TIL that velodrome racing bikes do not have gears or brakes and do not free wheel. Riders must continue to pedal until they’re going slow enough to stop safely.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Velodrome

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  1. We went to a velodrome when I was at college to ride around in groups and experience the bikes and arena – it was so scary. You are also clipped into the pedals so if you aren’t used to that anyway it can be quite daunting.

    As our group was about to start a guy was just coming around to slow down and stop, but he didn’t unclip his feet in time and he just wobbled and fell on his side onto the wood and the thud just echoed across the whole arena. He got up and was holding his arm like it was broken and shuffled off, I hope he was ok.

  2. Me and a mate used to go to an old and dilapidated local velodrome with my mountain bike and his racer for pre-season footy training. We’d start opposite sides of the track and it was over when one caught the other. It’s fun for about three quarters of a lap and then it just turns into a really unpleasant experience. It’s good training though, you don’t really use the same muscles as running but it’s good for general cardio. We used to toss a coin to see who got the racer, or in other words we’d toss a coin to see who’d win.

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