Over the past month, I have been posting stories and information about various aspects of the sport of cycling in a private Facebook group for the Navy and Invictus Games cyclists whom I coach. I thought I would start sharing those posts here for a broader audience. I won't post everything I shared with them but will post the highlights here for you all to enjoy. Velodrome Overview: My initial foray into cycling and is still my favorite discipline. Track cycling is essentially a condensed version of road racing- it’s higher intensity because races are contested over shorter distances. There are individual time trials and mass start (bunch) races in both sprint and endurance distances. Distances range from 200m (a time trial) that at the elite level takes about 9 seconds, up to 50km (mass start) which is completed in less than an hour. The international standard length is 250m with about a 45° banking in the turns. It’s essentially a big wooden bowl, like a small NASCAR track. C...
