Madison Hand Sling

This is a cracking photo.  Captured at the very moment where two teams change riders in the National Madison Championship back in 2010.  As someone that had never watched a track race before, I was intrigued by the Madison event when I first watched it.

It's a difficult race to keep track of.  There's so much going on and when the group bunches up and a load of handovers take place, with the new riders being catapulted into the action via the hand sling manoeuvre demonsrated here, you have to be alert to know what's happening.

Riding a velodrome is difficult enough.  I did a track taster session which you can read about here. Believe me, the professionals make it look easy.  Not sure I could be slinging anyone into the racing!

Photo courtesy of CycleSportPhoto's.com.