Central Park Raccoons (not the furry kind)

[fiamme red]

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/07/n...ke-racing.html

The sun had gone down on Central Park, and a crowd of close to 150 people had gathered around two bicyclists near Engineers’ Gate. Volunteers holding the seat posts steadied the bikes as the riders clicked into their pedals.

Then, when the coast was clear, a starter yelled, “Go!” and the first race of the night was off: a 300-meter straight shot uptown in the bike lane along the Central Park loop. Lose and you’re done. Win and move on. After 60 riders had gone through five elimination rounds, the victors were decided. Enzo Edmonds, a 15-year-old from Brooklyn (and a nine-time national juniors champion) won the men’s bracket. Among the women, Camie Kornely, 49, the reigning women’s national and world masters champion who also holds a world track-bike record, took first place…

I remember the old night pack rides in Central Park many years ago, when the park was much emptier in the evenings. I joined a few times, but I wasn't fast enough to keep up. Even if I could, there was too much potential risk. I can't imagine doing one of these rides today.

[Louis]

Can you imagine what things would be like today if years ago, when no one really cared and you could have done it, someone had put a velodrome and some stands in Central Park and it had stuck? (as opposed to being way out in Queens)

Track cycling in the whole country would likely be different today. Although I suppose you could say that about any of the niche sports.

[EB]

Originally Posted by Louis

Can you imagine what things would be like today if years ago, when no one really cared and you could have done it, someone had put a velodrome and some stands in Central Park and it had stuck? (as opposed to being way out in Queens)

Track cycling in the whole country would likely be different today. Although I suppose you could say that about any of the niche sports.

Madison Square Garden was originally built downtown as a velodrome, when track cycling was one of the most popular sports in America - Al Capone’s favorite betting sport, supposedly. Attracted huge crowds and national coverage. The Madison event in track cycling takes it name from MSG originally.

[Louis]

Originally Posted by Eli Bingham

Al Capone’s favorite betting sport, supposedly

Well, you learn something new every day.

Although I'm not sure if we should be proud of that or not - certainly a dubious distinction.

[sg8357]

Originally Posted by Eli Bingham

Madison Square Garden was originally built downtown as a velodrome, when track cycling was one of the most popular sports in America [snip]

6 Day racing history.

https://www.amazon.com/Six-Day-Bicyc.../dp/189249549X

[kitsnob]

Originally Posted by fiamme red

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/07/n...ke-racing.html

I remember the old night pack rides in Central Park many years ago, when the park was much emptier in the evenings. I joined a few times, but I wasn't fast enough to keep up. Even if I could, there was too much potential risk. I can't imagine doing one of these rides today.

Those were the good ole days of the CP Pack/Night Ride. Meet at 7 at top of cat's paw, one "neutral"/roll out lap and then game on for laps 2 thru 4 ..
It drew most of the CRCA racers as well as some other fast local guys. Only thing was it was NOT sanctioned, the cops kinda looked the other way .. for the most part BUT if you got "caught" riding/displaying/wearing a CRCA kit (or sub team kit) you could get a season long ban on the club races that were held in CP early Saturday mornings.

I was fun but also dangerous .. race like conditions at dusk/dark and NO MARSHALLAS to keep the course clear of other park users (joggers, roller bladers and other park users)

[Hilltopwalters]

Weiss Laps are the Prospect Park equivilent. Pretty fun but also pretty s***.

[benb]

An interesting website would be to try and document all the old velodromes that existed in the US and disappeared.

It seemed like there were a lot of them in the late 1800s.

There are some super interesting sites documenting the locations of defunct ski areas in the US... never seen one for velodromes. It seems easier for ski areas as the mountains were not human creations and don't vanish or get paved over/redeveloped.

[fiamme red]

Originally Posted by benb

An interesting website would be to try and document all the old velodromes that existed in the US and disappeared.

It seemed like there were a lot of them in the late 1800s.

There are some super interesting sites documenting the locations of defunct ski areas in the US... never seen one for velodromes. It seems easier for ski areas as the mountains were not human creations and don't vanish or get paved over/redeveloped.

Dave Perry compiled this list of velodromes, current and defunct: http://www.bikecult.com/bikecultbook...elodromes.html. It hasn't been updated in a number of years (e.g., Alpenrose is listed as current).

[m_sasso]

Enjoyed the read, thanks for posting!

Yesterdays Velodromes https://www.facebook.com/groups/YesterdaysVelodromes

Love night riding!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-MvV24mJlU

[Upcountry]

Sounds like the Wolfpack Hustle's of years ago in LA. I'm all for it!!!

[charliedid]

Nice

I keep wanting to do something like that in Chicago (for like 30 years) and never so.

Great article, thanks.

[duff_duffy]

I recently met a guy helping build a Velodrome in PA. Sounded like a cool project! He’s got good tastes too, bought my old Cyrene and Pronto, darn nice bikes. If your near Philly you might have a nice place to visit in near future.

[fiamme red]

Any New Yorkers here remember the 24-hour Pepsi Challenge in Central Park in the 1970's and 1980's? One of the commenters on the article mentioned that John Howard set the record of 514 miles in 1983: https://www.upi.com/Archives/1983/05...6849423115200/.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJ6aQyCDVTI

My favorite comment on the Times article: "What a disappointing bait-and-switch in the title. I was hoping for actual raccoons on bikes. Knowing urban raccoons, it seems like a plausible development."

[Louis]

Originally Posted by fiamme red

My favorite comment on the Times article: "What a disappointing bait-and-switch in the title. I was hoping for actual raccoons on bikes. Knowing urban raccoons, it seems like a plausible development."

Ask, and you shall receive: