Today I tried riding at the Forest City Velodrome. It is an indoor cycling track, which is very intimidating/strange to a mountain biker. I went with a couple friends from school, including one very serious track racer. We borrowed bikes from the Velodrome, after signing some waivers. To start off with we rode circles in the middle of the track. We got out seat height dialled in, and learned how to start and stop on a fixie. After this, we practised picking up 2 liter pop bottles from the ground. This was to help us get balanced on the bikes.
After what seemed like an eternity of riding in little circles, we were allowed to go onto the track and ride some big circles! The pace was pretty slow, and we didn't go very high on the track. We practised going from standing to sitting, and moving our hands around on the bars. It all felt familiar from previous road and mountain biking adventures.
What didn't feel familiar was the track. As a mountain biker, when I see anything as off camber as the track I get careful in a hurry. As such, I was very tentative the first few laps. Soon though, I was itching to go faster. The corners feel safer when you go faster, and it becomes more fun as well. Unfortunately we never got to really open it up on the track. Next time.
The hardest thing about the riding (aside from stopping) was maintaining an even speed. I found I had a tendency to creep up behind people, especially when I came out of corners. I suspect that this wouldn't be as much of an issue if I we had been going faster, but I will have to wait till next time to test that theory.
Here is a video of me riding. I am the red helmet with the black t shirt and white frame.
Riding Easy
