Summary

Summary
Overall, this was a good trip, but it would have been better with someone to share the driving. I had fun at the locations, met some interesting people, and learned more about different velodromes and the programs they run.
Total driving over 12 days: almost 2,300 miles
Steve.Gorham@comcast.net

Day 12: Saturday June 14

Day 12: Saturday June 14
I get to visit my Mom in Hamilton, NJ for about an hour before her attention drifts. This was a good visit.

Then onto the familiar drive south to Baltimore. I’m 30 minutes early for my 5 o’clock appointment, Dan’s HS graduation party. Beer, food, friends and family. Mom and Dan perform a beer ritual together, something I don’t remember doing with my Dad. I get home by midnight.

Total driving for the day: 290 miles

Day 11: Friday June 13

Day 11: Friday June 13
Up reasonably early, shave, breakfast. I need to transition into driving mode to make my 5PM Saturday deadline in Baltimore. I’m taking a north-easterly route to cross the border on the Freedom Bridge at Niagara Falls (yup, they’re still there), then south-east toward New Jersey. Found a reasonable hotel around 10PM.

I brought 2 bikes, one track and one road. I just had my Hollands road bike tweaked at Race Pace Bicycles http://racepacebicycles.com/ and it’s running really well. Would have been great to have a road ride just to be able to turn right, but time didn’t allow.

Total driving for the day: 444 miles

Day 10:Thursday June 12

Day 10: Thursday June 12
Crossed the US / Canadian border back up to the Forest City Velodrome http://www.forestcityvelodrome.ca/index.php. I’ve never been at an indoor velodrome. The front door is unlocked so I enter. The place is chock full of racing memorabilia – posters, medals, trophies, vintage race programs, etc. The air is heavy with tradition (or maybe it’s just damp), and I have a feeling of being someplace special.

Inside I introduce myself to Rob on the infield and examine the facility. The framework of the track is wood beams and looks strong. The surface is very smooth, made of a plywood-like laminate that's almost seamless and countoured to the turns and banking. The surface is tightly attached to the framing with no fastener protrusions. Since it’s indoors and climate controlled, there’s no need for any expansion gaps. Even indoors, it’s quieter than outdoor tracks whose surfaces are made up of separate individual panels.

The building is the former home of the local hockey team (remember, this is Canada, eh?) who moved into a bigger ice arena back around 2004. The sign for The London Gardens remains mounted on the building, next to the Forest City Velodrome sign. The track was designed specifically to fit inside this small arena and was built on-site. Arena-style seating remains where track banking allows a view.

I carry bike and gear inside, and eventually there are 6 of us. Rob wants to check me out alone on the track, and there’s good reason: Riding this track is unlike any other I’ve been on. It’s listed as 138 meters long with 50 degrees maximum banking, but the turns feel very tight. Radius of the turns is a metric I’ve not seen listed for different velodromes, but would make for an interesting comparison.

Laps go by really quick – the straights last only 2 breaths – and the centrifugal force in the turns is strong. It takes me a while to get familiar enough so I can maintain a respectable line through the turns. I find maintaining control out of the turns to be the biggest challenge. Also, I kept sliding forward on the saddle in the turns, and would have to slide my butt backward into place on the straights.

Trivial amusing observations:
· I would typically remove bikes from the car and let the tires acclimatize outside before inflating, but here I need to bring the bike inside before inflating the tires.
· Etiquette – where do you spit in an indoor velodrome?

Everyone is friendly and there’s no real sense of competition, more like we’re all just sharing a facility for individual workouts, which works fine for this small group. Our eldest rider Gene is practicing specific events for an upcoming week of racing. I find this is not a heavy-duty hard workout but more of a skills drill, heart rate never rose above 144 BPM (although next day my upper arms feel a bit sore, especially the right, probably due to fighting the turns). After a couple of hours everyone is pretty much finished. I get a few more photos, some advice on travel directions, and depart.

Hotel, shower, dinner at 9:30PM.

Total driving for the day: 133 miles.

Day 9: Wednesday June 11

Day 9: Wednesday June 11
Drove across the Canada / US border to Rochester Hills, MI for the Bloomer Park Velodrome http://www.velodromeatbloomerpark.com/. Schedule says the track is open 10AM – 6:30 PM but while I can walk around the outside, all gates into the infield are locked. I had emailed Tuesday evening, and now calling the contact number, Dale Hughes says sure, you can ride with us this evening at 6PM.

I examine the track; it’s listed as 200 meters with a max banking of 48 degrees, same construction as Bromont (steel framework supporting sections of composite plywood surface). The Bloomer Park track is in excellent condition and turns out to be very fast.
Riders begin to arrive and start to warm up on the track. Lots of Wolverine jerseys with a smattering of one-offs, including me the lone Kelly. This turns out to be a formatted training session (OK, Dale called it a recovery session).

Dale seem to be a strong coach who everyone respects, and he offers everyone encouragement and advice, including me. Everyone is friendly but competitive on the track. Dale breaks us into 2 groups, A and AA (seems no one likes to be called “B”). Each group rides a 40 lap “roll-up” event and a 60 lap points race. These are followed a Madison practice session. The park will close at 9PM so the track session ends around 8:35. This was a nice workout for me, kept HR in the 170 range for both of my events.

Total driving for the day: 130 miles

(images: Bloomer Park Velodrome signage, Bloomer Park Approach views, Bloomer Park Velodrome views, Dale Hughes, Steve at Bloomer Park)

Day 8: Tuesday June 10

Day 8: Tuesday June 10
Additional French words:
Sud – south
Nord – north
Ouest – west
Est – east

I finished the 500 mile drive and arrived at the Forest City Velodrome http://www.forestcityvelodrome.ca/ early afternoon. The building is locked, so with some time to spare before the scheduled 5PM open track time (“Huff and Puff” session), I looked around in some of the nearby stores. Back at the parking lot by 4:30PM, but when no one shows up by 5:15 I realize something’s wrong. I get no usable cell signal here, so I check in at hotel and call & email the listed contacts for the track. A return message from Rob Good later that evening is apologetic and assures me the facility will be open other days this week.

A thought about our title sponsor, Kelly Benefit Strategies http://www.kellybenefitstrategies.com/ and John Kelly. John raced pretty much full-time in his day, and continues as a weekend warrior today. His company backs not only my amateur club Lateral Stress Velo, our NRC race Bikejam http://www.bikejam.org/ and our cross race Rockburn Cross http://www.woofdesigns.com/rockburncross.htm , but is a founding sponsor of the KBS/Medifast professional team http://www.kbsmedifast.com/kelly_medifast_pro_cycling/index.php. He's seriously committed to cycling and it shows. Plus, John's a nice guy and throws a great time at the annual meeting at his place. I hope this blog does him some proud.

Total driving for the day: 80 miles

(images: Forest City – Matt’s van, Forest City Velodrome signage)

Day 7: Monday June 9

Day 7: Monday June 9
Race weather on Sunday was sunny and warm, but a line of thunderstorms rolled through around 7PM (long after racing was completed) and it's still overcast and damp now. Big Italian dinner and drinks last evening so I'm a bit sluggish this morning. I gotta pack up for departure in a couple of hours. Lots of laundry to catch up on this evening!

Transitioning back into cycling mode with a short drive to the velodrome at Bromont http://www.cyclisme-bromont.ca/. It’s the one of Canada’s National Centers for Cycling and includes the track, plus a BMX course, mountain bike trails, and lightly trafficked roads for training.

I enter the building and inquire about riding the track, only to be told it’s closed for repairs! They had completed a set of races over the weekend and were taking advantage of the weekdays to fix up some loose panels on the track. So, another disappointment - no track time for me.

I spoke with Richard who runs the track facility. He described their range of programs but seemed especially proud of the school kids’ programs – a full day including BMX, mountain bike, and velodrome time. They also host some regular weekly local races, in addition to some larger weekend open races.

I got permission to walk the velodrome. It’s listed as 250 meters, 47 degrees max banking, and seemed to be quite wide. The engineering is pretty simple: trussed steel beams radiate outward and upward from the ground at the inside (apron), supported by upright round steel beams at the outside (top). Smaller square steel beams, space about 3 feet apart, connect the trusses around the circumference. Composite plywood panels approx 2 X 6 feet lay into this grid, again in a radial pattern. The track is not in good shape, with lots of weather damage, rough surface on the panels, many patches, and some gaps between panels. Sorry to say, as the track that was built new for the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, it has seen better days. I linger, taking photos and talking with another rider who is disappointed that the track is closed.

I departed and made only 420 miles from Bromont. Lots of rain, wind, thunder and lightning made driving a tiring job, and I stopped to catch some sleep at Guelph, about 120K short of next destination: London, Ontario. The only hotel with any available accommodations was a bit more expensive than the Sleep Inn I was scheduled to stay at. Sorry to have spend more money on the hotel, but I was too tired to drive any further.

Total driving for the day: 420 miles

(images: Bromont Cycling Centre signage, Bromont engineering views, Bromont tunnel views, Bromont velodrome views, Bromont track surface)

Day 6: Sunday June 8

Day 6: Sunday June 8
Race day! Visibly more people here today, way crowded, not an empty seat to be seen. Great weather during the day.

One subject of discussion overnight was the physical condition of the racetrack. At dinner Saturday evening, I spoke with a guy whose seat was at the hairpin turn, and he described the pavement there breaking up. Immediately after the Showroom Ferrari cars finished their race on Sunday, track staff went to work with some kind of wet patch on the race line in the Senna turns, and at the hairpin. This was within 2 hours of the F1 race start! There’s always a drivers’ parade when they ride around the course, waving from classic Austin-Healy roadsters, and a couple of drivers (Heidfeld and Kubica, both BMW Sauber) saw the fresh patches and jumped out of their cars to examine them. This attention to detail would pay off later…


The race got off to a clean start with no mishaps through the first turns, much to the disappointment of everyone in my seating area.

It is unfortunate that "the" highlight of the race will be the collision between Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Raikkonen at the pit exit, but there's also a sense of balance in that both pre-race favorites to win (and front-runners in the championship points) were suddenly out of the race. This happened during lap 20 of 70 laps. I saw it all -

http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2008/6/7898.html

In video tape replays on the big screens, there clearly was some confusion with the pit lane traffic control light – it quickly changed from red to green and back again while Raikkonen and Heidfeld waited to exit the pits and get back into the race, just as Hamilton approached from his pit stop. That’s when Hamilton rear-ended Raikkonen. Didn’t seem to be entirely Hamilton’s fault.

Other notable action: Massa’s advancement up through the field was the drive of the day. There are lots of video replays showing some of his passing.

Final race results -
http://www.formula1.com/results/season/2008/793/

World Championship points after Canadian GP -
http://www.formula1.com/results/driver/

Post-race video (click on Archived and select Canada) -
http://www.formula1.com/services/play_video.html

Slideshow -
http://www.formula1.com/gallery/race/2008/793/general/

Day 5: Saturday June 7

Day 5: Saturday June 7
Today is the longest schedule of race events with all 4 different classes of cars running. The track opens at 7AM, and there's some kind of cars either practicing, qualifying or racing from 8AM through 6PM. I was tired when I got back to hotel around 9:30PM.

Not everyone is interested in the other classes of cars, but everyone wants to see the F1 cars. As the time of their scheduled sessions approaches the stands fill. Still, there were lots of empty seats today.

We saw a great set of F1 qualifying sessions! F1 has implemented a rather complicated method of qualifying, but the idea is to establish the race-starting position of cars based upon 3 sessions. In dramatic style, Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes McLaren) set fastest time with only seconds remaining in the final qualifying round, putting him at the front of the starting grid (pole position, or P1) for Sunday’s race.

Sitting nearby all weekend are 4 local guys, very friendly but they speak mostly French. Very amusing to hang out with nonetheless.

Saturday evening’s celebrity dinner (again provided by GP Tours) was hosted by a famous British motorsport commentator who I never heard of. Guests included Sir Jacky Stewart (retired race driver) and Sam Michaels (Technical Director of the Williams team). There was an auction of various F1 memorabilia to benefit the F1 mechanics fund.

Day 4: Friday June 6

Day 4: Friday June 6
Overnight rain lingered, and I misjudged the weather this morning, wearing shorts, expecting clearing and sunny but it remained overcast and cool all day.

Directly across the street from my hotel front door is a 1-square block city park. Seems like the young folks who inhabit the park and the police have an unspoken agreement: The kids stay within the park, and the police, while maintaining a visible presence, don’t enter the park. And there’s lots of activity within the park.

French words I’ve learned:
Sortie – exit
Petard - joint

The racetrack itself, the Gilles Villeneuve Circuit, is fully located inside a Provincial park on onto the man-made island Île Notre-Dame in the middle of the St. Lawrence River. Private vehicle access is prohibited all this weekend. The Metro station is 2 blocks from my hotel, then a 15 minute metro ride to get onto the island. Various entrances into the racetrack and seating areas are a good mile walk from the metro, so the entire commute takes an hour or so. Still, it seems to be pretty efficient.

http://www.static.everyday.com/editorial/DE-DE/images/F/F1_big_Montreal.gif
http://explorer.altopix.com/map/je3ct5/Montreal_Gilles_Villeneuve_Circuit.htm
http://www.ddavid.com/formula1/vill_bio.htm

Security is very visible but low-key – lots of sidearm-carrying police, either federal, provincial or local. A great number are women. They are carefully checking tickets at strategic checkpoints and at some places allowing only ticket holders into the specific areas for their seats. There’s also event security staff, “information persons”, etc.

The weekend of auto racing will run a total of 4 different classes of cars at different times, similar to bike race events. Each class has several sessions spread out over multiple days: Some practice time, then qualifying, followed by their race. Makes for lots of viewing opportunity.

I’m impressed by the meticulous cleaning of marbles (rolled-up bits of tire rubber) from the track surface between each session for different classes of cars. There are track workers with brooms, leaf blowers, and powered street cleaners mounted at the front of tractors.

The damp track in the morning kept all drivers careful and cars were visibly running slowly so the actual action was subdued. Despite that, when the F1 cars took the course for their first practice session Friday morning, the crowd went wild. Most of the F1 cars ran, some for only a couple of laps, some had rain tires mounted. Looked great, sounded cool, but they just weren’t running very hard.

Seating is reserved grandstand. Here’s the view of the racetrack from my seat. In this picture, to the left is the race course and to the right is the exit from the pits.
I’m at the Senna corner which is a severe S turn at the end of the start/finish straightaway, at the opposite end of the course from the hairpin. In other words, I’m at the first turn of the race looking back at the start/finish line. I can also look up the pit lane from the pit exit.

With less than spectacular action on the track there’s time to browse the venue. Pretty much the entire island is a Provincial park, site of the 1967 World’s Fair, with a few buildings remaining from then: The Casino, and the crystal sphere (my name, not their’s) which supposedly was the USA exhibit. Circumnavigating the outside of the racecourse on foot takes an hour. Inside the park are only approved name-brand vendors but each has at least several locations. Lots of beer vendors and beer drinkers.

Action during this afternoon F1 practice session was much more aggressive than this morning’s. Every car ran and most ran hard. Of course, being here live is way different from watching on TV at home. The visual element is a big part of it – for example, you can really see just how late these cars brake for corners and how quickly they decelerate into turns – but the sound is a huge sensory experience. The engine sound from these cars is loud, and no amount of TV volume does it justice. The BMW Sauber cars’ engines have a distinctly different sound under compression, a sort of low toned and growly sound (almost like a big ‘ole Detroit pushrod engine!), but as soon as the throttle opens they pick up that lovely F1 wail. After paying attention to these differences during the practice and qualifying sessions, I could identify the Saubers by sound during the race even when they were running in a group of cars.

Also, the scent of the F1 cars exhaust is sweet and intoxicating. Just another sense that does not get exercised while watching from home.

Alonso spins out and stalls his car in the grass right in front of us, and gets a huge cheer.

One of the advantages of my Grand Prix Tours package http://www.gptours.com/ is the evening celebrity sessions. Thursday evening was light refreshment and snacks followed by a talk with Peter Windsor (TV commentator & journalist) and Mark Webber (Red Bull driver). This is an example of the benefits of buying one of these tour packages - maybe I could have arranged my own race tickets and accommodations, but there's no way I could have gotten into last night's Q & A session.

Day 3: Thursday June 5, 2008

Day 3: Thursday June 5
Weather was a chilly 48 degrees at 7AM but the rain had stopped sometime overnight. No wind, still heavy overcast, but the roads were dry or drying. I drove back to the drome, intending a light workout for an hour. The Stonyfield Yogurt dairy is between the hotel and the drome, they offer tours around the dairy. Might be interesting some other time.

The track was mostly dry. It looked to be 300 meters or so, asphalt paved like a nice roadway that’s a few years old. The banking is gentle so there’s no outside rail. Bicycle access to the track surface is easy from the pavement surrounding the track, and infield access is similar. This place looked to be casual and low-key, I would like to have raced or ridden with the locals, but there was no one around except for the family of woodchucks living nearby, and a wild turkey passing through the woods.

Back to hotel for shower and breakfast, then on the road. This was a transition day – from bicycle to Formula 1 cars. During the 265 mile drive, I realized I’d been out of touch with F1. Did Kimi get penalized for rear-ending Adrian Sutil at Monaco and ending Sutil’s race due to damage to the Force India car’s rear suspension?

I arrived at Montreal during afternoon rush hour, battled traffic to get to hotel but the van is now parked underground and I don't intend to move it until I depart on Monday. Room is on 19th floor, with some nice views of downtown. I should have brushed up on my French, but the locals I tried to speak with were all willing to work with my English. Most shops will not take US dollars.

A big thanks to Sharon for her support, especially her help with blog updates. She rocks…

Total driving for the day: 265 miles

(images: Steve's Olmo at NE Velodrome, Montreal Late Afternoon)