Hey can we have a general discussion of the general atmosphere of the State Track Championships? What's the general level of competitiveness? How many folks show up? Etc, etc, etc? I think some of you are really keen on winning, what's the strategy there? Who from Kissena is in?

I am not in town for states

Hi Marc - you unwittingly jumped the gun on this one. I've been planning to start a new thread on the champs as soon as the schedule is announced (it's been coming "shortly" for over a week now).

I rode it last year for the first time, and having got to know the scene at Kissena fairly well since then, I'd say that the general level of competitiveness is good, but not crazy. To an extent it depends on what fast roadies turn up on the day, and while often the more track oriented guys will still have the edge, it will still make for a faster field. I expect it to be a stronger field this year in the 1/2/3s than last - a few fast guys have come up from the 4s. Expect a field of about 15 in the 1/2/3s. All that said, you'll be more than fine, incidentally, especially with a few more track races in your legs.

If the sched will be the same as last year, there will be five events:

1. Team sprint
2. xx lap scratch
3. Kilo
4. xx lap points race
5. Individual sprint

As for the 1/2/3s, I want Kissena to medal in every event and I think we have a reasonable chance of that medal being gold in at least four of the events. If it works out, we can get the overall omnium jersey too, and there's a strategy for that. Without wanting to be too presumptuous, we can get a team of at least four of us in the 1/2/3s - me, Andy DS, JP and...you ;-) Anyone else? Alas Ragot is away on vacation.

As for the 4s, we can get a strong team of at least three together there, but I'll leave it to the 4s in question to announce their own interest! Same for the 5s.

I'll write more as soon as the sched gets announced so we can be a little more concrete in terms of events etc.

We should aim to get as many people who plan to ride down at the track together once, ideally twice, before the day for discussions and practice.

I'm racing the 4s. Realistically looking to win a pile of medals. Need fast 4 teammates for the team sprints, since it counts for the omnium. Konrad said he'd make a special appearance to either be man 2 or anchor. Maybe Aaron wants to be man 1? Only people I'm worried about is if cat 1/2 roadies come and sandbag the 4s like they did last year.

Great Mattie, Andy said you were down for doing States, plus the potential 4s dream team of you, Konrad and Aaron!

@Aaron - you should definitely do States and you'd make a good man one in the team sprint. We can talk what this involves and get you doing some practice standing starts etc. at the weekend if you can make it down.

Bikereg.com says:

https://www.bikereg.com/Net/2013-new-york-state-track-championships

Team Sprint
Kilo or 500 (depending on category)
Points race
Scratch race
Match sprints

Okay, so not really being familiar with the team sprint, I went to the you-tubular to check it out. I know Alan is one of the top timing guys in the region, but the equipment needed to measure hundredths of a second on two opposite sides of the track? It all seems very high tech to me. Also, those German sprinters are, uhm, beefy and very scary looking.

As an aside, how is it possible that we ONLY sent two male athletes to the 2012 Olympic games in track cycling? Bobby Lea for the omnium and Jimmy Watkins for the sprint? That seems crazy!

Who'd have thought it'd be on BikeReg..? Haha. Kinda stoopid as Alan has been saying on FB and the velodrome site that it would be "coming soon" and never mentioned it would be up on bikereg already. Same races as last year, imagine it's standard.

Don't worry about the team sprint, unless you really want to ride it. It's a good event, but you really need to be able to nail the start to do it well. As for timing, Alan will prob just rely on stopwatches...Don't get me started on timing! They just run it on one side of the track though here.

As for beefy German sprinters, here's a quite frankly disgusting picture of Robert Forstemann, their man one in the team sprint (he's the one on the right...).

And as for the US and the Olympics, hate to say it but the US isn't very strong in men's track, esp compared with the UK, France, Germany and the Australians (and several others).

It doesn't help that you've only one indoor track! And not much leadership on a national level I think.

Seems no Cat 5 in State Champs btw

I think anyone who is currently cat 5 and wants to ride still has time to get cat 4 though. Anyone else confirm that's the case? Get yourself down to the Twilight Series in the next few weeks and you should be able to ask Alan for an upgrade by the end of it.

Wait, Kieren, I thought the whole point of me coming out to Kissena was to help you win the team sprint? Are just you and Andy going to do it?

Me confusee, what's my role at the state champs?

No, we need your fast legs and smart race head in the bunch races! We have the team sprint covered. When I learned at Harlem that Eric "The Hammer" was going to be on vacation, we enlisted Mark Wagner onto the team instead and we've been practicing pretty solidly with him.

Your mission, if you choose to accept it, will instead be to kick ass in the scratch and points races...(and the kilo and match sprint if you choose to do them of course). We can talk more about that in due course!

You up for going back to T-Town this Sat?

Okay...that makes sense. You definitely gotta practice the team sprint...

I would love to go to T-town, but there are no Master's races this weekend...Junior Nationals is taking over the venue.

Training day on Saturday, then possibly Mountain Bike race on Sunday. Aug 3rd, I'm definitely going to T-town though. With wife and kiddy in tow!

Ah, I forgot about Junior Nationals this week. Pesky kids.

Cool, would love to make it on Aug 3rd too!

Oh, and MTB race?! ;-) You should come down to the track if you decide not to engage in the MTB madness...Will be there both Sat and Sun.

I will consider the 3rd as well. Need to get spinning legs going. Damn, I just got a surge of adrenaline thinking about t-town!

Sigh yet another Wednesday where I was stuck at work. I will make it out there one day...

Yack is now fixed.....The Ti Bianchi LIVES !!!!!!

She looks even better in the sun....

Uhmm, I signed up to race at the "Kissena Velodrome" tomorrow. (If your name is Andy Da Silva or Aaron Blum, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, check your Kissena forum inboxes, please.)

Jeff,

I see a lot of people laughing but no one wanting to help. It's like falling over in the street dead drunk with your pants around your ankles covered in your own bodily fluids.

1. Yes, it's only $10. Bargain, eh?
2. Gears: What size is your front chainring and rear cog? I think it's probably nothing too crazy large or small, like 91.5" (51x15) (which would be fine). You want to aim for 88"-91.5" for races like these.
3. Warm up - 20 mins before you race, get on the track. 5mins easy, 5mins steady, 5mins progressive, till it's a max effort for half a lap. Then a couple of mins easy. You might want a trainer for in between races to warm down. I find that bit hard about track leagues if you haven't got something to warm up / down on.
4. Snowball - had to look up (doesn't exist in the UK. Damn natives.) From wikipedia (!) The snowball is a variation on the points race where every lap, only the first place finisher in the sprint is awarded any points. The number of points awarded increases with each sprint. The first sprint gives one point, the second gives two points, the third gives three points, etc. The sprints are also more frequent than in the normal points race, and can happen every lap or every two laps. In the case of a tie, the order of the final sprint is used to break the tie.

So, more points every sprint you do.

5. Go for NZ madison rider Shane Archibold's former look:
http://www.3news.co.nz/World-champs-beckon-for-The-Flying-Mullet/tabid/415/articleID/248268/Default.aspx

6. Finally, please stop calling it a "fixie". It's a f-cking track bike, ok? A really nice track bike.

Oh, and good luck Remember to check that right (or left, depending on where you are) shoulder before doing anything too radical in terms of moving around the track.

Jeff welcome to the wonderful world of track racing, where strategy and positioning is as important as fitness and strength! I just saw your questions now, and here's a hot tip for the next time you contest a Snowball race.

Sit in the first half of the race and focus on scoring points during the second. Some people will leave it to the last lap (which is dangerous) and try to win that way, but I don't think that's smart either.

Also +1 on the "stop calling it a fixie" thing. There is no track in Brooklyn.

Jeff - I was under the impression it was 3 race days, not 4, and that the class could count as a race day. If you make it next week that is 2 race days and a class. Throw in the sept 4 Kissena track trip to NJ and or a Saturday in trexlertown just to be safe and Alan should upgrade you. Email him now to confirm your plan. Alan_atwood@hotmail.com

Good work Jeff, sounds like you had fun! Nice work for your first track race

Yep, you always wanna make sure your nuts are tight...

What happened to the guy in the crash btw? Hitting the rail has gotta hurt...

And what Josh said about the upgrade. Write to Alan. Say you did my beginner's class. Would be great if you could do States!

Alan and I are in communication and we'll get my upgrade in time for States!

@Keiran - considering the program for States this year, what gearing would you recommend?

I currently have the stock Omnium crank setup (I think Aaron said that's a 48?) and a 15 cog. How do I need to adjust? I probably can't spin as fast as a lot of track racers per unit power.

Jeff hook up with Mattie and and Aaron.

Jeffrey White said:

@Keiran - considering the program for States this year, what gearing would you recommend? I currently have the stock Omnium crank setup (I think Aaron said that's a 48?) and a 15 cog. How do I need to adjust? I probably can't spin as fast as a lot of track racers per unit power.

Hi Jeff,

48x15, or 86", what appears to be your current gear, is too small for any of the events at States. Given your level, you might wanna consider 50x15 or 47x14, 90", which is a good all round gear for Kissena. That said, you might wanna go bigger again to 48x14 for match and team sprints and kilo.

For now, easiest to get yourself a 14 cog and a couple of other chainrings, maybe a 47 and 50. Affinity rings seem pretty affordable. Not that quick to change rings on an Omnium crank setup tho (Aaron can tell you more). Ideally over time you accumulate a good range of cogs and rings. 14,15,16 cogs and a 46,47,48,49,50 and maybe a 51 ring and you've most plausible gear ranges covered. Get a 13 cog and you're officially a massive sprinter ;-)

Fyi, at Kissena, in bunch endurance races I tend to ride 48x14 (92.5") and then 49x14 (94.5") in sprint events (shhh, don't tell anyone).

And yes, a Mattie, Jeff and Aaron team sprint team sounds good