VELODROME

Track cycling on steep pine boards, where the fastest rider usually loses. Sitting in a slipstream costs a third less power, so races are won by position and timing — not by holding a button. Your anaerobic reserve empties fast above threshold and comes back slowly: jump too early and you die in the last hundred metres. Swoop down the banking to turn height into speed. Five disciplines, each a different puzzle — match sprint with the track stand, keirin behind the derny, points race, elimination, individual pursuit — across a thirteen-round championship of heats, repechages and finals.