"warren" asked:
"I have wondered this, especially since people say the track is much nicer
to ride on after its remodeling. So, why is it a little slow?"

The track is nicer to ride since the remodeling. The remodel was done 6
years ago and it involved tearing out 90 feet in each of the 4 corners,
almost 1/2 of the track, and rebuilding them to make the transition less
abrupt. Before the remodel the transitions were so abrupt that riding above
the stayer's line you would get very light and maybe even leave the ground
coming out of the turn and there would be a big compressions going into the
turn. Of course, the effect was greater the further out you were on the
track. This also means that the improvement was less lower on the track so
the remodel had little effect in the sprinter's lane and little effect on
how fast the track is.

One of the reasons that the track is slow is that it is fairly bumpy. Most
of the bumps are over a fairly long run but basically the surface is similar
to riding on the road. This was something that we hoped to improve with the
remodel since we expected that at least the new parts would be smoother.
The design presented to the contractor specified the surface elevations to
1/32" on 1 foot centers. Unfortunately the contractor was insufficiently
careful on pouring the new sections and there were fairly large dips and
bumps with one portion 3 1/2" off specifications. This initiated a long
process of arguing with the contractor, identifying the portions above and
below specifications, grinding down the high spots to below specs and then
filling those and the low spots up to spec. At the conclusion of this
process the new portions were no bumpier than the old portions and that was
as good as it was going to get.

The other reasons a

- Tight turns and long straights. The rounder a track is the faster it will
be. Alpenrose is not at all round. From the air it looks more like a
cigar.
- Steep banks. This makes the rider climb a bit in each turn. At Alpenrose
this works out to more than 1 foot rise each lap
- Single radius turns. The turns are circular. This means that as you ride
your angular acceleration goes from zero to a fixed number, stays at that
number through the turn and then suddenly goes back to zero. This give you
a sensation of being tossed into and out of the turn which tends to slow you
down.
- Abrupt transition to the apron. The apron is flat and the turn is about
43 degrees with no transition between the two. When you are riding it is
pretty obvious you don't want to go too far left. Sponges are cosmetic at
Alpenrose and it is rare for anyone to hit one. This makes it pretty hard
to keep a low line.

--
Mike Murray