A Real Twist on Velodrome Racing
by Alan Cote
Bicycling, March 1998
Despite the tattoos, body piercings and the pounding music of bands such as the Muscle Bitches, Toronto’s annual Alley Cat Scramble smacks of the good old days of indoor cycling: the 1930s when gruelling six-day track races drew more crowds than off-track betting. The modern races don't last as long, but the atmosphere is the same: air clogged with smoke (some of it even from tobacco), beer flowing, spectators screaming, riders bruised and battered.
The Scramble is absolutely not an ordinary bike race. It’s held on the Human-Powered Roller Coaster, a portable figure-eight track constructed in vacant warehouses and other roomy venues. The origin of this alternative form of cycling comes not surprisingly from the sport’s maverick stepchildren, city bike messengers.
Illegal renegade races known as alley cats, which recklessly careen through busy city streets, have been a favorite form of courier entertainment for years.
Looking for a less lawless option, some Toronto area messengers set up a figure-eight track on the frozen surface of Lake Ontario during long, frigid Canadian winters. While the inevitable collisions between riders was said to be part of the fun, they sparked an idea in the mind of local cycling mensch and coffee house owner Johnny Jet Fuel Engler for a new breed of alley cat.
The unofficial leader of Toronto’s messenger scene, Engler (a caffeine-wired 33-year-old) convinced Dunhill cigarettes to cough up $100,000 for the Human Powered Roller Coaster in 1996. Designed by landscape architect John Consolati, the lumber-framed track is floored with four-by-eight-foot sheets of 5/8-inch thick plywood, which are cut into pie shaped pieces to form the turns.
It takes seven days for a crew of eight to unstuff the track from its 48-foot shipping container and assemble it in whatever warehouse has been commandeered. The current schedule has the track built twice a year, for a fall Vancouver event and a spring edition in Toronto. The winner of last November’s Scramble in Vancouver earned a free trip to the Cycle Messenger World Championships.
Whipping around the 38-degree bankings, a lap on the track covers a scant 125 meters (410 feet) so small and tight it’s like riding around inside a hot tub. The over/under design includes a 10- floor-high bridge that eliminates the T-boning inherent with the original ice version.
With endless undulations and ultra-tight turns, racers are just as concerned with staying on the track as they are with pure speed. If you lose your line, you're dead, said competitor Laura Hopcroft. You don't slide on plywood like you do on ice.
Riders can choose their own weapon at any time, resulting in a bizarre mix of road, mountain and fixed-gear bikes all racing together. The 150 entrants are split into small groups and winners advance to the four-person, 50-lap final.
Vague rules also mean race action quite unlike anything else. If you want to take a guy out, for example, you can, but then you'll have to deal with him later, says Engler, who also acts as chief referee. This may be the next best thing Canada has brought to spectator sports since ice hockey.
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