Going for the first time this weekend, super stoked. Anyone been to the Hellyer Park Velodrome in San Jose before? Maybe share your first velodrome experiences?

I wish Ohio had a velodrome. Ohio sucks

WTF i live in Kettering too. and let's build a velodrome next to that skatepark.

To answer the OP's question though, I was surprised by how steep the walls on the curves are. That and by how slow I am. Have fun!

You know this is Frank, right? lol. I would be down for a velodrome there as I spend most of my time at that park anyway. If we had a velodrome we would by far be the coolest suburb of Dayton ever!

Alright, this is a total longshot but seeing as you are frank from kettering ohio that hangs out at the skate plaza, are you friends with my little brother mark?

Not a long shot at all. Whats up michael? Holy reunion. Sorry for the thread jack OP. Someone tell this guy about the track!

haha don't worry about it. this is actually pretty cool...

who are michael and mark? did they go to fairmont?

god forbid you ever go to alpenrose...

Weird...
I'm from Centerville.

No. Centerville. Mark is a senior this year, and Michael is off at OU.

Don't worry about slipping off the track as long as you just keep spinning. I always worry about thus at ADT (46 degree wood banking) but it keeps me always "on the gas." Be ready to be hooked (and hooked into spending more money). Ask lots of questions.

Please report back to us on how it was. I've been meaning to give it a try, but I would need to switch to drops (from horns), maybe loose the brake and probably switch to my larger chain-ring. All those add up to me being lazy.

being from ohio i also wish we had a track
just read about this the other day.
there's not much information on its construction or anything, but if it does happen, i would have no problem driving thirty minutes to an indoor track.

do you happen to know a mark or michael berens? or in simpler terms, me or my brother

I've been to the velodrome at Hellyer Park twice.

They have lessons for newbies one morning of the weekend (can't remember if it is Sat or Sun morning).

They rent Langsters for $5 all day, just bring your pedals and helmet.

You will do fine. Just don't be a typical roadie and pull off the paceline to the left. You ride counterclockwise and you pull off to the right which is up the incline.

The practice drill are very tough so I hope you are in reasonable shape.

Let us know how you liked it.

BTW NEVER backpedal to slow down at a velodrome, just ride up the banking. The 80+ gearing will destroy your knees if you resist the pedal stroke.

^ noob question, but would i get ass kicked if i went in with my 46:16 ratio? also, i've got a set of eggbeaters i was planning on putting on. are they any good for the track?

Eggbeaters aren't the greatest but they will suffice.

ride hard and do barspinz

also from kettering.

Im moving to Indy in January, MTV for the win

Not to mention you'll break up a paceline and piss everyone off if you do some hard backpedaling.

Really light backpedaling isn't an issue though. I guess at that point it's not really backpedaling, just the absense of forward pedaling and just letting the pedals move your legs for you.

At one point in a race last season I was near skip stopping from backpedaling so hard because I sprinted for a finish and lapped someone right at the line and he started turning where I was headed without looking, leaving me little room to work with...

so much effing fun. we started off with a 40 lap pace line[?] and then moved on to some other drills. the instructor had us brushing off each other, defense i guess? we finished off with 200m sprints, i spun mine in 15 seconds.

oh, and i need a new saddle and bars. i have a set of nitto bullhorns that i like a lot, but i was thinking about a set of b123s for the track. an suggestions on saddle?

i'm already spending money. dammit.

Sounds awesome RB, might have to head down there sometime seeing as how Im in the bay too. Got a lot of work before Id be ready for the velodrome though.

Is there a track in SF? I thought I heard about one but cant exactly recall.