First day at the track! Northeast Velodrome in Londonderry, NH. Basically just off the south end of Manchester airport. Pushing the "Metro Boston" envelope a little, but hey, we had participants from Waltham and Swampscott, so there.
The new rider clinic was a blast but I decided to sit out the racing today, it was an Omnium format and felt like just a bit too much to get used to all at once. I've never competed in anything, I don't even ride in groups really, and it showed. Speed was not the issue, it was just practice after all, but we were doing a lot of laps of paceline drills and I was having a hard time getting used to following closely. My road mind wanted more of a safety gap.
In reality I think I would have been fine, as the B level racing (where newbies are starting out) was strung out pretty long around the course with a lot of riders just doing their own thing. But anyway, I had fun, it was a great and welcoming group and a low-key atmosphere. If I can make it with my job, I plan to go back Thursday night for sprint racing.
Unfortunately my GPS app didn't like me going in circles and didn't register any speed at all. Another reason I want to go back and see what's what in the flying 200m.
My steed in race trim:
Worked very well, but it was too windy for my makeshift stand. A few other bikes went over, as well, though; there wasn't enough room on the rail for everyone to hang their bikes by the saddle. The Radio Flyer belonged to the youngest fan in attendance
NEV is originally a motor racing track with very shallow banking. Most recently shared 50:50 with a kart group but I understand they pulled out after last season. The facility is looking a little rough as a result. That's a lot of asphalt and fencing to keep up in a New England climate.
Besides piles of old racecar tires everywhere, there was also this reminder of a higher-octane past.
The Specialized is one of their rental fleet, available for $10 for the day. Race fee is $30 on Sundays and $20 on Tuesday (mass start races) and Thursday (alternating timed events and sprints) nights.
https://nevelodrome.com/ but their Facebook and Instagram posts actually seem to be more up to date than the website.
I also want to check out the Londonderry Rail Trail which passes very close by. Close enough that I could see myself using the trail for warming up (with a front brake mounted), as practice time on the track is limited.
I have no idea how many laps we did. It's nominally 333m per lap, but I'm sure it was at least 30 laps so let's say 10km/6 miles today at a minimum.