What’s an Australian Pursuit? I’m racing on Jan 5th in the noob category, and we’ll be doing a 20 lap scratch race and an Australian Pursuit. I know what pursuit race is, but what the aussie spin on it? Clockwise? 
Dunno, mate. But I’ll be monitoring this one to hear the answer.
If I remember correctly, they position everyone along the track according to a handicap. Everyone finishes at the same spot, but stronger racers start further back.
MJ
Sounds like carnage at the line!
Cool man - I get the pole!
Thanks 
I found this off of some random webpage:
The Italian Pursuit. Basically it’s a group pursuit where you start with, say, six riders in each ‘team’ on opposing sides of the track. From the start, each lap the lead rider goes hard, but not so hard as to drop everyone else in the team, before peeling off - job done. So it continues until there’s just one rider remaining on each side. First rider across the line wins. In Italy it’s called the Australian pursuit, by the way.
Hope this helps.
Think of it like a giant Team Sprint. Two teams start on opposite sides of the track and each rider does a lap. Ideally it should be seeded so that the slower riders are in the early positions, and the quicker guys off near the back. You do not want a sprinter off first or second!
Read a review of the Revolution australian pursuit here
I looked it up and what I found was this:
All riders spaced evenly apart (I believe this is where the handicapping comes in. slower riders at the front), when rider is caught from behind, he/she is out. So not only are you trying to catch the guy in front of you, you’re also trying to keep the guy behind you from catching you.
kinda like the team pursuit, but everyone for themselves.
I would imagine there is also a distance involved that would declare a winner if there were more than one rider remaining.
MJ
You do not know this, and yet you are blessed with a track in your 'hood. That is just so WRONG! What the hell is a track doing out there in the middle of nowhere (e.g., not in California) when there are so many bike-mad areas of the country (e.g., my 'hood) that go without??!!
If I had one here, I’d be pumping out my LT intervals 2x per week on that baby.
UNFAIR, UNFAIR, UNFAIR!!!
That’s not an australian pursuit your thinking of. That’s a handicap.
They can be done over different distances to give us endurance riders a chance over the sprinters, but they’re normally 500 to 750 meters. If they are handicapped correctly it can be absolute chaos coming into the last corner. They can also be done on a team basis, like a madcap mini team pursuit.
Ah - I see. Cool - so is it a balls-to-the-wall effort for everyone, with the stronger guys just being able to hang on longer, or is it paced for the first few, and then all out for the later guys? Tactics would be pretty hard for a group like that, and not always being able to see the other team…
I hope we get enough people out for a strong showing. I just can’t see there being that many newbies, especially with the courriers in their own class.
There’s a lot I don’t know, but I am trying. Where in CA do you live? I know there’s a track in SD, one in LA and one kind of close to the Bay area (I think). 3’s pretty good, don’t you think?
If it makes you feel any better, its an hour from my house and we need it more due to the rain. How’s that?
Ah - I see. Cool - so is it a balls-to-the-wall effort for everyone, with the stronger guys just being able to hang on longer, or is it paced for the first few, and then all out for the later guys? Tactics would be pretty hard for a group like that, and not always being able to see the other team…
I hope we get enough people out for a strong showing. I just can’t see there being that many newbies, especially with the courriers in their own class.
In theory, you should smoothly accelerate throughout your lap on the front before peeling off. You want to keep the speed or increase it if you can. No point in sprinting as you’ll lose someone in the string, and trying to do a sprint whilst in the middle of a line is not good. You can sprint on the opening lap if it’s a small team, or if you know your sprint won’t cause people to be dropped.
You really have to try it, as a 20 man per team australian pursuit doesn’t have quite the same impact on paper.
Let us know how you get on.
Is it a wheelrace by another name? I just read this yesterday. http://www.cyclingnews.com/track/?id=wheelrace
Hope it helps
Happy Hollindase
M J Moquin has the correct description of the Aussie pursuit. We do them here as part of our season end event. With our 400 metre track, they can be long. We had one a couple of years ago that ended up with my son (then about 15) and an older guy faced off half way across the track for about 20 minutes. We finally rang the bell and stopped it out of pity for them. In Vancouver, the challenge will be not to get caught. The Aussie pursuit is truly a pursuit, whereas the Italian pursuit is more of a timed event.
In an Italian pursuit, you put your sprinters first, although they have to make sure they don’t drop everyone else, and your endurance guys last. They used to do these at the junior meet in Houston with a U15, a U17, a junior girl and two junior guys. In that case, you’d probably run the youngest person first, then work up through the riders’ strengths. Team Canada won in 2005, although they had to borrow a U15 since there were no Canadians that young at the meet. Cody Campbell from Vancouver was the U17. You’ll probably run into Cody there at some point over the winter. If you can beat him, you’re getting fast.
My apologies Khai, I’ve described completely the wrong event.
As rightly pointed out by c50jim, I’ve described an Italian pursuit. I got confused cos Australian pursuits aren’t done here.
We just call them block handicaps.
Sorry again.
Neil
The Lord of Getting Things Wrong
Khai
Aussie sprint is as described by MJ and c50jim.
You need to be on your game with tactics in this. A lot of riders will start flat out and try and bridge the gap to the rider in front and then have nothing left so they end up getting caught. Your usually better off starting smoothly whilst you keep an eye on the rider behind you. If you can keep them away for the first one or two laps then you’ll be OK (just make sure you keep far enough in front so as to not give them a draft) as the riders in front will come back to you. As you catch those riders you want to maximise the time on their wheel before you jump over to the next rider. At this point it becomes an interval session with short sharp hits as you bridge the gap between riders and then rest and do it all again. This makes it harder for the riders behind to catch you. Basically if you ride it well its going to hurt…
Am down in Tasmania at the moment for the Xmas track carnivals and looking forward to the Devonport Wheel tomorrow night as am hoping Ben Kersten will get up in it, although he’s been crucified with his handicap. Also been interesting seeing Jobie Dajka return to racing after some time away - still got the legs but not the kick to race the big boys.
Have fun on the 5th.
This sounds like a hell of a lot of fun! I’ve not been this excited to race in a LONG time…
So as people get caught and passed do they then drop off the track?
That’s what should happen, although you may get people hanging around once they’ve been passed. Just be careful of riders swinging up the track in front of you if they’ve been passed by another rider. If they don’t check their wheel first then it can result in a bit of carnage.
And it is fun, if you’re into the whole “pain is fun” thing…
traus is right, tactics for this race are fun. I’ve only raced this like 4 or five times, but I won each time (during track classes, not the real deal). I’ve found that starting out easy is the best provided you are relatively strong and you can hold the riders behind you off without drilling it. Let everyone burn themselves out then start to pick them off. You don’t actually have to pass many people to win. Just make sure you are one of the last two and you have some left in the tank for the heads up “pursuit”. Whenever I pass someone, I tend to sit in and draft for a while as they usually speed up when they see you coming. Also do your best to coax them into working for you. I’ll sit on a wheel and yell at/encourage them to “push it”, “go out like a man”, or offer to buy them beer in exchange for some work.