Ummm.

Me, too....

;)

nacler22, never too late to chime in - Congratulations!!!!!! Beautiful medal, too. You showed up, you rode, you finished, you won. Wow!!

Thank you sarals. I read the write up about your aerial exploits and was quite impressed. I'm a fixed-wing guy, but treated myself to an hour of dual in a R22 for my birthday 15 or so years ago. What a friggen blast. The best part for me was doing 360's down an abandoned runway at 50' agl. Took me a couple passes to get right, but I had a grin from ear to ear.

My Facebook friend posted this iPhone podium image from Sunday's race. It's plainly obvious who is best dressed.

http://i489.photobucket.com/albums/r...5/af94f2dd.jpg

The English language can be cruel at times and I will double my efforts to keep sentences more carefully positioned. And I will especially watch out for dangling participles.:D

Very niiiice!

If I had taken the photo, it would be a blurry shot of your knees.

Hermes, first, I wasn't going to touch your pursuit bike post with a 10 foot...never mind. :D Second, I don't think I'm going to do districts this weekend. I have pre-paid criteriums on Sunday and a bunch of other semi-obligations on Saturday. Also, the schedule is not that great for me with the 500m TT on Saturday and the 2K TT on Sunday. That would make two days at the track and 2,500m of racing. :p

Racer Ex, not to worry about Saturday. I had to get rolling as I had to get to Murietta for my Mother's 80th birthday.

For reference, if it matters to anyone, I'll be at the track on Tuesday for intervals, racing a road omnium on Thursday evening, and criteriums on Sunday. I did manage another solo 100k road ride with some decent climbing on Sunday. Once again I didn't intend to ride solo but it unfortunately worked out that way.

BTW, I saw this on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2rHJ...ure=plpp_video

(It's a time-lapse video done during construction of the Cleveland velodrome.)

Cleave, 500 meters and a 2k pursuit is a lot of racing if you win both events. BTW, MEA and I will be in OC for another track week starting next Monday and competing in the final LAVRA. Hope to see you at the track or at LAVRA.

Cleve, I worked at the velodrome yesterday. We are almost done installing the wool panels. They will begin to install the berm and top railing tomorrow. We will still need to go back to all the panels to put additional screws in and to cover the screw heads with epoxy. Dale, the company rep who leads the work Mon-Thur, says we are on schedule to complete construction in 14-18 days.

Here are images I took yesterday after we cleaned up for the day:

http://i489.photobucket.com/albums/r...5/e7cb09ed.jpg

http://i489.photobucket.com/albums/r...5/b02f69ee.jpg

http://i489.photobucket.com/albums/r...5/52e76fdd.jpg

What will the infield consist of?

WOW! AJ my family is leaving town for a week and i will be free to roam the country-side, who do i contact to volunteer some labor?

Here is the link to the velodrome: http://clevelandvelodrome.org/

Workers don't need specific skills to help, but if you have a skilled trade make sure that you mention it when you email the staff via the "volunteer link". I hope to do a half day this Friday then I'll be on vacation and at family events over the next two weeks. Possibly I'll come back to ride the "soft opening" for those who helped out and prior to the complete finish-out of the track and site ammenities.

As far as I know just the current parking deck. There is talk of seal coating it, but I don't now for certain when. Yesterday Dale said that he constructs the berm with the intention of riders only using it for access onto and off the track. He said at the track he runs in Detroit riders are only allowed 1 1/2 laps on the berm. I know there will be some tables, benches and racks inside the track. Once the track is closed up there is no access for heavy equipment or supplies other than lifting it over the straight-a-way.

Looks like I'll have to come out for the NSG just to ride this.

Ditto. This is cementing my plans for next year. I hope they will have bike rentals. I sold my track bike years ago.

So how does one get in and out of the infield?

There will be bike rentals. The group purchased a construction trailer that will be used as an office, meeting room and rental bike room. The trailer is on site and has been utilized for tool and supply storage during the construction. Access to the track will be up a ramp then onto the straight. Construction will begin on the ramp as soon as the bulk of the track work in completed.

Having built recreation facilities and parks for most of my career, and knowing the cost of those facilities, I'm impressed with how far the $300,000 raised is going.

The possibility of a BF 50+ track day is very enticing.

I'll probably crash trying to do the fixie thing and take you all down with me.

I'll make sure and be up the track.

Here are some pics from the Frisco Tx 250 track that has a similar construction as the Cleveland track.

Entry is via a tunnel with an infield for setting up tents.

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u...PICT0025-1.jpg

The other end is an announcers area but note the transition of the infield to the track surface.

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u...PICT0026-1.jpg

Note that there is a transition from the Cote du Jour (blue band) to the track where the 45 degree banking begins. The area offers a smooth transition.

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u...z/PICT0048.jpg

One of the points races. Note that one has to plan that something really bad can happen such as a racer goes over the rail or a racer or group go sliding down the banking off the track. The transitions on and off the track have to be everywhere.

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u...PICT0021-1.jpg

The fixie bit is easy, you get used to it very fast. But what gets me is the banking. I took my FG to an old local track recently when it was deserted, and rode around a few laps just for the experience. Quite an eye-opener. In the first place, getting up there requires considerable momentum. In the second, once up there it seems implausible that one can keep the bike upright. Quite intimidating the first few times.

Hi,

A BF 50+ track day in Cleveland sounds like a ton of fun. Assuming I convince the Mrs. to go (she qualified for the 10K run), I'd be thrilled to participate.

I had very little fixed gear experience at the Kissena in NY. I mostly rode around it on a regular road bike before moving to SoCal. At the time, I believe it was listed as a 1/4 mile track but now, after a complete makeover, it is listed as a 400 meter track. The banking is listed as 19 degrees.

Pertinent to the banking and not crashing discussion, my next track experience was at a (West) German Olympic Training Center in Büttgen, Germany. You'll notice on the linked page a fact about a US amateur team in Dec 1979 - Jan 1980. I was on that "team" and it was actually Dec 1980 - Jan 1981. It was really a rider exchange program that Ted Ernst set up. But I digress.

The Kaarst-Büttgen Sportforum is almost identical to the Velo Sports Center (VSC) in Carson, CA, per Roger young; 250 meters, 45 degree banking. Roger told me the German track uses different wood. All I know is that when I first saw it I thought, "No f'ing way am I going to be able to ride on that." I was 23 years-old at the time. Gregor Braun, 1976 Olympic Pursuit gold-medalist, was on the track training and it looked like you needed to be of his ability to ride there. Most of us ended up on ill-fitting loaner bikes and in the end it was possible and not nearly as hard or scary as it looked.

My next track experience was at the 7-11 Olympic Velodrome near the current location of the VSC. The 7-11 track was 333-1/3 meters with 33 degree banking which was the Olympic standard at the time. It was easy compared to Büttgen. I trained a fair amount there during the 1980s and early 1990s.

The only other track I've ridden is Marymoor near Seattle. It's 400 meters with 25 degree banking and it's pretty bumpy. I've only been there once for an evening training session on a rental bike.

The thing about riding on a steep track is that you can go relatively slowly on the banking but you also can quickly get in trouble. I try to stay around 20 MPH with my lower limit being 18 MPH. I know some people say you can go slower but I've never slid off the track from going too slow while many others have. It is probably harder to maintain a speed in an outdoor track with steep banking.

If you get the opportunity to learn how to ride on a velodrome, do it!

Our track measures out at 50 degrees. The man behind the dream broke the track in today by taking a few laps. Dale, the track designer/consultant can be heard telling Brett to ride the top panel.

http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?desktop...M-jPpRgw&gl=US

I cant get those videos to work, but then my computer has gone bonkers lately.

Here is round #2 of my TT position. Saddle slammed forward, which reduced the saddle height a bit as well as locking me in better with my upper arms more vertical. Should generate more power.

.be

I'm done. No mas. Good luck to all.