Thursday, January 29, 2009

Thursday Anticipation

1) Spring Ride



2) Nordic Cross

Here we go again. Does the Editor have anything to showcase?


3) Ice Bike

Sunday, Feb. 1 at high noon. Anyone going?


4) River Parade and Party

This is what they're saying:
its official - rain? slush or snow !
join us for a 9.34 km " Longest Soul Rhythm Hip Hop Pied Piper Skate Dance Party Parade - in The World ! "

CONFIRMED DATE: Sunday, February 1 2009

Timing as follows:

12pm - Parade leaves The Forks Historical Port
12:30pm - Arrives at Hugo docks
1:00pm - Arrives at Dominion access point
1:30pm - Arrives at Bourkevaile access point
2:00pm - Arrives at Assiniboine Park

City of Winnipeg Transit bus will be waiting to return people to The Forks (bring your own fare)

Watch for additional info here.
Strange that they would do it at the same time as IceBike. But in case racing isn't your thing.


5) Gianni's Grass Track Glossary

The grass track czar writes:
Match Sprint

Often when people think about track cycling, the image is one of massively muscled guys with explosive power. This association probably comes from match sprint. Like track & field sprinters, these riders are specialists – different training methods (heavy, heavy weights), different equipment (heavy, heavy duty) and special skills (many of which are tactical and psychological).

There are an inconceivable number of rules for match sprint with such a degree of complexity that I was actually dreading writing this event up. Fortunately, Phil Liggett covers most of them in the old race video below.

What he doesn’t tell you is that the 2 guys in the final have done (probably the day before) a flying 200m for seeding, and then have gone through a ladder system (usually 4 or 5 rounds) to get to the final. Each match is a best of 3. The loser of the match in some rounds goes to a B-side (called repechage), and sometimes the matches have 3 riders in them. The planning and flow of these ladders at high level competitions is standardized, but is so rule-bound that it resembles some kind of intricate ritual of a royal court.

Oh, and the red line on the track (the sprint line) is important in this event, because once a rider commits to their sprint (as you see in the closing moments of this video) they are not allowed to cross it – you either pick the “lane” (as it is called) below the sprint (preferable) or the line above it. Crossing it means disqualification (and/or a crash).
This is how you do it:

2 comments:

the secretary said...

no coincidence that a Huebner takes the podium in this video?

The Dark Lord said...

Whether it's a coincidence or not, I had nothing to do with it. Gianni is behind the Grass Track Glossary, not me. But it's pretty sweet nonetheless. I'm thinking of nominating Michael Huebner for some sort of honorary post. But there's only one honorary captain. And just like the FGBC presidency, it's a lifetime appointment. Maybe we should start a FGBC Hall of Fame. I love how Phil Ligget pronounces it: Hoobner.