Track Cycling

Note: This series of articles was written in 2017 on their own website, then abandoned. I’ve resurrected and updated them here.

Back in 2015, I re-discovered the joy of track cycling after 30 years absence from the track. With the construction of the Mattamy National Cycling Centre in Milton for the Pan-Am games, I couldn’t resist the lure of an international class velodrome within driving distance.

I also volunteer, at the track helping to run events. And I coach, supporting Ottawa Bicycle Club Youth and Racing program athletes at the Mattamy National Cycling Centre, or at one of our two other velodromes in the region - Centre National de Cyclisme de Bromont south of Montreal and the Forest City Velodrome in London Ontario.

I’m passionate about track, and have introduced over 150 people from age 9 to senior citizens to the fun of riding steeply banked velodromes.

Articles in this Series

The Joy of Recreational Track Cycling

Track Cycling

In the depths of winter, options for cycling become less appealing… Do I ride outdoors in the cold, wet, and wind? Or sweat it out indoors on a trainer, listening to music or a video to combat boredom?

There’s another option - Indoor velodromes! Living in Ottawa, there are now three excellent velodromes I can frequent:

Velodrome Basics

Track Cycling

This page gives you a detailed tour around velodromes, using the indoor velodromes in Ontario and Quebec as examples:

Essential Rules of the Track

Track Cycling

This page is deliberately short. We ride the track a lot and we keep coming across people not following these essential rules, resulting is quite a number of close calls. Crashes in recreational track cycling are rare, and we want to keep them that way!

The Physics of Riding on Track Bankings

Track Cycling
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Three questions frequently crop up around the physics of riding around track bankings:

  1. What kind of G-forces do riders experience when riding though bankings at speed?
  2. A low speeds a rider “leans out” in the banking as gravity pushes them down the track. A high speeds a rider leans in as the centrifugal force tends to push them up the track. There is a speed when a rider transitions between these two states, a speed when the bike is exactly orthogonal to (i.e. perpendicular to, or at 90 degrees to) the surface of the track. What is this speed?
  3. What is the minimum speed you need to ride to avoid “falling off” in a banking?

The material that follows is based on two excellent posts on the subject: