Saturday, January 16, 2010

Roller Racing, OMG!

I did my first roller races last night at the bike shop where I work part time. It was very different than anything I've ever done on the road. Power and strength are not factors in this type of racing, only leg speed and control matter. The 2 bikes are fixed gear bikes with the same gearing. They are connected to a computer that tracks the progress of each rider on a virtual 500 meter sprint. Riders start from a dead stop to all out dprint. Speeds can reach over 50 mph per the computer program. I have only reached those speeds once on the road in real world conditions. I am proud to say I won all my heats and took the overall win. My best time was 21.57 seconds. I got this time in my second heat. Funny thing is, in that race, my saddle was not tightened properly and was slowly sliding down, getting lower and lower as the race progressed. Strange that I got my best time under those conditions. My other times were very close to this, none the less. I am posting a video of the "best time" race. I am the rider on the left. Not really a "pretty" race, but no matter I still won. This race was a preliminary test fo the system before we kick off the series next week. My prize was a pink glass with the shop's logo and, of course, bragging rights. Surprisingly, I am very sore this morning from those heats. Walking a little funny. It was all worth it though. Looking forward to next week's racing and hopfully a real ride outside today as the weather is finally nice and not blistering cold with snow on the ground. You can see more of the races on YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drLS-55D8Ik

Until next time...

click me

No comments:

Post a Comment