I'll be going out to Seattle in the near future to visit a friend. She's not much of a biker...but hey, nobody's perfect :c) I'd love to visit the velodrome in WA if possible, but I'm not sure how far it is from Seattle or if they have rental bikes. What night are their races? I want to know if I should bring my street bike or my track bike. If the drome isn't a realistic destination, or if they have rental bikes, then I will bring the bike with brakes. Otherwise, I'll bring the track bike and ride my friend's hybrid around town.

Marymoor is in Redmond, about 1/2 hour drive from Seattle. Or you can ride on the Burke-Gilman bike trail over there, about 50-60 miles round trip depending on where you start.

There are newbie races on Monday nights, more experienced races on Wed, but the real show is Cat 2-3 races on Friday night. Women's training is on Tues night, and another open training class on Thurs night. Their loner track bikes are available every night but Friday. If you go other than these times you have to bring your own rig.

That said, I've been going out 2-3 times a week and I'd be happy to bring you with! The Tuesday women's training is great. Let me know when you're coming out and we can hook up.

Awesome! It will probably be August, or whenever I can get a cheap flight. Sounds like bringing the street fixie is the best idea. Is there a pretty large field of women who race?

At the Friday night races they only get 8 or so really good women to race (hence the peril of the women's races possibly getting pulled), but at the beginner and Wed night races they can get 20 or more. It's a really friendly group where everyone's out to learn and have a good time. I'll be on a bike trip the 4th week of August, but other than that I'd be happy to show you around!

Gilby - you'll be in good hands. Harlot, you'll have good company.

How odd is it that I've met you both?

Bikes are good stuff, man. :)

Indeed, they bring people together!

gilby from what I remember the rental bikes are/were fujis.
bring your own shoes and pedals.
their rentals dont come with.
bring a pedal wrench too, just in case.

the people seemed very nice and friendly

Just noticed this thread, and noticed that no one put the link to their website:
http://www.marymoorvelodrome.org

The track was just resurfaced this year, and they aquired an entire fleet of new rental bikes. They are all Raleighs, good starter bikes. Rentals are available on Monday & Wednesday for racing for $5, and then they also open the box for rentals on Thursday night for New Rider Training and probably Women's training night on Tuesdays.
I suspect you could rent one pretty easy during one of those training times if you just wanted to get a workout in.
Their totally nice folks.
August will be a good time, summer should be here by then.

Looks like we are gonna be rained out today. :-(

The velodrome is awesome. I am just getting into track racing myself, at the Marymoor Velodrome. Don't forget if you drive over you will need to pay $1 for parking. Also, if you race on Wednesday nights it will be an additional $20 to race for non-MVA (Marymoor Velodrome Association) members and $15 for MVA members.

Those that help run the races are awesome! They are a great group of people and so are the racers from those that I know. It is a hoot so we hope you can come visit!