Trinidadian stationary bike

6) Stationary bike (Venezuela)

my missus' mother rode fixed wheel bicycle back in Venezuela, which explain how that 5'4 eldery jumped on my 57cm bianchi and pedal away as if it a piece of piss.

No chance on earth Ed, that it was called "Stationary Bike" in Venezuela. Thats English, and it wouldn't have been used by 99% of the country, who spoke Espanol. I'd take that as a translation, but in Trip's mum's youth, English was hardly spoken then.

You do get points for the translation though. ;)

lots of velodromes in the carib

grass track racing also popular, though I heard the tracks are cut so short and baked so hard that guys run 90GI with no problems!

No chance on earth Ed, that it was called "Stationary Bike" in Venezuela. Thats English, and it wouldn't have been used by 99% of the country, who spoke Espanol. I'd take that as a translation, but in Trip's mum's youth, English was hardly spoken then.

You do get points for the translation though. ;)

You just answered your own question!

lots of velodromes in the carib

arima velodrome, trinidad

Rocksteady, Thanks for the images it looks a good track. I know that track racing was/is popular, perhaps less so than in past decades?

RPM - "grass track racing also popular, though I heard the tracks are cut so short and baked so hard that guys run 90GI with no problems!"

That is completely not what I expected about grass tracks and makes perfect sense, but would that be true in Scotland ?!?

I have fantasized about grass tracks for a long time and although I was a roadie and only got on the track a handful of times (once Montreal and twice on Los Angeles as well as 2 other tracks), I loved the feel of track riding. A grass track seemed to be an afordable way to have one in your back yard.

Cycling in Trinidad and the Caribbean is indeed enigmatic. Traffic, potholes, animals, and 9a.m.-5p.m. heat can kill you on the road. So the tracks seem to be a real refuge.

Grass track racing at Guaracara/Pointe-a-Pierre, Trinidad:

Apart from Arima (photos in post above) other active Trini velodromes are:

Queens Park Oval.. an odd shaped track in the Test cricket stadium:

Skinner Park velodrome:
http://legacy.guardian.co.tt/archives/2008-04-24/SA-1.html

Palo Seco Velodrome:
http://wikimapia.org/1495055/Palo-Seco-Velodrome-Erin

Another one (Olympic class') is supposedly under construction at Toruba but its mired down introuble'.

But still, not too shabby for a developing country with 1.5 million people. A track of some sort for every 2 to 300,000 people. Imagine if the UK had that ratio.

Cheers! (my Missus is a Trini)

Nielsamd, Thank you for the images - it is so novel not being able to see the whole tire in the grass! I have always imagined what it would be like to ride a grass track and seeing it is great. The oval at Queens Park is very cool, some day I would love to make it to Trinidad and ride one of them.

The world is getting so busy that more tracks make sense.

Any one out there got more names from around the world for fixies?

Nobody got it, did they?

If you've got a **stationary **bike in London, can you post it to Trinidad?

That's because you wrote "stationary", not "stationery". And also because I did the joke upthread and it wasn't funny then, either. :(

I love reading and hearing patois, reminds me of living in Balham/Brixton decades ago and the friends and families i grew up with, nice thread btw.. mi gwaan..

I can haz a late holiday deal in Sept; are there any hire bikes at the Barbados National Velodrome? :P

i'll find out for you

sorry no reply from my people in b'dos, but i think it's unlikely they will have bikes to rent.

Thanks for checking; I couldn't find anything online about it either.