Baby Puke

As many of you probably know, a bunch of new UCI rules for track races have come down recently. The kilo is now run with a qualifier and then the top eight riders ride again for the final (yes, TWO kilos!). There's been some speculation that running two kilos in one day might tilt this event more towards the enduros, so it should be interesting too see how this develops.

I believe last weekend was the first kilo run under these rules at the Cali WC. Did anyone watch and get a sense of how much recovery time the riders got between the qualifier and the final?

queerpunk

EVEN more toward the enduros - with the omnium in the past few cycles, enduros have gotten damn good at Kilos and I think a lot of people consider it a crossover event. at Rio, Dylan Kennet won the omnium kilo with a 1.00.923, which would have been good enough for silver in Athens '04 (the last time the kilo was part of the olympic program).

700wheel

According to the Tissot schedule for Cali the time between the end of qual and start of final was 2 hours and 21 minutes.
Riders could have more time depending on start positions - 18 min for quals and 24 min for final.

Repeat of Universal HD coverage today (2/21) 5 - 7 pm MST.

The LA world cup summary will be broadcast 2/27 and 2/28 from 5 - 7 pm MST.

VanceMac

Qualifying rounds for time trials is just ridiculous.

carleton

hahahahahahahaha.

I'm pretty sure that the people who made this decision have never ridden a kilo in competition.

Next they will make Keirins 4 laps longer and turn Match Sprints into a 5-up 10-lap scratch "qualifier".

How about, instead of cannibalizing the few pure sprint events left, why don't they just make new Enduro events?

Richard Kennedy

The UCI track Commission:

President

Mr Marian STETINA (CZE)

Members appointed by the UCI Management Committee
Gabriel Curuchet (ARG)
Tanya Dubnicoff (CAN)
Toni Kirsch (GER)
William Newman (RSA)
Jos Smets (BEL)
John Tolkamp (CAN)
Kevin Tabotta (AUS)



Riders’ representative
Teun Mulder (NED)



Riders’ representative, member of the UCI Athletes’ Commission
Anna Meares (AUS)

VanceMac

Please change the name to "Kilo recovery competition." Just so irrational.

Baby Puke

I know, from a rider's perspective this is just hellish! Teun Mulder, for shame!

That said, looks like Cali was still dominated by sprinters, and the times from the final are closer to qualifying than I'd thought they'd be. Two and a half hours is a good chunk of time. Still, ouch.

dunderhi

I just read the 2017 USAC rule changes last night and the Keirin was shortened to 1.5km. Another big Keirin change is that riders must ride in their drawn positions behind the pacer for the first lap. Failure to do so will result in disqualification. Now the really strange rule change: "In the case when one or more riders pass the leading edge of the front wheel of the pacer before the pursuit line when he leaves the track, the race will be stopped and rerun without the rider(s) at fault, which will be disqualified." That's the front wheel and not the rear wheel of the pacer!!!

Also the Madison has become a strictly a points race with +/- 20 pts of laps taken/lost.

Baby Puke

There are also new rules for sprint qualification seeding and TS change over. It's a lot to digest. For those competing at Masters Worlds this fall I'd suggest a close read of the rulebook.

Muddlfuc

We got to ride the new rules Kirin the other day (on a 333m outdoor track).... it blows..
Now that the bike comes off earlier, its now 2.5 lap drag races... or just a scratch race ending.

There is no real use of the motorbike now. you either have too go really early, or slow it down for sprint finish... and drawing #1 is a pain in the arse

(yes i drew number 1 and won, but i like to sprint over 600m)

carleton

All jokes aside. Is this a concerted effort to kill-off the dedicated sprinter and appeal to all-around types?

With fewer and fewer events where a sprinter can thrive, there will simply be less incentive to specialize.

This won't have the effect of adding new cyclists. It will simply get rid of the muscular fast-twitch folks who came over from BMX. If you don't offer them something in track cycling, they will simply stop cycling.

I went through this when I was once a "local" at a track that never hosted any sprint events. Every track day I got my ass kicked. I never had my day to shine.

700wheel

Another confusing thing about the world cup races: the program of races for Los Angeles is different than that for Cali. For example there is no women's omnium which means USA riders can't earn points to the overall omnium winner.
There is no KM TT in Los Angeles and no points races.

carleton

I think the host sets the program. Not sure.

Baby Puke

I don't really see the new keirin rules as much of a problem. The windup behind the motor has been shortened, and now you have to stay in your slot until the motor drops. On a local level, this eliminates what is often pointless tough-guy posturing in the first part of the race, and now the race is simply from the moment the motor drops off. From a TV perspective, now the race is a bit shorter overall. Maybe that's good?

The sprint seeding rules are a bit strange, but I don't really see any of this as a deterrent to people getting into sprint events, and much of this will not affect us on the local level anyhow. The kilo has already been dead as a premier event for over ten years. Maybe this helps its TV watchability in some way? Trying to see positives here.

Brian Ratliff

You only need to stay in your slot for the first lap. This eliminates some of the pointless crashes and restarts at the beginning of the race as people won't be aggressive and start bashing shoulders and crossing wheels going 10mph.

The three lap keirin sprint can actually put pure sprinters at an advantage over kilo specialists by allowing more time to come to the front. Hoy-like riders will be less incentivized to come to the front when the motor comes off. It'll give more room for different tactics from different types of riders. It's an extra 7 seconds of racing. Even pure sprinters should be able to manage the extra half lap. And in exchange for the extra 7 seconds of sprinting, you spend 2.5 fewer laps rolling at aerobic efforts - much better for sprint punch. With 6 laps total rather than 8 and only three laps of pacing, you'll come up to speed much faster behind the motor and the race will be more sprinting and less looking at one another.

Looks like women get to feel what it's like to be dropped off at 50kph now...

They also fixed the exchange in the team sprint too. That's nice. You can come under the lead rider again, as long as you don't actually pass until after the pursuit line. Simpler now... and faster.

As for the racing formats, kilo heats, etc.; everyone's riding the same format. Bring it on.

Here's a link to the full rule changes for USAC (Track page 8): https://s3.amazonaws.com/USACWeb/for...ges_170104.pdf

700wheel

I'm glad the kilo is still a world championship event (and the 500m for women).

Baby Puke

I wish it was still an Olympic event. I sincerely think it is one of the most entertaining things to watch. The pure, horrible horribleness of it! The sadist in me loves it.

Sadly, once it dropped from the Olympics, it became a minor event, same as the individual pursuit (which I find really boring to watch, but the purist in me respects it). These used to be on the program for every world cup or major international event, but now I fear they are only treated as "development" events for the major nations. It will be interesting to see which nations send a rider to do the kilo for the World Championships.

brawlo

The Olympics is becoming purely a popularity contest. It's about getting people to watch so they can make money off broadcast rights. So purist type sports/disciplines are all on the way out, right across the board. While us participants can appreciate the purity and pain of a TT/ITT, Joe Public sits there thinking it's boring as hell and wonders how on earth riding just 1km is so hard. That reminds me of a friend who started riding track, and he was trying to explain to his road riding friends how a 2km scratch race was so much harder than riding 45km road ride

carleton

Yeah, I kinda agree.

I didn't watch any Olympic events live during the last 2 Olympics because the ads and coverage were sh*t. Like, "Let's show a 'human intrest story' and talk for 45 minutes about why we think you should like certain athletes but only show you 15 minutes of the event." It was less frustrating to look at the box score later after the events. Even finding the recap videos was difficult.

The Olympics are such a debacle.

I think the annual World Championships of any sport are a better measure of who is the best in the world. More so than a once-every-4-years event. I think it's possible for an athlete to be the best in the world and their career yet still miss out on peaking during the lead-up to and during the Olympics.

Maybe every 2 years?

Are the Olympics relevant anymore?

Maybe I'm different. I've been an athlete of some sort most of my life and I never felt that the Olympics were bigger than a given sport's normal world championships (Baseball, Football, Futbol, Basketball, Track & Field (athletics), Tennis, etc...). The Olympics seemed like a side, cool thing.

For example, look at how big the Tennis Grand Slams are vs Olympics. Basically, it seems like the top tennis pros play the Olympic tournaments for publicity and good will. Same for Baseball, Basketball, etc...

carleton

I'll concede that sport is entertainment and if the fans aren't into it, then it should be dropped (like Croquet). And if the fans are into it, they should be added (like BMX and Skateboarding).

I think that the Kilo is a good race. It's simple, straightforward, easy to understand, and one of the best tests of a track Sprinter's ability. Just like the 4K is the best test of a track Enduro's ability and the Points Race is the best test of a track Group Racer's ability.