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.