01-29-2007, 08:57 PM
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#3 (permalink)
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| | Re: Drag racing on bicycles.
In article <Tmzvh.39780$Gr2.35457@newssvr21.news.prodigy.net> ,
Bill Baka <bbaka@comcast.net> wrote:
> This one is my pet. Since all the car freaks like to do drag races, both
> at stop lights and at a track, why not have the same event for bicycle
> riders. A quarter mile is a good distance for a healthy rider to cover
> at 110% effort and the finishing speed should be about 40 MPH for a
> really fit rider. Given an average of 30 MPH that would give 30 seconds
> of pure leg busting effort and a near heart attack at the end.
> I know that a rider set a record by riding at 35 MPH for one full hour
> in a velodrome so it can be done, although that record may have been on
> a 'bent.
>
> New sport anyone?
>
> Bill Baka
Several track events (match sprints, chariot races, pursuit, kilo) are
essentially drag races of one form or another.
kilos are 1000m standing-start time trials. It's probably the closest to
a standing-start low-et race, though it is not normally done heads-up.
Match sprints are heads-up standing-start races, but the first three
laps (of four) are usually purely tactical, as riders compete for track
position at speeds as slow as a walking pace.
A chariot race is a 3-up match sprint, and the dynamic of the extra
rider means that such races are, while still tactical, usually
faster-moving from the start.
If you've never seen a match sprint before, it is the definitive track
event, and as exciting as a drag race. Less noisy, though.
--
Ryan Cousineau rcousine@sfu.ca http://www.wiredcola.com/
"I don't want kids who are thinking about going into mathematics
to think that they have to take drugs to succeed." -Paul Erdos
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