Is anyone interested in racing at the velodrome with TejanoTrackie, Dannihilator, myself, and a few others on here that race? If any of you guys have done the beginner class or have started racing, let us know who you are.

If you are curious about it I hope this thread will help you find out more.

Many people are very reluctant to show up at a track and say, "I wanna race." It can be intimidating if you don't have a friend to go with you and help. I am that friend

Local racing is NOT a big deal. Ever play a game of pickup basketball at the rec center? It's pretty much just like that. Basically many people think local track racing is like this:


But it's more like this:


Alleycats are more complicated than track races. If you can do an alleycat, you can race on a velodrome.

Every track has a "Rookie" or "Beginners" program that is designed to teach people track etiquette. Basically the "dos" and "don'ts" so that you know what to do and won't be nervous.

Racing is for ALL ages. There are kid from 8-17 and adults from 18-70+. There were 60 year old guys in my beginner program. All body types. You can start at anytime. Everyone gets up to speed very quickly (literally and figuratively).

Racing is based on skill and speed. You will be grouped with people of similar skill and speed. This keeps it fun. This is like the "A" and "B" basketball courts where the fast skillful players are on one court and the less fast and less skillful guys on another.

Don't worry about the kits. All uniforms feel weird when you first start using them. You get used to it. Oh and you don't wear underwear under your cycling shorts. You put what's called Chamois Cream (pronounced "shammy") to keep the friction down.

I have seen some STRONG and FAST racers come from the FG scene and kick butt on the race scene. TwoTone from Atlanta (Twotoneatl.com) is one of them. John Prolly raced for a minute. He is really fast. Not sure why he stopped.

Any well maintained FG bike is probably just fine. You don't need a space-aged bike to race. Just like you don't need Jordans to play basketball.

You don't have to race. You can just train on the track. There are LOTS of people that go through the beginner classes just so they can train on the track and have no interest in racing.

To get an idea of the atmosphere, here are some photos from the Dick Lane Velodrome in ATL: http://www.flickr.com/groups/dlv/pool/

Any questions? Fellow track racers/trainers please feel free to chime in.


Put those track bikes on the track!