Setting up the velodrome for filming

The weekend was finally arriving I had been waiting for. This was the weekend a small group (Laurie Leslie, Graham Stewart, Bill Ulakovic, Arnold Devlin, Fabio Zorzes and Eugene Vandal) from the Thunder Bay Cycling Club would travel to Blaine Minnesota for two sessions of track riding on the National Sports Center Velodrome. After riding a road bike for over twenty-five years, climbing onto a fixed gear machine was going to be a totally different experience... I was both nervous and excited at the same time.

Leaving around noon from Thunder Bay, we arrived at the velodrome shortly after 4:00 p.m. central time. Bob Williams, who is the Track Director, was busy covering up the advertisements with a red, white and blue banner, to ready the track for the film crew which were there doing a documentary about "Lizzie" Anderson, a top woman racer from the turn a the century.

Bob Williams

Three young ladies dressed in period attire were tentatively riding a few vintage bikes that were brought in by the film crew, as the geometry on these bikes was so different from what they were used to riding. We stayed at the track for about an hour then made our way down the Roseville to try and find the hotel we had previously booked.

Finding the hotel proved to be more difficult than we had planned on, due to the fact that the map we were using had the wrong street names marked on it. After stopping and inquiring at a gas station, we finally arrived at our destination. Once settled in, we headed off for supper at the Olive Garden just south of the hotel. This proved to be one of the best dining experiences we had had in a long time, topped off with a heafty glass of Leinenkogels Red.

Back at the hotel it didn't take long to get settled in for the night. The conversation, before bed, centered around ideas of what was to take place a the velodrome tomorrow... then it was lights out.


DAY 1
Grabing breakfast at the hotel, we ate and then headed off to the NSC (National Sports Center). Bill Ulakovic arrived before us and was out doing a warm-up on his road bike. The gates weren't open, to the track, so we decided to grab a quick coffee across the street. On returning, Bob (Williams) was now there waiting for us near the trailer which holds all the bikes and equipment. We were each given the correct sized bike, which we would use for the weekend. Walking to the east end of the velodrome, we found the underpass/entrance to the center of the track. We proceeded to change into our riding gear then install our pedals (which we brought with us) on the bikes.

Bob immediately gathered us together to explain to us newbies all the in's and out's of track riding. Within twenty minutes we were on the machines practicing on the inner asphalt warm-up path. Once we felt comfortable with the fixed gear style of pedaling and breaking with the pedals, Bob gave us another short talk, then it was onto the main track. One does not realize how steep the ends of the track are until you get right up close to them. The angle is so steep, there's now way one could stand and stay there without a set of climbing ropes. The only way we're going to stay on the boards is with the help of centrifical force, created by power on the pedals. The nervous factor in me now has at least doubled.

Starting off slowly on the cote d'azure, the blue band at the bottom of the track, we all travel single file doing a few laps getting used to the feel of the wooden boards. With Bob in the lead, we slowly start to pick up speed, then start moving up to the black line (the measurement line for 250 meters around the track) which is about a foot above the cote d'azure. Going into the corners you immediately notice how the bike wants to keep going straight, which would then climb right up the track. Now one has to remember what Bob explained to us about controlling the bike in the corners, left arm straight with elbow locked and slightly move right on the saddle.

Top to bottom: Fabio, Laurie, Arnold and Gene

Up we go to the red line, this really feels strange and a bit scary. A few laps on the red line and I starting to feel a bit more comfortable on the steep banking. I can't see how everyone else is doing because they are all following me, as I'm in second position behind Bob. A couple more laps on the red and were slowly off to the blue line.

This kept on going until eventually we're right at the top of the track. This is a long way down to the bottom (the cote d'azure), 7 meters actually. We go down, then back up again, familiarizing ourselves with moving around the whole track. After about 20-25 laps, Bob signals us to stop on the next lap.

WOW!!! That was fun. The nervous energy I was full of is slowly disappearing, as I'm feeling pretty comfortable with the whole situation. After a quick drink, Bob talked to us again about the next thing he wanted us to try, pacelining and following the wheel in front of you closely. Bob demonstrated what he wanted us to do, then minutes later we were all off and riding again. (it started to rain lightly at this time) This again proved to be a bit tricky, as you're relying on pedal pressure to maintain the distance between you and the rider in front. Bob also explained to us to move to the right if you get too close to that wheel.... this way you're moving out of the way and also you're moving uphill again which will slow you down a bit, so you can move back into position behind the wheel in front again.

After a bit more pacelining and playing around on the track, we broke for the day. It was only 1:00 p.m. but the track was being given to the film crew again, so they could continue with their project.

We all headed back to the hotel to get our road bikes and go for a loosening up spin before supper. Heading south on one of the main drags we came upon a bike shop about a kilometer or two from the hotel. This was no ordinary shop as there were lots of high end machines lining the floor and racks. We looked around the store for a good half hour to forty-five minutes, then climbed back on our bikes again and headed east. We came to a spot near a lake and decided to check the map. We couldn't really firgure out where we were, so we ended up asking a pedestrian how to get back to the street the hotel was on. We back-tracked then eventually made it back to the hotel to treat ourselves with a liquid refreshment for a good day of riding.

That evening after showering and cleaning ourselves up, Fabio, Arnold and I headed St. Paul. The bunch of us were to meet at a small pub in the downtown core. We all found the place Bill had mentioned and sat down for a brew and an appetizer. After chatting over the highlights of the day we paid for the bill and headed to the Pazzaluna Restaurant, where we intended to dine that evening. Over a wonderful meal, drinks and great conversation we then decided to call it a night, so we wouldn't feel too tired for tomorrows training. We made our way back to the parking lot to our vehicles, then headed back to the hotel room for a good nights sleep.

Go to DAY 2