OK Ted I'll give it a go.
1) To hook another rider is a rather nasty maneuver that is intended to either intimidate or actually cause him/her to crash. Lets just say him, because you would never do it to a girl... Actually, I once had it done to me by a girl.
The idea is that your handlebars and front wheel are vulnerable. If they should get pushed sideways you usually fall. When riding behind wheels in close quarters one must be vigilant to protect one's front wheel.
If you want to scare a guy or actually knock him down you get in front of him but slightly to one side so that your rear wheel is slightly overlapping his front wheel. Then you move abruptly sideways in his direction so that your rear wheel almost hits, or actually hits his front wheel.
If your rear wheel almost hits his front wheel it usually results in his heart skipping a beat as you jump away to victory. If you actually hit his wheel there is a very good chance that he will fall.
Novice riders are always told "don't overlap wheels". That means that you should ride directly behind the wheel that you are following. Don't let the front of your front wheel come up next to that wheel or you might get "hooked" if that rider makes an abrupt sideways move.
If the rider in front of you is prone to making those abrupt lateral moves you might admonish him/her to "Hold your line!".
In the same vein; if you run your front tire directly into back of someone's rear tire it has the same effect as grabbing a big hand-full of front brake.
2) To chop someone is pretty much the same except it is done very fast and hard. The most brutal example is when the front rider actually bunny hops his rear wheel sideways into the other guy's front wheel. Very hard to do with a fixed wheel unless you are going very slow.
You can hook or chop a guy as you are passing him. It pretty much guarantees that he wont try to follow you. If it doesn't phase him and he pounces right on your wheel then you might be in for a little excitement yourself.
Of course these maneuvers are against the rules and considered un-sporting. Then again, some guys think it is extremely sporting.
3) To go on top means to go above someone on the banking. Track racing is always counter clockwise so to be on top of someone you would be on their right side.
You use the banking to help you slow down or speed up. If you steer up track you are going up hill and you slow down but it is like money in the bank because you can always dive down the banking to help you accelerate. All of this is assuming that you are not riding across someone's wheel.
Ever see the way they switch off in a team pursuit? The front guy finishes his pull by abruptly swinging up and immediately diving back down. If his timing is right he winds up right on the last guy's wheel.
Remember in the '84 Olympics when the West Germans lost a guy because Rolf Goltz went a too little hard? Goltz didn't know the guy was off and when he swung up and back down there was exactly one bike length from him to the next guy. His effort was so precisely timed that he didn't have enough juice to close the gap and he came off too. They time the third guy so the Germans were done...
Being on top can be an advantage because it means that you can use that potential energy to accelerate. If you are below a guy you must stay even with him to block him from diving down and getting a good jump. If you have him all the way at the top of the track and you can get your bars in front of his then you can "pin him to the boards" and he can't go any faster then you go. Don't take your eyes off him though because he can stop abruptly and go behind you and dive down that way.
I tried doing that to Nelson Vails when my madison partner and I rode a 3-up match sprint against him. We were just into turn one and still going at a walking pace. Nelson (AKA T-Bah) was above me so I said jokingly to my partner; "OK Mitch I've got him pinned. You can go now." In other words I would sacrifice my chances to stall Nelson so that Mitch could get a good jump and steal the race... T-Bah said something like; "You could try that if you want to get yourself all scuffed-up." "Scuffed up" is New York for road-rash... My response was a nervous laugh.
4) A hole is a gap between two riders in front of you that you might try to slip through. You might be giving a teammate a "lead out" and you might "dive" through an "impossible hole" and when you "swing up" to let him "pip" those guys at the line you might discover that he got "sawed off". Afterwards he might ask you "Why didn't you go over the top?" and you might reply "Why didn't hold my wheel"...
Jamie Swan - Northport, N.Y. http://www.centerportcycles.com (mapped) http://www.limws.org http://www.liatca.org http://www.cabinfeverliquidations.com
On Sep 24, 2005, at 10:56 PM, ternst wrote:
> Now that you're all feeling tougher, here's next week's terms.
> What is / are:
> 1) Hook, hooking
> 2) Chop, chopping
> 3) Go on top (of)
> 4) Hole
> Remember we're talking bike racing terms here, so don't go there.
> Ted Ernst