Sharpening the Edge

Going out hot, finishing with a fight.

Before  we have enough skill and strength, our visualized goals feel out of reach.

Developing skill in a good team environment leads to a feeling of prestige and confidence. When the team believes they can do it. They start to do it.

Waldman, Theisen, Stockwell, Connelly

Tuesday Night at the Portland Velodrome Committee Time Trials and Pursuits, Cyclisme racing  presented a new feature to our new style... late race fight!
Big, late race moves seemed to be the product of a deep reservoir of determination, as well as the second week using easier gears .

Going out hot with an easier gear invited us to try and catch the opponent off guard, Cyclisme racers spun out, or even blew up tired, but then still tried with legspeed again to recovered the lost ground - or even reclaim victory, was WORD RCB style of the night!. Light gears invited deep athletic efforts, and big crowd excitement!

Learning to Pedal FAST

Kid gets good start with b.i.k.e.

Tuesday Night at Alpenrose
PVC TT and Pursuits

We chose easier gears tonight meaning a new race style for Cyclisme.

Faster starts and smoother pedaling led to big leg speed.
Generally finish times were slower, but everyone felt better in their skin after using an easier gear.

Pursuit specialists.

Joshua and Sarah raced in 60 inch gears! It was slow going, but everyone was happy and looked fluid.


Pursuit racing means finding a tempo that can be raced every lap. Matching split times is the goal in training and most of the time in racing.

DD doing it.

Events were longer 2K and 3K distances, and with easier gears the acceleration could only come from improved legspeed.

In the beginning it is a bit of a shock to the system. However, it allows folks to go deep into the effort, and find something new.

For example: One person who really went deep into the back back tunnels of his subterranean hurt locker (pain cave) or area of high perceived exertion, was big Double D. Putting on an easier gear of 47x16 DD covered 2K in 3.12. That's over 23.3 miles per hour.

Steer down to the black line!

You can calculate speed with an online speed calculator like this one (here) by using times found in The Results (here)

In the next few weeks, Word RCB by Cyclisme will see legspeed RPMs, and finish times improving!

Public Setting

Raising up "brand new" beginners.

At the Alpenrose PVC TT and Pursuits on Tuesday Nights at Alpenrose Velodrome,

Waldman leads a practice paceline after the racing.

Master's National Champions show up, participate in the racing, then turn triumphantly to teach our children to hold their arms straight in their start.

Of course, we know I emphasize a more dynamic approach to the arm bend. Please (see Sir Hoy START)

But of course, on this night, no one is doing it right, even the Master's National Champ does it wrong as he misses the cadence on the last beep.

Meanwhile some of our guys, in their nervousness take the opportunity to throw everything they have learned out the window. Oy, vay! What can you do? It's all part and parcel of being a brand new beginner track cyclist in an entry level amateur setting.

Electronic timing is officiated by the promoter as a loudspeaker beeps out the rhythm of the start. Getting in the rhythm of the beeps is fundamental.
Some racers shout a big roar as they step into the first powerful strokes of their pedals.

Paceline: falling back & passing under.

Putting the left pedal parallel to the ground, the down hill slope of the track pushes against the first downward thrust. Like a keel and a sail, they create forward motion.

Pedal position, arm position, roar and legspeed  can all be seen done well in fifty eight seconds of Chris Hoy's KILO (see here)

Controversarians on the sidelines question legspeed when a gear is too easy, only to have another young racer's Start be aborted for fear of the bigger gear's impossibility. Meanwhile, the child's limited attention was merely being borrowed briefly from the grasp of the nearest video game or text message.
Public settings provide critics of motion who care little for the origins of the athlete's beginning. Voyeurs only respond to what they see today, but their ravenous appetite for an audience washes over the topography, creating a fluid mind bending challenge to the beginning sports psychology.

Our children's team who train on Saturdays teach best practices to our adults.

For the beginner, the truth of the TIME PIECE is counterbalanced by the distraction of the racing community. A Public Setting provides scrutiny even if not
much competition. A public setting provides testing challenges in a more dynamic social milieu.

Looking at the paceline picture above top and commenting in order of appearance from front to back, I'll say... Rob Waldman and Sarah Joy Benenate, came from the Sunday Ride and Oregon Cup TT road events.
Double D is a veteran track medalist of Cyclisme Lore.

Cliff exchanges the lead by going high on the wall.

Cliff Theissen is a motorcycle motocrosser who came to Cycling and Cyclisme a few years ago, and has really taken to Match Sprinting on Friday Nights. Tim Connelly is a Master Racer who is making his second run at amateur cycling, now that the family is raised and out of the house.