Track Racing has grown in popularity following the success of the GB Team in the Olympics and World Championships.

Tracks: Track racing takes place on short specially built tracks consisting of two tight, banked corners joined by two short straights. Tracks range hugely in length - outdoor tracks usually being longer and with shallower bankings - but Olympic and World Championship Track racing is generally held on indoor 250m wooden tracks. Many outdoor tracks are concrete or tarmac surfaced.

Bikes: Track bikes are relatively simple, lacking the gears and brakes of their Road cousins. With bikes having a fixed wheel (forcing you to pedal continuously) the rider controls speed through pressure applied to the pedals. Bikes fall into two broad categories:
i) Upright bikes with conventional dropped handlebars, traditional spoked or carbon spoked wheels. These bikes are used for bunch races, Keirin and Match Sprint.
ii) Low-profile bikes, with extended "trathalon" style bars, allowing the rider to adopt a more aerodynamic position. Wheels are often four-spoked carbon or carbon disc. Handling and manoeuvrability are sacrificed for aerodynamic efficiency. These bikes are used for Pursuit races and Kilo and 500m Time Trial.

Rob Hayles represented Team GB in the Team Pursuit, Individual Pursuit and the Madison.

Team Pursuit: Men race in teams of four over 4000m and women in teams of three over 3000m. The major difference to the individual version is that the riders share the workload, with the lead rider staying at the front for only a lap or so before swinging up the track (right) and re-joining the three or four rider line at the back. A technical event, team-mates often ride only centimetres apart to maximise slipstreaming effects. In the men's event, times are taken on the third rider of the team to cross the line: the slowest rider in a team often sacrifices himself in later stages of the event and pulls up the track to let his team-mates complete the race without him.

Individual Pursuit: The ultimate head-to-head endurance race. Riders begin from a standing start in pairs on opposite sides of the Track and literally "pursue" each other for 4000 meters (3000 meters for women). There is usually a qualifying round from which the fastest four riders progress: the two fastest contest the gold/silver medals and the third and fourth fastest the bronze medal. In the finals, the first rider to complete 4000m wins, unless one rider is caught by the other, at which point the race is over.

Madison: Effectively a Points Race for two-man teams (though the points scoring works slightly differently - see below). Only one rider per pairing is ever actually racing. The other rider circles the track high up the banking until he is caught by his team-mate at which point he swoops down and, after a hand sling (difficult to describe, but basically the rider who is "in" takes the hand of his team-mate and transfers his momentum to him through a mixed handshake and slinging motion) takes over the racing for the pair. Highly technical, a challenge to watch, but very exciting and almost balletic at times. Again, the winner is the team with the most points - however, unlike Points Races, laps gained over the field do not produce bonus points - instead laps gained actually have priority over points scored. So if only one team laps the field, they win irrespective of the number of points scored. And if several teams lap the field, they then are ranked according to points scored. This puts extra emphasis on taking laps, which subtly influences tactics used.