I was seriously trying to find a flyer to post for the UCI Track World Cup taking place this weekend in Astana, Kazakhstan. Well all I could find was these cartoon gerbils jerboa.
&laqou; The jerboa, a small rodent native to the Kazakh steppes, not to be mistaken for the gerbil! These little animals can survive in difficult conditions, have remarkable fast reactions and can achieve speeds of 50 km per hour. »
Uh… cool mascot, guys! Anyway, the first event of the World Cup season starts on Friday (with some qualifying rounds tomorrow). I’ll try to bring you as much coverage as I can but for now, check out the official event website.
So the domestic track racing season here in the USA is now over and the one of the great things about that is that it means the start of the international track racing season (and also the start of cross season but I’m sure there’s some other blog that talks about that). I’m stoked on this because while track racing in America might be some crazy grassroots fringe sport that nobody has ever heard of… in the rest of the world, it’s actually kind of big and draws spectators and sometimes it’s even broadcasted on television (see picture for proof).
Six-day racing, the Eurotrashiest sport in Europe, is already underway with the Six Days of Amsterdam coming up on October 17th. So if you’re in the Netherlands, get ready for an overload of bike racing, showgirls, beer and some of the worst Europop you’ve ever heard.
Manchester Velodrome’s Revolution series is not necessarily an international event but it attracts a lot of international pro riders to the spectator-friendly track races. Last year one of the race nights was filmed in Sky 3D (and I’m still waiting to see that). The first event of the 2011-2012 season is on October 29th.
And perhaps the best and most exciting thing about this upcoming international season of track racing is that it’s all leading up to the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. Every racer will be working up to top form and those who haven’t qualified yet will be battling for the few remaining qualification points. So you know the competition is going to be fierce over the next few months.
Okay I know my last couple posts featured some miniature velodrome action but it really doesn’t get much smaller than this! The London Olympic Scalextric Velodrome is now available to order HERE.
The dudes from Whiskeydrunk Cycles are bringing so much awesome with this one. The Whiskeydrome measures 18 feet across the bottom (diameter) which I think means it’s about 17 meters in diameter. How’s that for a short track?