Location:
Kissena Velodrome
Join us this weekend at the Kissena Velodrome for the season opening event Kissena Royale. We will be racing all categories, they’ll be cash prim’s, prizes and leaders jerseys awarded in each category. Register online at bikereg or at the track the day of the event.For more info go to affinitycycles.com or email us at info@affinitycycles.com
Care In??? as if…with no enduracne events, who really cares/ Track racing is about “Madison, Points, Scratch, Elimination”…Omnium Endurance events please…
I’m not quite sure what that says but at this point one person is registered for this, so I imagine that can be taken as a sign of the existent interest.
We’ll work on it, we had 5 registered last week but over 30 showed up for the training camp. I expect over 30 this week, the rain date is sunday. If you guys are interested in longer races, we’ll mix it into the format. Madisons are gonna be tought though unless cat 3 or higher shows up. The formats are pretty exciting, its not a good idea doing long events such as Points, Scratch or elimination in Cat 4 or 5, lots of crashs… gotta keep them short and simple.
Masters want to do kilos and more specific events, FYI
Please come check it out and see what you think, this will be a new perspective on a long lasting series which has failed, with leaders jerseys, cash primes, and tons of prime prizes from some great sponsors.
I prefer a Royale with Cheese, like in France
In the eyes of cupcake the twilight series failed because the program doesn’t suit guys who only focus on sprint events, and there aren’t any cash prizes.
The series will be good. How can you argue with regular track racing on Saturday afternoons? Hasn’t happened since……
assuming you are talking about twilight series?
didn’t you do sunday?!?! saturday sucked
Normally I don’t respond to anonymous posters, but now I have to defend myself based on the comments that have been made on this so far.
I take a lot of umbrage with the “jason gallacher” post (I don’t know if that was Jason; we won’t know for sure because the poster didn’t sign in); by no means is the Wednesday night Twilight Series a failure. A race isn’t necessarily a failure if it doesn’t cater to everyone — this is a misconception amongst lots of people out there. I have 90 minutes on Wednesday nights to do my thing….that does not give me enough time to do a quality event that concentrates on the riders that specialize in sprint events and for elite only riders. Andrew and Jason have all day on Saturday to do what they please. So I utilize my time to concentrate on bringing new riders to the track and I cater to the group that I can put on a quality event for, the ones that want endurance type races.
This may surprise some, but I’m happy that Andrew and Jason have started this, and I hope it succeeds. I’ve been saying for years that we need more people to promote races at the velodrome, as I cannot do it alone. I do what I do because that is the time that I have available to do it. I think it’s great that riders have a choice now; they can just do Wednesdays and do the mass-start, endurance events, they can do Saturdays and have a wider variety of choices and elite training, or they can do both. That’s a good thing!!
To call the Wednesday night series a failure is really being short-sighted; they need to look at the big picture. My direction for the Twilight Series is really for development and for fun; I don’t offer any prize money but I do offer a low entry fee — sort of like a training series. I don’t cater to elites and to sprinters; I can’t do it — but now there’s a series that does. Outstanding. Go checkout Andrew’s series if you wish; I’m sure he’s doing some good things there. And I hope to see folks starting May 7th at 6:30pm as well. Lots of racing at the Velodrome this year; how can that be a bad thing?
Thanks,
Alan
It’s bad form to put down one race series when you are promoting another one. It’s not like the two are competing. If anything, they compliment each other and gives track riders another chance to hone their skills during competition.
Kissena is an unfriendly track populated by extremely friendly folks. By that I mean that the condition of the track limits its suitability for extremely high-level competition. However, it has faithfully served as a solid point of entry to the sport. Without people like Alan and John Campo, I certainly would never have gotten the chance to enjoy racing on the track whether it be wednesday nights at the twilight series or friday nights at the t-town show. Until this city gets a new facility, its hard to imagine New York hosting a truly elite international class of racing. However, all is not lost as kissena is a wonderful place to start riding. Its a wonderful place to learn. I just hope that everybody realizes that the true beauty of the place is as a great medium to grow grass roots. A sprinter-friendly series out there will be a wonderful addition to this tradition. Bear in mind that even at top-level tracks, very few sprint events are held. 80% of the t-town racing is endurance because its much easier to run and honestly more spectator friendly as there don’t need to be a million heats for hours and hours.
So, sorry for that, but I also take issue with the word “failure” as it disregards the point of Alan’s series. Perhaps its worth spending at least one or two Wednesday nights in Queens before making a judgement.
140$ for entire Twilight series from May to September- that’s 17 track days with four races each Wednesday.
You can do three L&C races for this much money.
Thank you Alan for the great series and your dedication.
Thank you Affinity for Kissena Royale.
Comparing the Kissena Track Series to the L&C Cup is comparing apples to oranges. L&C Cup races require 25 paid marshalls plus a paid marshall captain, 4 paid motorcycle pacers, 5 paid officials and has cash prize list. Of course the entry fee is going to be higher. The FBF Tuesday Night Series requires less marshals, pacers, officials and has a smaller prize list. Thus the entry fee is lower.
Entry fees are dictated by the cost to run the event.
Charlie Issendorf
Race Director
Kissena Cycling Club
Folks who never put on a race have no idea what the costs are. Putting on a race in PP or CP is more expensive than other venues because you have to hire a lot of marshals in order to put on a safe race. Marshals don’t come cheap, especially at that time of the morning.
In this case apples cost less and taste better, I don’t really care why.
I applaud anyone who tries to put on a race in the New York City area. For those who complain of costs, I challenge you to attempt to put on a comparably run race here at a lower cost.
I think an additional series at Kissena and FBF are great for the sport. But is it a coincidence that the new United series has the same prices as the Tuesday series? No, that’s just how much it costs to run a race.
Thank you Charlie.
Where are the results from Kissena Royal?
Thank you Jay.
Thanks Charlie and Alan and everyone else putting on races. (and thanks Colin for a very intelligent response) I am just in total disbelief that some of you have found something to complain about in more races. I don’t get it.
This is Jason and no that wasn’t me before, however I do think it may have been someone who commented from our shop computer (an employee or someone else) which defaults my name.
We support Alan and anyone who’s promoting track racing and events at Kissena. More events, training and awareness is the overall goal here.
Racing at Kissena is a stepping stone and yes its not ideal but its all that we have for now. That being said myself, Alan and anyone else putting on events at the track are doing the best they can!
My hats off to Alan for putting on the Wednesday series, our new series provides training and other race formats which differ from Alans series. Either way its more track racing!!
I apologize for the comments in the earlier post, though they weren’t from me, they came from my shop so I take full responsibility. They probably weren’t intended to be harmful however its definitely came off that way, so I hope this sets the record straight.
On that note, the next race is on the 30th of April with double points awarded towards the series and race lead. We’ll have cash primes, and tons of great prizes. I hope to get a good variety of riders including the local road guys!