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Old 11-29-19, 05:17 PM
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carleton
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Originally Posted by gravelschlub
...oh, man, this is going to be stupid... as in actually stupid, not "cool" stupid.

I've gone and done it. I roped my riding buddy into doing Track 101 with me at Lexus next weekend. We're looking for a chance to ride over the winter that isn't zwift or freezing our keisters off. We're middle aged and about 40 lbs away from a decent riding weight, and so have low expectations for being competitive, but we do both have some crit riding experience so we're not uncomfortable in a pack.

Hints? Tips? Last rites appreciated.
Welcome to the forum and to the sport!

99% of your newbie question will be covered in this thread: https://www.bikeforums.net/track-cyc...ack-racer.html

You'll fine that the track scene is a lot more friendly and welcoming than typical crit scenes. Also, there are generally fewer wrecks with less severe consequences on the track. Most incidents simply result in people sliding down. Not like people over-cooking a corner in a CAT5 crit and taking out a few others.

There are no stupid questions. I'd rather a new racer ask a "stupid question" than assume the wrong thing and cause a mess.

My advice: Forget everything you know about racing from your crit experience. It's similar, but significantly different. You can't (and shouldn't) get away with things on the track that you can get away with in a crit. These things are what make track racing safer than crits.

And last, and most importantly: When in doubt...hold your line. And never look back and see people approaching with speed and attempt to get out of their way. They are already planning on how to go over you. You'll simply just steer into them. I've seen that happen by new racers a lot.
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