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 I received the following story from Brian Warner, a fan of track cycling in the Detroit area. It seems that Brian is a fan, who has only been on the track a few times, but heads over to the 200m oval for entertainment! He was in Germany so he stopped by to see the Munich 6 Day Action. The following is his race report!
I thought I would post a spectators perspective of my first experience in watching a bike race in Europe. This is long.
Over the last two years Karen and I have become die-hard velodrome fans. We were newbies to this type of racing and had watched with interest the building of the velodrome, and stopped to watch every now and then when we were off-road tandeming through Bloomer. Now almost any night there is a race at Bloomer we will be there. The competition and excitement is fantastic. And the Pit Crew are a delight. We have come to enjoy watching the races so much, that come winter we have discussed making a trip to London and "visiting" Karen's brother, so we have a place to stay after watching the races there. The only thing is how do we sneek out for a couple of hours to get our fix?
Well, I knew I would be traveling to Germany a couple of times this winter, and I also saw a post (Craig von Seeger) about the Six Days in Europe. As luck (well maybe a bit of planning) would have it I was in Stuttgart at the start of the Six Days in Munich. So Friday Nov 11th, I drove the 200 km or so and went to the Olympic Hall. I couldn't find anyone else interested so I went myself. Not speaking or being able to read German added a bit of excitement to the trip, but I only got lost once, and even then was only 3 blocks from the Olympic Hall.
I really didn't know what to expect, but figured it would be fun. And with some big names it would have to be exciting, right? When I got there, at 6:30 the "Open Talents Cup" was just starting. I bought a 40 Euro ticket and had a spot 17 rows up on the finish line. And to think I only pay $3 for a seat 2 rows up at Bloomer. But then again I got to buy some curry franks and beer (10 Euros). Although the race had started, I decided to walk around the upper ring and see all the exhibitions. Also I wanted to find a t-shirt as evidence that I had been there. Lots of bike shops had bikes and gear on sale. A number of restaurants, including some very fancy ones. Seems like the Germans take eating and drinking and watching the races to a new level. We normally bring a couple of grinders with us and some beverages to Bloomer, but it would be nice change if Dale had a 4 Star restaurant on the hill. After walking once around, and never finding a t-shirt (I guess I will just have to keep wearing my Bloomer one) I decided to take my seat. I watched the finish of the race. It was a Madison style race and there were a lot of teams. I don't know how long it was. But the competition was pretty good. In the end I don't know who won, but one of the riders had hair like Ronnie Sink.
After the introductory race there was a lot of talking and then they had a juggler. He was pretty good, but he kept dropping the pins. Then they did the introduction of the teams, just like they do at Bloomer. There was 14.5 teams and then the 0.5 dropped out. Why, I don't know. Then there was a great individual race, where one of the Italian riders got a lap on everyone.
The music was pretty good, though it was recorded and not live. But the DJ picked good tunes to go along with the race. All the music was America, and a lot of Motown. This was the only English I heard all night long, so it was very welcome.
Next they had some BMX rider messing up stunts. And more interviews.
They had this very long Madison race, which was good, but not really exciting. Maybe I am spoiled, but it must have been about 200 laps and there was no sprint for points except at laps 20 and 10. They need to take a page from Dale's handbook and throw in more sprints. There was a lot of breakaways. The Zabel/Rossi team got away 3 times, so they ended up winning. It was pretty clear when they decided to go, they were gone. Some of the other teams also broke away as well. But it was very clear that Zabel/Rossi were going to win. And the competition unbalanced. This is an area where Dale does a great job keeping the races interesting for the spectators. Another thing I missed, and maybe I am not as tuned into it as I should be, but I didn't see any evidence of strategy, it seemed to be just go for it. With Rick it is pretty evident and exciting when he is making a move or staring down an opponent prior to a sprint.
So another team with a Ronnie Sink look alike (well from row 17 all I could see was the long blonde hair) won.
The juggler came back. And dropped some more pins.
Next was a Derny race. This is the first time I have seen one, I don't understand them, but still it was pretty cool. First oddity I noticed, 10 Derny's and 11 riders on the track. The Derny riders starting picking up riders and it seemed like they had the upper hand in picking the rider. Finally there was Rossi in second place with no Derny, another rider in about 9th and one Derny. The Derny rider almost picked up the 9th place guy, but then he noticed Rossi up front, and took off. The race was pretty interesting. Aerodynamics seemed to be important. For the longest time the team with the fattest/widest Derny rider was winning. Towards the end Rossi and his Derny rider, the big man team and another were going around side by side, pretty cool.
At this point is was about 11:30, and I was very tired, and had 2 hours of driving to do. And while the race was on till 1, I really need some sleep so off I went.
In the end the race was good, and I enjoyed it, but the races at Bloomer are still my favorite.
Brian Warner
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| Posted on 11/21/06 @ 04:09:25 PM by Scott |
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Average Score: 3.83
Votes: 6
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