Marymoor Velodrome “A” Clinic

Just another of the cool things you can do on a bike in the Seattle area: Racing at Jerry Baker Memorial Velodrome.

Last summer while I was on a video-making binge I went out on a Friday night to record the action. (Alas, that content was lost during the migration from the Velocity blog…)

I left inspired to give it a go. To race at Marymoor, new track racers have to take two introductory clinics–an “A” and a “B”. I finally attended the first of the two clinics this weekend. I’m scheduled for the second clinic on June 20. Rental track bikes are included as part of the clinic fee.

Saturday’s “A” clinic was taught by Phil “Bilko” Stephens, and despite threatening weather, it was a great experience. I was surprised that about 1/2 of the folks attending the clinic had no racing experience, and several folks I chatted with had no group riding experience. I had a preconception that anybody interested in track racing would have come to it from other racing experiences, but the thrill of the velodrome attracts complete newbies. On the other hand, I was in the class’ other cohort–those without fixed gear riding experience.

Bilko ran us through several drills that generally increased in difficulty. We started with the basics–controlled starts and stops. Next we progressed from riding all aspects of the track to rotating paceline drills.

It’s too early for me to know whether I’ll become a track regular, but Saturday’s clinic added to my bike handling skills and I look forward to trying some races this summer.

Racing at Marymoor starts this week.

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