THE PORTSMOUTH VELODROME?

That white powder has descended from the heavens again. Long after the roads are cleared, melting snow reacts with frigid tarmac to create random and incredibly dangerous patches of ice. It’s time for the sane among us to head indoors. But why stop cycling? The Great Balkini tells all about stationery bikes, spinning and trainers. And should Portsmouth build its own indoor velodrome?

ABOUT the Great Balkini 

WHAT'S ALL THIS ABOUT A PORTSMOUTH VELODROME?
The Great Balkini on stationary bikes, spinning, trainers and big dreams

The Road to Nowhere

Winter does not mean breaking up with your bike. For indoor bike exercise the best choice is the beauty you took to the spring, summer and fall dance. Mated to a fluid or magnetic resistance trainer, your bike provides the fit and feel missing in stationary bikes. Trainer details later, but first it’s time to talk trash.

Stand-alone exercise bikes are only for people who don’t ride. Anything under $200 won’t last and is totally unlike real outdoor cycling. Spend a few hundred more and the durability is better, but they still don’t feel much like a bike. Spend over a grand and you get well designed equipment. But your outdoor bike is still a better fit -- and it’s paid for.

Whatever you do don’t join a gym if spinning pedals is high on your indoor agenda. Gym bikes including recumbents are industrial-strength. but crudely built. They only get serviced when something breaks. But long before then, most are beaters, so stay off.

Spinning and Resistance

Spinning classes offer a hard workout. It’s track bike technology with no coasting and the perfect way to develop leg strength and a precise pedal stroke. But spinning has a core problem. Philosophically, the bike and technique play a distant second fiddle to breathing hard and working up a sweat. That makes it just about impossible to develop a smooth, round stroke even on state-of-the-art commercial equipment.

Spin bikes are rugged but casually designed. Seat and handlebar adjustment detents offer only a few set positions with bothersome gaps that make exact fit impossible for most. Under constant use the clamping system deteriorates, the seat posts wobble, the bars aren’t stable and nobody cares because none of that gets in the way of a hard workout.

Yes, Virginia, it is your bike mounted on a trainer in the privacy of your own space that offers the best and cheapest solution, especially if Santa gets the message. Stability is achieved by clamping the bike’s rear triangle into a sturdy base while the rear tire sits on a roller. The front wheel comes off and the bike is clamped in place at the fork.

It’s all straightforward, but rear wheel roller contact is counter intuitive. Placing the wheel as lightly as possible doesn’t reduce wear; indeed normal wear is minimal but it increases exponentially because no tire/wheel is perfectly round or balanced. It’s all physics, Einstein. The highs and lows of a rotating mass create skipping and eventually shred the tread.

What’s better, you ask, fluid or magnetic resistance? Smooth, quiet and stable is what you’re looking for and that starts at $170. Succinctly, fluid resistance offers a smoother pedaling action and is quieter while magnetic offers more resistance increments. Both have their advocates and both work well. For all the details go to a bike shop. Those nice folks talk straight, want to help and are dying of loneliness this time of year.

The Case for Trainers

Most home trainers come with or offer moderately priced electronic add-ons that measure vital signs. Downloading to a computer is a huge help for those interested in quantifying progress. The best systems offer power output and a host of other performance information that’s essential to elite riders and helpful for the rest of us.

Trainers also create a virtual reality experience with programmable video rides from road racing on famous courses to breathtaking touring vistas. The most sophisticated cost upwards of $3000 and I’m told by a man with impeccable riding credentials that they are absolutely astounding.

John Howard, an American cycling icon, has been telling this disbeliever for years that video riding rivals the road for enjoyment. In places with unavoidable traffic, or winter weather (hello) they are a "must have". Among many other accomplishments, John is a three-time Olympian, a Pan Am gold medallist and a former Ironman World Champion. He holds the 24-hour mileage record of 539 miles and, at 152.2 mph, he also holds the bicycle world land speed record.

Among the web links below you will find that a new world of indoor riding awaits. These trainers actually simulate real cycling by allowing the rider to accelerate on descents while coasting. The energy used in climbing is stored and released on the descent, driving the rear wheel.

Inside the Velodrome

Last, but by no means least, is the one indoor cycling choice that rates as world class. A velodrome is a banked bicycle track and – in this longtime rider’s view -- an indoor one here would immediately attract international attention. A velodrome here could develop a grass-roots cycling culture in one of the world’s best places to ride a bike – the flat scenic Seacoast. And imagine the winter boost to the region’s otherwise low-tourist winter season.

Indoor velodromes are almost as rare as unicorns with just one in the country and two on the drawing boards. The ADT Event Center Velodreom opened in 2004 and immediately hosted the Junior World Track Championships. They host the World Cup Track championship. Never heard of it? What can I say? It’s an underground sport, but 20 or more nations participate and that kind of traffic could certainly boost off-season hotel rooms and fill restaurant seats here.

FYI there are 22 outdoor velodromes dotted across the country and, wherever they are actively promoted, that region becomes a hotbed of cycling. The most active is just outside of Allentown PA. The Trexlertown Velodrome is a spectacular example of a down-home community effort that creates bicycle tourism in a region that otherwise is not a destination location.

To my surprise there is an outdoor velodrome in nearby Londonderry NH that began life as a race car track. It is 318 meters around and the banking is 14 degrees. This is a great venue on which to learn, but it’s not nearly the same as a facility specifically designed for track bike racing.

By comparison, the Dick Lane Velodrome near Atlanta, GA is 333 meters. but the banking is a mind- altering 39 degrees. It was 20-something years ago, but I still vividly recall hyperventilating the first time I was high on that wall and thankful to be upright. I didn’t ride the track enough to really get comfortable, but what fun while it lasted.

The Seacoast Challenge

Maybe the time has come for a Portsmouth Velodrome. I haven’t raised real money since the YMCA capital campaign years ago, but I’m game. Pease Tradeport is the first location that immediately comes to mind for a Portsmouth indoor track. Anyone interested? Send me an email care of this web site. (bottom of page)

Copyright (c) 2006 by David Balkin. All rights reserved.
MORE  Seacoast Bike Columns

OUTSIDE LINKS for this article:
:
Lemond Fitness

John Howard Training

Computer Trainer

Tacx

ADT Event Center Velodrome 

Trexlertown Velodrome

Londonderry Velodrome

Dick Lane Velodrome