...and for those of you who have participated before, but missed last night's race: The track has been resurfaced and is in excellent condition - much better than last year's experimental surface.

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Happy trails,
Chris

This was my first time doing it even though I only live about 15 minutes away. Much more fun than I anticipated. I hope they work out the sign-in length for the next races though.

It is gapped start right? Like 30 second intervals? This TT-on-nascar idea sounds awesome, how did it feel with the banks? Sorta like a mild track? Who won, what speed? Any pics?

How long did it take to start 400 people? How do they keep track of laps?

I live NE of Raleigh and have been looking to take a ride down for a spin around the track. What do you mean by "sign-in length"? Does anyone bring a trainer for looks more than anything else!?

You start in a double line, but one at a time, every 15 seconds. You don't really ride up on the banked part unless you want to I guess. There's a flat section on the very inside that runs around the track that's wide enough to fit 4-5 wide. There are some seriously fast people out there (and slow too, you don't have to be fast to have fun). There are people that go low 20 minutes out there. The course record is 19:xx. Check out carolinatt.org for info, pics, etc.

The sign-in took forever once you were there. Pre-registered or not. Three lines to go through and the last was to activate your chip. That was the long one. They said they were on a new system from last year and were still working out the kinks so hopefully next time will be faster. Plenty of people warm up on trainers. You can warm up on the track before things get started. There's a shorter track in the infield to warm up on too once things get going.

dmpeak answered most of this. Last night was a little disorganized as they had a new timing system and had some logistical issues. I'm super anal, so I was there super early and was #2 in line at registration (there's at least one person in the world who's more anal than me!). The line was quite long later on, but there were also people trying to register for the entire season. I think a lot of the kinks will be gone from that process next time (May 16).

They had side-by-side start points. They lined the odd number folks on the left and the evens on the right. Every 15 seconds you'd go. We had timing chips on our ankles -- just like those in triathlons. The start/finish is on pit row. You go out onto the track and at the end of your seventh lap, you race in to the finish chute on pit row.

To the question, who counts laps ... you count them yourself! And apparently quite a number of people screw up. People who've been there a bunch have all kinds of systems for keeping count. I saw one guy who had seven rubber bands spaced on the end of his bar. At the end of each lap, he'd flick one off until one last red one was left and that told him to finish that lap on pit row. Counting to 7 doesn't seem like that big a deal, but until you're out there with all those people on the track and all the distractions, you don't appreciate how hard counting to 7 can be. I wasn't too sure if I'd counted right or not. I saw the timer on my computer and thought, I'm either gonna have a very good time if I finish now, or a very bad time if I have to go another lap. I knew I'd been going well, so I turned into the chute.

If you do the math, if you put people out there at 15 second intervals, by the time the first rider finishes, there will be 100 people on the track at once. That sounds like mayhem ... but it's a very large track. I had some traffic issues on my last lap, but nothing that cost me more than maybe a couple seconds at most (all traffic issues for the duration of the ride) ... if that.

It is a nice surface, but the swirling winds really surprised me. Nothing bothered me while racing, but during warmups, I got pushed around pretty good on my H3/Renn setup a few times. There are enormous grandstands, but there are gaps that channel the wind and it really blasts through in spots.

Bob C.

I've got to get in on a couple of these! Of course I'll be the slow one in the back. But it still looks like great fun none the less!

Never heard of it before. Thank you so much for bringing it to our attention!

But there is no back!



You're all out there at the same time, going around in circles from a staggered start - fast and slow intermixed. There are all speeds from wheelchairs to mountain bikes to <insert your dream bike here>. There are little kids, all levels of USCF riders, and old fat triathletes. Last night two Pro or Cat1 guys were attempting to break the track tandem record. Don't know if they made it, but they were smokin'!

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Happy trails,
Chris

"Last night two Pro or Cat1 guys were attempting to break the track tandem record. Don't know if they made it, but they were smokin'! "

Those guys launched while I was still out on my run. I averaged 27 mph ... as you did. They rocketed by me ... it was like being passed by one of those huge tandem tractor trailers on a downhill on the interstate. First it kinda blew me to the side, then it sucked me up for a second. Then they were gone. I saw their time, but I don't remember it. 18 something, I believe. It was amazing.

Oh ... did you take the survey? They were doing a survey to gauge interest in and impact of a velodrome in Rock Hill, SC!

Bob C.

Do you know when the results are going to be posted online? I had to leave before they were available there.

They did have preliminary results posted last night. This has been an issue in the past. They were rarely able to get anything printed on site. Another benefit of the new timing system, I guess. As for when they will be online, in past years they have typically taken at least a couple of days. I don't know if we can expect that to improve.



They also usually post individual photos, and you will probably have several in there. Unfortunately, since they can't photograph your number, you have to sort through the whole event to find yourself.

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Happy trails,
Chris

I didn't see the survey. They have been working on this project for a couple of years now, and everything I've heard leads me to believe that it's going to happen. Which is pretty cool, because Rock Hill is closer to my home than the speedway is. My training turf is largely in the area just north and west of Rock Hill. I live very close to the NC/SC border. My bike club (Gaston County Cyclists) used to partner with the Rock Hill club for our USCF affiliation, and we combined forces for a single racing team. We still have pretty close ties and some overlap in our membership.

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Happy trails,
Chris