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@pipwish
Whilst out in Japan earlier this year I was able to see a Keirin event.
Tomity's thread was a great help in finding Tachikawa velodrome.
http://www.londonfgss.com/thread9736.html
Here are a few pics and a vid.
http://s128.photobucket.com/player.swf?file=http://vid128.photobucket.com/albums/p163/pipwish/keirinmovie2.flv
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3625/3320321326_e201cca3b5_o.jpg
We had to find a shuttle bus from the station.
I had my eye out for any gentlemen wearing flat caps and rustling news papers
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3663/3319492925_3a154a571a_o.jpg
The velodrome itself was very impressive. An asphalt surface surrounded
by sturdy layers of chain link fencing.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3353/3320458784_7c1f87e7fe_o.jpg
The spectators were mostly men but there were one or two families.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3598/3319493409_1389a0894d_o.jpg
The races were occurring every 30 minutes. It may be obvious but not that many
people were looking at the bikes. Although despite this they did look great.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3544/3320321102_96ecc70f68_o.jpg
Here you can see the bikes in the starting blocks (or whatever the proper name is)
Lots of Dura-Ace equipment in evidence here.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3541/3319551975_92f80dab0f_o.jpg
…and they’re off! The pace maker is in purple and orange stripes. Check out the observation tower with all that padding at the bottom.
Herne Hill could do with one of those. The man in the blue tracksuit has a dust pan and brush for any small debris found on the track.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3628/3319493149_473b606ea0_o.jpg
You may like to know they were almost silent when passing.
No noisy drive trains here. It was great to hear the bell being rung and feel the
excitement. They were going extremely fast.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3611/3320321642_f0c19b35cc_o.jpg
This is what you are given to base your bets on. The column beginning with 31 is the
age of the rider. To the right of that is the riders home town. The gear ratio is also
listed along side their previous form. The gear ratio 3.64 is 51x14 for example.
I based my bets mostly on age and did very well!
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3557/3319494201_4b00188ed8_o.jpg
This is a betting slip for a race. Similar to a British National Lottery slip. You mark
you predictions with a bold vertical pen stroke. The main idea is to predict the first
two riders across the line.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3546/3319552247_e577de7f64_o.jpg
Of course, being a national obsession the whole thing is being beamed out in high
definition TV for the rest of the country.
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