Sounds similar though – relatively short lived and painful

This reminds me of the trike-a-thon I took part in in 1979, aged 4. I got about halfway around the Hillcrest cycle track on my trike

Wow, my thoughts exactly... same cycle track, it may have even been the same year. I don't think I cut back across the middle…

but how do people get points in the Madison?

Every twenty laps there's a sprint, the first four riders over the line in that get the points.

If you have stolen a lap, and joined onto the back of the bunch, you sprint with everyone else, and fight everyone for…

it meant i got to make a joke, instead of actually looking things up

well ... you could still explain the sprinting points :-)

Oops. Sorry 'bout that. I'll give you good odds against this happening again in under a decade.

No worries, it meant i got to make a joke, instead of actually looking things up

I got about halfway around the Hillcrest cycle track on my trike, then decided it was too hard and cut across the middle, back to the start.

I saw a greyhound do that – clever tyke actually headed off & caught the thing that supposedly resembles a rabbit.

The meanies disqualified…

I'm too busy re-writing my bit that was about... the history of the Madison :)
I'm using this as "research" :)

Oops. Sorry 'bout that. I'll give you good odds against this happening again in under a decade.

Hadyn – damn. You were supposed to be answering the questions, not asking them!

I'm too busy re-writing my bit that was about... the history of the Madison :)

I'm using this as "research" :)

Le Tour had similar origins as a brutal, brutal race, and those guys weren't using 20-speeds. They were on 'fixed gear' bikes, like today's track bikes, with only one gear. Here's a quote from Wikipedia about the first…

You rode until you dropped. You suffered delusions, hallucinations.

This reminds me of the trike-a-thon I took part in in 1979, aged 4. I got about halfway around the Hillcrest cycle track on my trike, then decided it was too hard and cut across the middle, back to the start.…

Thanks for the background information, folks. I'm reassured that Rupert Murdoch is just another in a long line of robber barons to exploit sport for mega profits.

what exactly, does "stealing a lap" mean?

Stealing a lap is is a phrase that probably comes from stealing a base. Basically, you've done more laps than the others (i.e. you lapped them). The person who…

The points race makes sense. And the bit about the Madison that means that it's most laps that wins, with most points as the tie-breaker also…

When I wanted to know the background to the Russia/Georga conflict thats where I went.

When I wanted to know what really…

I'm afflicted by a small voice in my head that, every time I hear the name of this race, says 'Anyone know how to Maddison?'. It's sad, really.