America’s Short, Violent Love Affair with Indoor Track Cycling

Calling Japanese indoor track cycling "wildly popular" is a bit of a stretch: it's one of only four sports in Japan that allow legal gambling, and it's generally considered the second least respectable, losing out only to powerboats (kyoutei). Not to put it too bluntly, but if you admit to being a keirin buff in Japan, you're likely to be taken to be either a compulsive gambler or a yakuza (who are widely rumored to control the business).

The business is also in tough times, since the combination of Japan's aging population and tough economic times have slashed the sport's total take to 42% of what it was in 1992. (And that figure is from 2008, I have no doubt it's collapsed further since.)

They missed something in this article. There is actually only 1 indoor velodrome in the US. The rest are outdoor.

What's important about that, is, given any locale's elite cycling community, there's little reason to race on the track during summer when it's nice enough outside to square off against national level competition on the road on any given weekend if you're willing to drive a few hours.

Move to the winter, and Cyclocross takes the rest of the would be indoor track racers. Track is great, and a ton of fun, but it is largely out of reach for most of us that compete because of lack of well, tracks.

Another thing - no one starts racing at the paid professional level. Without amateur/junior racing, those people can't move up, because they can't start. This is a big factor in why the sport's declined so much... No more amateurs.

My dad rides a lot now and has always loved cycling. We've watched the Tour de France each summer for as long as I can remember.

So, the point: Jens Voigt, an announcer for the Tour, broke the hour record, how far you can ride in an hour on an indoor track, at the age of 43(!). Here's the frame of the bike he rode for the attempt that says "I am motherfucking Jens Voigt": https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/31/Je.... Pretty hilarious.

Also, if you've never seen them, check out the quads on German cyclist Robert Forstemann: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BnhuFN8CcAAAklD.jpg. Apparently he trains for hypertrophy as an intimidation factor.

> Gripping the bike’s front wheel was the only way for riders to brake

This is not actually true - track bicycles, then and now, do not have a freewheel/freehub mechanism and the rider cannot coast. As a consequence you can use the drivetrain as a braking mechanism by applying back pressure on the pedals.

A discussion of track cycling in the US isn't complete without Major Taylor:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshall_Taylor

I've only ever been to Trexlertown (https://thevelodrome.com) and the DC velodrome. Didn't realize there were so many velodromes in all over (http://www.usacycling.org/velodromes-in-the-us.htm).

If you're ever bored on a Saturday and you live close to one of them, they're normally free/cheap to go watch races, or participate. And a decent track bike, in my experience, is a lot more affordable than a decent road bike.

6-day race does not scale. 2-hour events can be covered by television and can be hosted in expensive stadium. Madison Square Garden has one event every day.

The multiple mentions in the article of Madison Square Garden surprised me till I looked it up. In case anyone else is as confused as I was, it turns out the Madison Square Garden that existed then is not the same as the MSG that exists now (which was constructed in the 60s). In fact, there have been four different venues named "Madison Square Garden" at different times over the years!

Next to be phased out, baseball. Average age of US baseball fans: 53. (Football, 47; Basketball, 37).