Red Bull Minidrome Montreal 2011

Yesterday I went to Red Bull's local stop of the Minidrome World Tour here in Montreal. I was expecting madness on wheels and I got served well. This tiny velodrome made of plywood is so small that there is barely enough track on the straightaway to get momentum...let me correct that there is none! The straight is about the length of a bike.

Riders had three tries to manage to at least stay up on the track before even attempting a qualifying run. The run was 10 laps to show that you could actually do it and then 6 laps to establish a benchmark time. I saw very good riders not even able to get up and run 1 lap. Those that I did see pull it off were getting dizzy on the microscopic oval after their run.

All the fixie and other bike clubs of Montreal were well represented, SRS, Red Dress Bike League, IBike, among them. All the riders present, guys and gals wearing everything from spandex to flannel, had serious guts just trying out this thing. I saw one rider get is front wheel caught off the track and doing a serious face plant in the plywood. Thankfully Red Bull was well organized for sort this of thing with paramedics on stand by at the event.

Now you're not going to get results and who did what beyond the last paragraph. Not only was I getting dizzy from watching this fast mini go round but I was not looking forward to more of the mayhem. I know many of the riders and seriously I just couldn't watch any of them get hurt, even less taking pictures of it. So I left early. The event is Red Bull all the way as it goes to extreme in a big fashion and that's fine. It just wasn't my cup of tea.

To those who showed up on that track, you have my utmost respect and admiration even if all you did was stepped in to give it a go. To whoever won it, you are a biking demi-god!

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Until next time, ride safe and free.

Gerry :)