I'd rather crash racing DH
Track racing is the Gnar Gnar
- Thread starter buildyourown
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ohhh that's nasty stuff....
that is one broken collarobone for sure! om! gotta hurt
Nah, hes doin' an X-Up. I'm sure he brought it back in time.
It hurts like frikken hell when you crash a fixie period. My right shoulder hasn't quite been right since I took a hard spill on my fixed gear last year.
Good thing he had that leather helmet on.
bahahahahahahahahha
It's probably better than NOT having that leather helmet on
OT: RIP I like your avatar. I was gettin' pretty close to trying to flick that bug off my screen
Back on-topic. Is it just me or is the first guys front wheel kinda oval shape?
Back on-topic. Is it just me or is the first guys front wheel kinda oval shape?
I wonder what its like getting the wind completely knocked out of you when your heart-rate is max'd out. My guess is terrifying.
Watching velodrome races is like watching nascar races. It is boring as hell until someone crashes.
High profile rims will look like that.
You haven't watched a pursuit race then have you.
We have an old NASCAR short track oval here in Asheville called the Mellowdrome www.mellowdrome.com . It's resurfaced in blacktop and shallow banked. Fast as crap! Average speed in the B group that I tried was 30mph. The week before I tried it some guy came through the middle instead of around the outside during a sprint lap.
Wobbled, banged and then went out of turn 4 straight into the wall...snap go the collarbone.
Just for the record...it was the most scared I've been on a bike..EVER. Riding in that pack of nitwits and nutbags weaving and wobbling at a frantic pace was a 10 on the pucker chart!
Here's a vid (ladies event kinda draggin) http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8447753324883423625&q=mellowdrome&total=3&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=2
Wobbled, banged and then went out of turn 4 straight into the wall...snap go the collarbone.
Just for the record...it was the most scared I've been on a bike..EVER. Riding in that pack of nitwits and nutbags weaving and wobbling at a frantic pace was a 10 on the pucker chart!
Here's a vid (ladies event kinda draggin) http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8447753324883423625&q=mellowdrome&total=3&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=2
This is why I have yet to try track racing
Track racing is one of the most terrifying things you can do on a bike when it gets rough. You're absolutely flying, you've really got no brakes for all practical purposes.
It's kinda like nascar as your banging into people and such like a short track, but it's like open wheels, where if you touch wheels with someone you're screwed.
Nothing beat the Vandedrome for track racing. It's the scariest thing I have ever been on. It was only 170m long, and was banked at 54 degrees in the turn. When you were in the sprinters lane at the bottom, it felt like your elbow was going to hit the ground.
It's kinda like nascar as your banging into people and such like a short track, but it's like open wheels, where if you touch wheels with someone you're screwed.
Nothing beat the Vandedrome for track racing. It's the scariest thing I have ever been on. It was only 170m long, and was banked at 54 degrees in the turn. When you were in the sprinters lane at the bottom, it felt like your elbow was going to hit the ground.
OK...now I would have to say that is 100% safer than the damn near flat track races at the Mellowdrome. One dude at the Mellowdrome clipped his pedal on the ground in turn 4 and highsided....
Granted...most of us are not on fixed gears with no brakes...but I think I'd rather fall on that vanderdrome than at the mellowdrome...
Granted...most of us are not on fixed gears with no brakes...but I think I'd rather fall on that vanderdrome than at the mellowdrome...
Yeah it's much better to fall on a steep track. You tend to get jacked up much less.
In my experience it's easier to fall on a steeper track as any little touch gets you really unstable.
I know (hope?) you're joking, but I think it's a her.
In any cash, track racing is nutty. I ride a fixed gear in traffic all the time, but I would want a full face and full body armor before I agreed to dice it up with other amateurs on a track.
I'm not an expert on it brothuh man...but I smell sarcasm.
Seriously...falling on the mellowdrome track would SUCK compared to falling on a banked wooden track. I understand you could go squirting down track into the infield like a lawn dart of course of the big bank.
And I realize it might be more squirrely trying to manuver on that bank, but falling in one of the near flat asphalt turns on the mellowdrome is the same as eating it on an open road mid-pack.
What speeds do they hit in B group on that thing? It looks insane!
There was no B-group. The Vandedrome was only up 2 or three times, once for the Goodwill games, once in Jersey for something having to do with the USBHOF and Tour of Sommerville, and maybe somewhere in the Midwest for a while. My friend JD actually owns it now. For the last few years we've been trying to raise money to add some more length to the straights to make it a little more accessible to people without track experience.I'm not an expert on it brothuh man...but I smell sarcasm.
Seriously...falling on the mellowdrome track would SUCK compared to falling on a banked wooden track. I understand you could go squirting down track into the infield like a lawn dart of course of the big bank.
And I realize it might be more squirrely trying to manuver on that bank, but falling in one of the near flat asphalt turns on the mellowdrome is the same as eating it on an open road mid-pack.
What speeds do they hit in B group on that thing? It looks insane!
A whole bunch of us just go back from a ride where we were grousing about wishing we actually had the track up and running. We'll see what happens this winter, as what we really want is a permanent indoor facility. Track is becoming a winter sport thanks to the UCI....
But yeah, you needed to maintain 17 mph to even stay on the track... such fun!
It was a great idea that never got going. I was in Chicago right after they built it for the summer in Grant park, we actually got to have some night racing during the Taste of Chicago, that was a blast.
I had heard someone out in MA area bought it. Heard the boards got toasted from it sitting outside in storage all those years before he got it.
17 is what they said, when we did the orientation on the track. If i remember right, they only let Cat 3 and above on it.
I went down once on it in a points race, was a hard hit, not as bad as hitting the track in Indy which was 33 degrees in the turn and concrete, a bitch getting the splinters out though.
Hope your friend gets it up and running, that would be sweet, we need more dromes here in the US.
roadies used to think DH mtb was crazy back in the 90's and I tell them racing at the velodrome was the scariest thing I've ever done.
Nothing like a nice miss and out get things dicey. Crashed once at Lehigh on the cement- worst road rash of my life and I learned to shave my legs after that.
Nothing like a nice miss and out get things dicey. Crashed once at Lehigh on the cement- worst road rash of my life and I learned to shave my legs after that.
Because most roadies are attorneys and settle out of court to buy their next Tarmac.Roadies never mention that there are much more broken collar bones/fall on their side then in our case.
But a dj guy that broke all his bones will tell you the same
Hey Mickey...if you watch that dinky vid of the Mellowdrome, you'll notice they built a full scale County park w/ volleyball, basketball, roller hockey, playground inside it. They built a handicap bridge across the track...peep that at a NASCAR race...
Oh..and my offer to design that DH bike we were talking about still stands....
im having second thoughts about trying track next season
Yeah, I'd rather t-bone a tree ANY day!!!
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Getting space for parks is easy down South. People have been living around here for nearly 300 years. Not much "cheap" land. An indoor track is a whole 'nother ball game too. You need money to erect the structure, and then a budget to run programing to keep the lights on. So far the only indoor track in the US has been a writeoff for a Fortune 500 company. We likely won't be so luckyBecause most roadies are attorneys and settle out of court to buy their next Tarmac.
Hey Mickey...if you watch that dinky vid of the Mellowdrome, you'll notice they built a full scale County park w/ volleyball, basketball, roller hockey, playground inside it. They built a handicap bridge across the track...peep that at a NASCAR race...
Oh..and my offer to design that DH bike we were talking about still stands....
I saw that crash in person. It was at world champs a year or two ago down at the new track in carson and it was not pretty.
Not sure what happened there - a lot of times it takes the slightest touch of tires and both parties involved are typically f*cked.
getting money is not though...we poor.Getting space for parks is easy down South. People have been living around here for nearly 300 years. Not much "cheap" land. An indoor track is a whole 'nother ball game too. You need money to erect the structure, and then a budget to run programing to keep the lights on. So far the only indoor track in the US has been a writeoff for a Fortune 500 company. We likely won't be so lucky
In case you're not aware, those are tubular tires, which are glued to the rim. It's hard to know if the crash was caused by a glue failure, but it's not hard to imagine that a tubular would peel right off upon a hard crash or evasive maneuver, like yanking your bars hard to the side because of (or to avoid) a crash. So, maybe one guy had a glue failure, causing him to crash into the other, and in going down or trying to avoid it, his tire peeled off. Or, maybe they both crashed and in the process of going down their tires came off. It's possible they both had glue failures at the same time but I suspect not.