Team Pursuit

This Saturday is the final Little 500 Spring Series Event, Team Pursuit. RideOn will be on the track at 1:24pm and will be on the track with team Air Force Women. In this event two teams take the track, one in turn 2 and the other in turn 4, prepared to race against each other as well as the clock. Team Pursuit consists of 12 laps (15 for the men) and at the end of the day the two fastest teams are lined up for one final showdown.

Other Spring Series Events are fairly simple, "ride hard, turn left" but Team Pursuit requires the rare opportunity for a cyclist to do some thinking. Communication and teamwork are the keys to performing well as each team's four riders must stay in a tight pack throughout the entire 12 laps. Team members take turns in the lead position, where each woman is responsible for determining the team's speed as well as taking the full force of the wind for her teammates. This is where communication becomes crucial, as the ladies behind must let their leader know if she is going too fast, if she can speed up, or if someone has dropped off the pack. Each team is allowed to drop one of their four riders, but must complete the event with three women in the pack, as the third cyclist's rear wheel determines the team's time for the event.

While all of this internal communication is happening, there of course is another team on the track! And the event is called Team Pursuit for a reason, as each team is in "hot pursuit" of the team across the track from them.

So come out and support us this Saturday as we pursue the Air Force Women!!

"But to say that the race is the metaphor for the life is to miss the point. The race is everything. It obliterates whatever isn't racing. Life is the metaphor for the race."
- Donald Antrim
*quote stolen from Isaac Simonelli