Puke

I'm not so sure. Looks kinda (though it's difficult to see, and there's a little skip/glitch in the vid right when the contact begins) like Dmitriev comes out of the lane mid 3/4, rebounds back to the lane, then comes out again continuing to bump Hoogland toward the rail.

wens

I don't think he comes out of the lane, but watching tires relative to lines in thought they both moved towards each other at the same time and got more contact than they expected.

Baby Puke

Maybe it's just the Dutchman in me that sees a foul!

carleton

Watch here in slow motion: Watch youtube in slow motion

Hoogland gets his elbow in front of Demetriev and hooks him. Noticed Demetriev is still squarely in the center of sprinter's lane:


They are pushing against each other at this point. Demitriev (already applying force with his shoulder) slips off of Hoogland's shoulder and reverses the elbow hooks while still in the sprinter's lane.


When he slips off, the bike jerks to the right.

This is how close they got:



Demetriev continued to ride him all the way up:


So, Hoogland started the contact and Demetriev finished it. I'm pretty sure they both had to change their bibs after that one.

Baby Puke

Thanks Carleton. I see how it started. I still question Dmitriev's taking him so high afterward. The video posted was the same one I've seen. The full coverage includes the stuff that happens before and after the rounds, which often includes commentator interpretations and officials' reactions. Was hoping to see that.