Friday Night at the Track

Always I've been fascinated by track racing: one gear, no brakes, giant quads. I've always been a sprinter, too; in high school I ran the 400 meters, which makes track bikes a natural transition.

My track bike. Lugged cro-mo SE which I built up from the frame

This season I am running 50x15 (90 inches). It has a honkin' 1/2" chain

The problem is that, as swimming has to be held in a pool, track racing has to be held on a velodrome, and there's only about 20 in the country. Pittsburgh is quite blessed to have the next best thing: the Bud Harris Cycling Oval, in the Highland Park area of Pittsburgh. Here is the google map satellite shot of the track.


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That thick middle section is a nice place to bring learning bike riders or rollerbladers. The racing is held on the thinner outer ring. It was a driver testing center back in the day, which the city converted into an 800 meter, banked oval/park. Last year it was repaved with pristine, smooth asphalt.

From start-finish line looking at the final 200 meters

From the start-finish line looking at the starting straight and first corner

Although not a true velodrome because of the 800 meters distance (most tracks range between 250 to 333 meters), and because it has an ascent of about 3 meters for the final 200 meters, the Bud Harris Oval is still a truly splendid place. It has a nice park setting, with old trees and nice grassy sections and picnic tables.

The banked turns make it feel authentic. Here is turn three
coming around to the home stretch

Oscar Swan, the dean of Pittsburgh bike racing, has kept track racing culture alive for the last ten years. Every other Friday night, during June through August, he officiates and runs a full evening of fixed-gear racing action. It's called "Friday Night at the Track," and it also includes a time trial series. He's also the archivist for the Oval records. Anyone can participate in the track racing from juniors to masters to men to women, no special license is required (it is sanctioned by the ABR, not USA Cycling). All that is needed is a track bike and courage. But that doesn't guarantee a victory, though...

The great Oscar Swan. In addition to fixed gear racing, he also runs
time trials. The TT and track races alternate every other Friday during June
through August of the summer. The Pittsburgh racing community
is blessed indeed to have Oscar.

This is my third season of participating, and while I'm not a force, I am getting better each year, although far from setting any Oval records. Since last season, I dropped five seconds off of my 2 lap (1 mile) sprint, now to 2:20. See the Oval track records here.