A couple of years ago one was available at Coventries Museum of Transport. It was fun watching the contestants spinning against each other. The event was to select the pedalers of a huge ‘dragon’ which sported (I think) 55 bikes fixed together inside. The chosen ones cycled in turns and rode it to London (About 100 miles from Coventry) for some charity. I forget the details but was stationed at the Peace House stand during a Coventry cycling day. The stand was right next to the spinning setup. One of our volunteers won, I think, the overall best performance – she had the best distance in (1 minute?) anyway when she came away. At less than 5′ tall she was was an amazing rider, maybe still is? I have no knowledge of how the thing was steered etc. Will-power I think!
As in a bucket of Corona’s, or Bud Lights? I would think spinning after that would be a rather…messy idea. A spinning contest in a bar is an interesting concept, and it probably gets more interesting as the night goes on. Helmets required after midnight.
25 seconds at utterly flat-out pace. It’s entirely anaerobic, manic, fast-as-you-can spinning. And Heaven help you if you’ve recently eaten a big meal…
@Bicycle Bill: Since Rick has used embedded links before, my thought was that a link to a single good site about goldsprints would be appreciated by Kickstand Clubbers who weren’t aware of the activity. They’d be able to get up to speed without having to wade through pages of search results.
Oh now I get it. Thanks jon4t2 I have never raced a bicycle and any kind of offical event let alone a stationary bike so this strip was very puzzling to me and I thought Joe was dreaming again.
I’ve never heard of “goldsprinting” before, but it appears to combine two of the concepts that I find most unpleasant, least interesting, and downright craziest about cycling: competition and stationary bikes.
you are so right, but you forgot something in this equation. the addition of some amount of alcohol applied orally by contenders as much as by the audience. this important detail works like a sign reversal to the unpleasant part.
Love all those smiling faces!
Can’t say I’ve ever done a crit on a stationary but understand Joe’s need of a bucket!
In the UK we have the excellent Rollapaluza:
http://www.rollapaluza.com/
… a lot of fun, but SERIOUSLY hard work!
A couple of years ago one was available at Coventries Museum of Transport. It was fun watching the contestants spinning against each other. The event was to select the pedalers of a huge ‘dragon’ which sported (I think) 55 bikes fixed together inside. The chosen ones cycled in turns and rode it to London (About 100 miles from Coventry) for some charity. I forget the details but was stationed at the Peace House stand during a Coventry cycling day. The stand was right next to the spinning setup. One of our volunteers won, I think, the overall best performance – she had the best distance in (1 minute?) anyway when she came away. At less than 5′ tall she was was an amazing rider, maybe still is? I have no knowledge of how the thing was steered etc. Will-power I think!
A bucket? Is he going to barf, or is it full of water and he wants it dumped on him?
Or is it a natural reacton to drinking so much?
Amen to K’Tesh’s comment – good ‘feel’ in the drawing…
As in a bucket of Corona’s, or Bud Lights? I would think spinning after that would be a rather…messy idea. A spinning contest in a bar is an interesting concept, and it probably gets more interesting as the night goes on. Helmets required after midnight.
From my experience of similar events, the former.
25 seconds at utterly flat-out pace. It’s entirely anaerobic, manic, fast-as-you-can spinning. And Heaven help you if you’ve recently eaten a big meal…
That form of cycling probably does meet the legal definition of torture but, from here, it seems close!
@Rick Smith: A link in Joe’s thought balloon in frame two to one of the many references on Goldsprints would be a nice touch. (Wikipedia: Goldsprint.)
Thanks for that – I think that the event in Coventry would have been that kind of contest as it most closely represents what happened.
You’re looking at this on a computer. How hard can it be for you to enter “goldsprint” into a Google search window (like I did)?
@Bicycle Bill: Since Rick has used embedded links before, my thought was that a link to a single good site about goldsprints would be appreciated by Kickstand Clubbers who weren’t aware of the activity. They’d be able to get up to speed without having to wade through pages of search results.
Oh now I get it. Thanks jon4t2 I have never raced a bicycle and any kind of offical event let alone a stationary bike so this strip was very puzzling to me and I thought Joe was dreaming again.
I’ve never heard of “goldsprinting” before, but it appears to combine two of the concepts that I find most unpleasant, least interesting, and downright craziest about cycling: competition and stationary bikes.
you are so right, but you forgot something in this equation. the addition of some amount of alcohol applied orally by contenders as much as by the audience. this important detail works like a sign reversal to the unpleasant part.
Since I don’t drink, I’m afraid that adding alcohol to the equation would merely multiply the unpleasantness for me.
yes, thats a show stopper
Hurray for trainer parties! Go, Coldsprints!