thenomad

Anyone going to the races on Sat the 23rd? I'm trying to make it out there. Not sure what the races will be but a friend said some olympic teams were training there this week. I'd like to go get info in dates for training and open track days.

Sorry for not being knowledgeable enough about it yet, still looking for info.

bitingduck

You mean Home Depot Center. About 15 miles difference down the 110.

The race flyer is here: Race Flyer, and the details of the races here: race lists

Members of the US and Canadian teams both train at HDC (sometimes the whole teams are out), but won't be racing this weekend- these are local races for lower category racers to get experience.

Training information is here: Velo Sports Center (at the Home Depot Center)

The basic deal for training there is you have to get "certified" to ride-- you take either a 1 session accelerated class (accelerated class info) or a 4 session intro class. It may also still be possible to get certified in a club session. If you're an experienced rider and can ride comfortably at close quarters and in a paceline then you're probably fine in the accelerated class. Passing that qualifies you to ride at open sessions and Tue/Thu interval sessions. Rental bikes are available for the class and training sessions, but not for racing.

thenomad

That'd make it easier to find for sure. Thanks!

I'm laid up after some surgery right now but July I think itd be awesome to take the certification course and then trian some.

Are the amature races worth spectating? I think my son would enjoy it.

bitingduck

Pretty much all track racing ecept european 6-days is amateur, and yes, it's worth spectating. Around here there are usually at least a few in the lower categories who are pretty good road racers and are working on getting their track upgrades. He's also more likely to say "yeah, I could do that" if he sees the relatively new racers than if he were watching a world cup.

Track riding and racing is a ton of fun, and we have what is probably still the nicest facility in the country right here and available for almost anybody to ride.

thenomad

well, he's 5 years old so as long as its fast and loud he's good.

thenomad

Looks like theres a big Masters race event on the 30th so I may actually go out for that one.
Think that one will be better?

bitingduck

The fields will probably be bigger for this weekend. Masters is masters states, which will be a ton of time trials (like watching paint dry) and a bunch of mass starts that either have small fields, or fields where there are 5 groups mixed and the racing is really weird because not everyone is racing each other.

thenomad

thanks!