Penrose Pics

A few photos from the last couple of weeks of racing at Penrose Park Velodrome here in St. Louis. A lot of them are from the night we did match sprints, which was a blast. All photos by Kent Lindemann. Thanks for letting me post these, Kent.

If you haven't been to Penrose yet, I highly recommend it. Great track, great racing. Plus, we're doing keirin this week! Racing every Thursday, 6pm. More details HERE.

SLOW BIKE RACE!!!

Actually, it's a Longest Lap race: first lap must not be completed before 6 mins has elapsed (meaning that if you cross the line before 6 mins, you're out, and you also can't put your foot down or ride backwards). As soon as that 6 mins is up, the official will blow a whistle, and everyone still remaining has to do an all-out sprint to the finish. The fun part is that you're not allowed look at a watch or timer, so you've no idea when the 6 mins is up, but you want to get as closed to the end of the first lap as possible, so that you've less distance to sprint when the time is up. I got second (hot pink kit, son!) Fun times!

Thanks to Gus Miller for the rad drone footage.

International Omnium at Penrose Velodrome!

This will be a BLAST! Details HERE and/or HERE.

Penrose Velodrome Race Nights

More info HERE and HERE. See you at the track!

'Sup Fools, I'm Back!

Just a few pics, out of the blue, of the racing last week at the completely rebuilt and absolutely fantastic Penrose Park Velodrome in St. Louis. It is smooth an fast AF! All Chicago/Kenosha/Midwest trackies need to take a trip down to STL some week to race. Details HERE.

Team Pegasus Trip to Chicago Velo Campus

Last weekend a bunch of us headed down to the soutside to get certified at the new track at the Chicago Velo Campus. Man, the track is a blast! Short and steep, you have to respect the turns and make sure you listen to track manager (and former British National squad sprinter) Peter. Like riding an old fashioned wooden rollercoaster, I can't wait to go back!


Brandon getting low in the corner.


Getting ready to roll out.


Riding the rail.


Andy gunning it during his flying lap.


Me, gassed after a flying lap.

Chicago Velo Campus

Things are shaping up in Chicago! This photo is a little older, the track has its surface now! Should be a wild ride. Chicago Velo Campus, details here.

Scalextric Velodrome

For the 2012 London Olympics, Scalextric are releasing this track cycling set. Pics and details are at Pocketlint. Thanks for the heads-up, Val!

Preview of the London 2012 Velodrome

The Guardian has a 360 degree preview of the brand new velodrome for the 2012 Olympics in London. Check it out here.

London Mini Drome

Red Bull's efforts to jump on the bandwagon of get involved with every sport known to man continues, with the news that they'll be sponsoring some kind of mini-velodrome in London this coming January. There are no details other than the claim that the track will be "the world's smallest velodrome" and that riders will reach speeds of up to 80kph... which is 50mph. Suuuure...

Anyway, it'll be interesting to see how short and steep "the world's smallest velodrome" will actually be. More details at Bike Radar and the official site here.

Save Herne Hill

A while ago I posted about visiting Herne Hill velodrome when I was living in London. It's a great old track, with tons of history and is the only velodrome in London, but sadly it's a bit run down, and it looks like without some serious financial help the track will have to close. Check out the campaign to save Herne Hill velodrome here and here.

Thanks to Tracko for bringing the campaign to our attention!

Chicago Velo Campus

Now this would be amazing. A group of Chicago cyclists and sponsors are in the early stages of planning what would be a world class cycling campus for the Chicago area. The campus would include:

- State-of-the-art indoor 250m velodrome track
- Outdoor and indoor BMX tracks
- Outdoor and indoor mountain bike tracks
- Outdoor cyclocross track
- Triathlon training center
- Wind tunnel facility
- Olympic-size swimming pool
- Running track
- Fitness center
- Coaching and educational facility
- Olympic development program
- Youth, beginner, elite and masters programs
- Community center
- Physical therapy and sports medicine center
- Sports retail
- Cycling museum
- Restaurant and cafe
- Health and juice bar
- Commuter hub

Like I said, the plans are in the early stages, and I'm not sure if they have a site in mind yet, but it would be great to see something like this in the city. An indoor velodrome in particular would be incredible. Their website is here.

Thunderdrome!

So I think Aaron posted a video a while back about the abandoned Detroit velodrome, and the efforts of The Mower Gang to clean it up and make it viable for racing. Well, guess what? They're racing it. And not just one race, but a whole series of races, for mopeds, scooters and bikes! All proceeds from the races will be put back into repairing and maintaining the velodrome and surrounding park, so if you're in the area you should definitely get yourself over there to either race or just watch the action. This is just one example of some of the really interesting local community participation stuff happening in Detroit right now. Thunderdrome happens on October 16th, and all the details are on their excellent site here.

"Mower Gang" Tackles Detroit Velodrome

Watch the actual video HERE.

A group of self-proclaimed “do-gooders” and “helper-outers,” as well as “the greatest gang of idiots to ever run a lawn tractor” has recently taken root in Detroit. Its purpose is to restore–by way of mowing–some of the city’s public lands, such as parks, that the city itself is no longer able to keep up. As the gang puts it, “Rather than see them abandoned, the Mower Gang swoops in and keeps the weeds from taking over.”

The Mower Gang’s first project (undertaken on August 8th) was an abandoned velodrome–which they cleaned up nicely, restoring it to full use.

If you’re in the Detroit area and interested in helping out, just find out where they’ll be and come with a mower or trimmer of your own. You can find out more about the crew on their website.

Text from here




This is awesome. We really need more of this sort of thing.

Thanks to J.dad- I mean J.dot, for the heads up!

Check out more info on the Mower Gang at their website.

DeLange Race Pics

I rode up to the track with some teammates last night to watch the action at the 2010 Roger DeLange race. It was a great night, watching former Olympians like Colby Pearce take on the locals in the main event, which had a $1,500 purse. I saw Ed White there taking photos, so I knew he'd have some good shots up on his flickr, and he does. Here are a few:

Colby Pearce out on his own. Photo by Ed White.

Al Urbanski of WDT and Henry Loud of Team Pegasus leading the field. Photo by Ed White.

Ride the black line! Photo by Ed White.

The field. Photo by Ed White.

Check out more of Ed's great photos here, and if you're in Chicago you should visit the track soon. Hanging out in the infield and watching your friends race is a blast. Race night is every Thursday. Details here.

Northbrook Velodrome Poster

Hot off the press, this brilliant poster by Jay Ryan of The Bird Machine celebrating this year's track season at Ed Rudolph Velodrome in Northbrook, IL. The poster are very limited. Any details on how to get them will be posted as soon as we hear.

[update] The posters will be for sale at the track on Thursday race nights. There may be a few available on Jay Ryan's page soon, but your best option is to head up to Northbrook to get one and check out the racing action at the same time.

Northbrook action in the Chicago Tribune

The Chicago Tribune sent some people up to Ed Rudolph Velodrome in Northbrook the other week to check out the racing. Watch the video here.

The brilliant photo above is by Ed White. More of his track racing photos here.

Colorado’s Third Velodrome Coming Soon

Colorado will be getting it's third Velodrome soon.

The track in Erie will join Boulder Indoor Cycling, a smaller indoor velodrome that opened less than two years ago in east Boulder, and the 333-meter 7-Eleven United States Olympic Training Center Velodrome in Colorado Springs, which was built in 1982, according to the Daily Camera.

Text from BRAIN.


Hey Colorado, take it easy alright? We get it- you're into bikes... How about letting some other states get a single track before you start working on backup velodromes, ok?

More info here.

Herne Hill in Winter

Watching the video Aaron posted yesterday, of Victoria Pendleton chase some trials rider around Herne Hill velodrome, reminded me that I'd never posted the photos of the track I took over the winter, so here they are. Herne Hill velodrome is old, in fact it's one of the oldest tracks still in existence, having been built in 1896. There's a ton of history at this place (check out Tracko's post from a while back about Tom Simpson racing here) and it was used in the Olympics in 1947. It's still being used regularly for racing today.

The entrance laneway, complete with cycling wall-art.

A reminder of the history of the place. Some of the seating, in fairness, looks like it's been around since 1896.

The more modern seating near the start line. The infield (where Crystal Palace used to play, football trivia fans) was being used for cyclocross this winter.

Turns 3 and 4. I don't think that picnic table is usually there...

Okay, it's not as visually impressive as the velodrome I visited in Caracas, but it's still a great place, and you can see world class riders competing there, especially during the famous Good Friday meet. If you live in London and you haven't raced yet, check out their Open Season races on the first Saturday of every month during the season.


Details on Herne Hill velodrome here.

Coney Island Velodrome

Not sure why I didn't catch this earlier, but if you're in NYC head over to this exhibition about the Coney Island Velodrome. Details here.

Originally seen on CWMD!