Ted will tell us more but I bet the tape is just to insure against rolling a tire and I presume it would help with a puncture as all hell can break loose on a track bike if a flatted tire peels off and wraps around the hub. Keep in mind that stopping can take a bit of time compared to a road bike.
The track looks rough, but nothing like the Vandedrome I saw for the Pan-Am games in the '90s. That was a beast that some riders simply could not handle.
I rode a track in the farmland of Ontario (Delhi?) that was unbelievably bad in terms of undulations.
Very dangerous.
Heres a strange track danger. The wonderful Schurmann built track in Minnesota is built of African Afzealia wood. I always wondered why the splinters were so nasty and I recently read a warning to woodworkers that the dust is poisonous. Great- poisoned splinters for the sprinters! I once saw a shard sticking out of a guy that was about 4" long. He really could have gotten hurt.
Joe Bender-Zanoni
Great Notch, NJ
> Great photo, but why are Campbells tires taped on? Also, was it
\r?\n> common for board tracks to be built with the planks laid across the
\r?\n> track as shown here? I've only seen them laid along the direction
\r?\n> of travel. I would think this would give a rough ride, with the
\r?\n> natural tendency of boards to cup from edge to edge.
\r?\n>
\r?\n> Davis Jensen
\r?\n> Lomita, CA