Matt Matteson

Awesome!

Don’t stop pedaling, really.

Tonight I made it down the 7-Eleven Velodrome. This velodrome in Colorado Springs was built in 1982, providing a place to train for the 1984 Olympics. One of only 23 in the United States.

As my first time on a track bike, and first outing on a track I had a blast! I picked up Deider at 4 PM and made it to the track with rental bike in hand, which I dug out of the shed moments before, only to hear “C racers please line up.” I clip in for the first time on this bike, and pedal over. A track bike is a weird member of the cycling family. The bike has only one gear, and you hope it’s the right gear. The bike won’t coast, so if you stop pedaling the bike attempts to eject you. I’d only fooled around on a friend’s fixed gear for moments, and here I am preparing to bump shoulders in a steep concrete bank. At least I know no one is going to stop in front of me.

I competed in 3 races, each with a certain style. The hardest part of the first race was I didn’t know when we were finishing. In a road race you look around if you notice everyone coasting, well then, the race is over. Tonight, not so much. I had questions for each race, and everyone was amazingly kind. I would yell questions in the pack while racing and kept getting kind replies. Thanks everyone for making my entrance into this crazy sport such a great time.

The goal of the night was to keep my flesh mine, and provide no blood sacrifice. I succeeded. The second goal of the evening was to try to get a Category upgrade, which would allow me to show up to the track in two weeks to compete in the Collegiate nationals. It turns out there is some magic to the USA Cycling and Collegiate divisions, but I think I can get them settled.

I can’t wait to get back out there. If any of you can help, I’m going to be looking for a track to borrow for the race. Tonight’s steel steed was a 58cm 48×14, if you have anything like this and could spare it for a week, let me know!

Results are posted online, I’ve just got to find them.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 27th, 2008 at Aug 27, 08 | 12:07 am and is filed under Journal. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.