First bike race of 2008 at the NYC Velodrome

[dgk]

I went to watch the first bike race of 2008 at the Kissena Park
Velodrome on Sunday, March 9th. Lots of fun but very cold (35F ?) with
a good stiff wind, maybe 30mph gusts, out of the west, which is the
backstretch. Bikes noticeably slowed going that way.

One guy, wearing Kissena Bike Club colors, was in shorts. Everyone
else was wearing some sort of long pants or tights. One rider, with
apparently no body fat, was shivering so badly while up against the
track fence waiting for the race to start that a spectator come by and
put a coat over his shoulders.

Most bikes were ridden to the Velodrome from around the city but some
came on the tops of cars. None of the bikes are street legal since
they have no brakes but that didn't stop our fearsome competitors,
many of whom were messengers.

I'm guessing that there were 50-60 riders, and about 20 spectators,
including myself. I watched the first five races, and then biked to a
warmer locale, namely my living room. I'll be happy when I'm watching
on a hot afternoon in July.

[Ryan Cousineau]

In article <792bt3hoe1nd19vgqilq5ripub7b3vb2bb@4ax.com>,
dgk <dgk@somewhere.com> wrote:

> I went to watch the first bike race of 2008 at the Kissena Park
> Velodrome on Sunday, March 9th. Lots of fun but very cold (35F ?) with
> a good stiff wind, maybe 30mph gusts, out of the west, which is the
> backstretch. Bikes noticeably slowed going that way.
>
> One guy, wearing Kissena Bike Club colors, was in shorts. Everyone
> else was wearing some sort of long pants or tights. One rider, with
> apparently no body fat, was shivering so badly while up against the
> track fence waiting for the race to start that a spectator come by and
> put a coat over his shoulders.
>
> Most bikes were ridden to the Velodrome from around the city but some
> came on the tops of cars. None of the bikes are street legal since
> they have no brakes but that didn't stop our fearsome competitors,
> many of whom were messengers.
>
> I'm guessing that there were 50-60 riders, and about 20 spectators,
> including myself. I watched the first five races, and then biked to a
> warmer locale, namely my living room. I'll be happy when I'm watching
> on a hot afternoon in July.

Huh. Locally, we had a Six Day at the Burnaby Velodrome that started on
New Year's eve.

But then, the facility is particularly well suited to winter races:

http://burnabyvelodrome.ca/facility.html

-RjC.

--
Ryan Cousineau rcousine@gmail.com http://www.wiredcola.com/
"In other newsgroups, they killfile trolls."
"In rec.bicycles.racing, we coach them."

[dgk]

On Tue, 11 Mar 2008 06:48:26 GMT, Ryan Cousineau <rcousine@gmail.com>
wrote:

>In article <792bt3hoe1nd19vgqilq5ripub7b3vb2bb@4ax.com>,
> dgk <dgk@somewhere.com> wrote:
>
>> I went to watch the first bike race of 2008 at the Kissena Park
>> Velodrome on Sunday, March 9th. Lots of fun but very cold (35F ?) with
>> a good stiff wind, maybe 30mph gusts, out of the west, which is the
>> backstretch. Bikes noticeably slowed going that way.
>>
>> One guy, wearing Kissena Bike Club colors, was in shorts. Everyone
>> else was wearing some sort of long pants or tights. One rider, with
>> apparently no body fat, was shivering so badly while up against the
>> track fence waiting for the race to start that a spectator come by and
>> put a coat over his shoulders.
>>
>> Most bikes were ridden to the Velodrome from around the city but some
>> came on the tops of cars. None of the bikes are street legal since
>> they have no brakes but that didn't stop our fearsome competitors,
>> many of whom were messengers.
>>
>> I'm guessing that there were 50-60 riders, and about 20 spectators,
>> including myself. I watched the first five races, and then biked to a
>> warmer locale, namely my living room. I'll be happy when I'm watching
>> on a hot afternoon in July.
>
>Huh. Locally, we had a Six Day at the Burnaby Velodrome that started on
>New Year's eve.
>
>But then, the facility is particularly well suited to winter races:
>
>http://burnabyvelodrome.ca/facility.html
>
>-RjC.


NICE! As for the website, I like the way the main picture is toggled
by mousing over the thumbnails, I haven't seen that before. Tricky
javascript I guess.

[Paul M. Hobson]

Ryan Cousineau wrote:
> But then, the facility is particularly well suited to winter races:
>
> http://burnabyvelodrome.ca/facility.html

Are those volleyball courts in the infield?

\\paul
--
Paul M. Hobson
..:change the f to ph to reply:.

[Ryan Cousineau]

In article <fr6tnc$8el$1@news-int.gatech.edu>,
"Paul M. Hobson" <fobson@gatech.edu> wrote:

> Ryan Cousineau wrote:
> > But then, the facility is particularly well suited to winter races:
> >
> > http://burnabyvelodrome.ca/facility.html
>
> Are those volleyball courts in the infield?

Yes. There's a bemusing story about control of the velodrome and the
time the track nearly got ripped out, but the short version is that the
volleyball courts are used extensively.

They're closed for big events when the cyclists take over the infield,
but on normal track days they'll have big catch-netting up around the
courts in the infield, volleyballers aplenty, and the cyclists will be
racing around the track at the same time.

--
Ryan Cousineau rcousine@gmail.com http://www.wiredcola.com/
"In other newsgroups, they killfile trolls."
"In rec.bicycles.racing, we coach them."