Saturday Night Racing at the Forest City Velodrome

Races are generally held on the first and third Saturday nights at the Forest City Velodrome. There are few sports that are as exciting to watch as mass start velodrome racing. The star of these races is the Madison — a sort of non-stop two person relay on fixed gear bikes. Six to eight two-person teams are on the track at one time, each trying to out-sprint, out-tactic and out-smart the opposition while flying around the track at speeds that can exceed 60 km/hr.

The Forest City Velodrome presents some of the the most exciting racing around. Racing begins at 7 PM on alternate Saturdays. Please consult our racing calendar for the schedule. Adult general admission $10, seniors $5, children and youth aged 8 to 15 years pay $2; kids under 8 are free. Plan to attend and see what all the excitement is all about.

Don't know anything about track racing but you're curious? Have a look at our Track 101 section just below.

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Track 101

A velodrome is a bicycle-racing track that is banked in the corners to allow for maximum speeds. Special bicycles are used that have no brakes and a single gear. Just like a tricycle, track bikes are direct drive – you can't coast. There are an amazing number of different track races that have been invented over the years with colourful names like Devil-Take-the-Hindmost, Snowball, Bavarian Win-and-Out, Chariot Races, and a whole host of others.

Tracks vary in length from 125 to 400 metres. The Forest City Velodrome is planned to be 142 metres in length (seven laps to the kilometre), with a banking of 50 degrees in the corners and 16 degrees in the straight. While the steepness might seem intimidating at first glance, with proper instruction – to be offered by experienced coaches and riders at the track – even novices can learn to ride safely and enjoy the thrill of velodrome riding. For the more seasoned racers, this track promises to ride like a human-powered roller coaster.

Here's a brief overview of some of the more common track races.

Individual Time Trials

Individual Pursuit

Team Pursuit

6-Day Racing

Match Sprint

The sprint is a game of cat-and-mouse as the cyclists ride three laps around the track with the last 200-metre lap being a timed one. After an initial seeding round, the competitors are paired in a series of knockout races where losers are left behind and winners advance. Finally just the two fastest riders are left to compete against each other in a best two out of three match to determine the fastest sprinter. Always a spectator favourite with speeds often bettering 70 kilometres per hour, the match sprint requires raw speed, lightening fast reflexes, and superb tactics. Our own Lori-Ann Muenzer won Canada's first-ever Olympic gold medal in track cycling in Athens in 2004.

Points Race

The points race is a mass start race with a number of competitors on the track at one time. With race distances ranging from 20 to 40 kilometres, competitors earn points by winning sprints, every ten laps, or by gaining a lap on the field. It is also possible to lose points by being lapped by the field. The rider with the most points at the end of the event is declared the winner. The points race is an exciting event for both spectators and athletes because rather than one mad dash to the finish, the pack is whipped into a frenzy every ten laps, which for the longest races could be ten times over the course of the event. Successful points racers combine the endurance of road racers with the speed of match sprinters.

Scratch Race

It doesn't get much simpler than the scratch race. A group of racers, maybe ten or twenty, start a race of five to ten kilometres in length and the first person across the finish line is the winner. Despite its apparently simplicity, strategy and tactics abound. The riders with excellent endurance will try to keep the pace of the race up to wear out their speedier opponents. Sprinters on the other hand will do everything they can to slow the pace down and save their energy for a furious sprint at the end.

Madison

Named for Madison Square Garden in New York where this race was invented in 1899, the Madison is like roller derby on bikes without brakes. Rivalling the major professional sports in popularity, Madison racing was a big-time sport in the early 1900s. Over distances of 50 to 200 laps, teams of two in matching jerseys race as a relay against their opponents, with one member of the team going all out for a couple of laps while the second member "rests" by riding more slowly above the fray. Rather than passing a baton like runners do in a relay, teammates link arms at high speeds and throw each other into the race. Like in the points race, Madison racers win points by sprinting on bell laps, and the team with the most points at the end of the race is declared the winner. With up to 18 teams competing at one time, the organized chaos of the Madison ensures a race replete with thrills and spills.

Individual Time Trials (Women = 500m, Men = 1000m)

The individual time trial is often referred to as the "race of truth" – it is just one person on the track at a time, racing from a standing start against the clock. Enormous power is required to accelerate the bike. Starting from a dead stop, within one lap top riders can achieve speeds of upwards of 60 kilometres per hour, after which the challenge becomes one of trying to maintain that top speed for the remaining distance. Lactic acid floods the leg muscles causing them to cry out for rest well before the finish line. Successful time trialists in the 500 metres and kilometre combine the speed of a sprinter with exceptional anaerobic work capacity. The world's best kilometre riders cover the distance in under 60 seconds.

Individual Pursuit (Women = 3000m, Men = 4000m)

In the individual pursuit, two riders begin from a standing start on opposite sides of the track, "pursuing" one another until one is caught or the distance if completed. If one cyclist does not catch the other rider, the cyclist with the fastest time is declared the winner. The top four competitors from a qualifying round face each other in the medal round. The two fastest racers contend gold/silver and the next fastest race for bronze/fourth place. Like the individual time trials, acceleration from a standing start is key in the individual pursuit, as is staying power. New Zealander Sarah Ulmer, the world record holder for the women's 3000 metre pursuit with a gold-medal performance of 3:25 at the 2004 Olympics, maintained a blistering average speed of over 52.5 kilometres per hour on the Athens track.

Team Pursuit

The rules in the 4000 metre team pursuit are the same as in the individual pursuit except that teams of four riders compete against each other. The time of each team's third rider is used to determine placing. Each rider on a team takes a turn in the lead, breaking the wind before swinging to the top of the banked track and dropping down to the tail of the team for a brief rest.