Day 1 Tuesday June 3, 2008

Day 1: Tuesday June 3
I packed the van and ran some errands near home Tuesday morning, including picking up a sunshade for the van.

The familiar drive from home in Baltimore to the Valley Preferred Cycling Center in Trexlertown, PA http://www.lvvelo.org/ was uneventful. I checked into hotel, then took the short trip to the drome, arrived around 4:30PM during one of the Air Products beginner junior training sessions with 20 or so riders, age range looked to be 10-16. Their session was scheduled to finish at 6:30 which begins open track time. Respecting the organized training session, I brought bike and equipment to the infield but waited to ride. As open track time grew closer another group of riders came in and waited with me. This group consisted mainly of experienced juniors aged 14-16, with a couple of parents or other adults of various abilities.

That’s one of the strengths of this place - it’s a central buzz of cycling. Roadies meet in the parking lot for group rides, there’s the adjacent fitness park, and there are lots of organized programs on the track from kids’ introductory sessions to elite-level training, and a regular weekly schedule of racing at all levels. It’s not just the track and facility itself; it’s how it gets used. The track itself is poured concrete, listed as 333 meters long with 28 degree maximum banking in the turns. Infield access is via bridge.

Weather was mostly sunny warm and humid with a slight breeze, headwind in the finishing straight. Rain was forecast for later.

6:30PM. This was to be my equipment check session: Try out some new gear in an old familiar setting. I started on traditional laced-up aluminum wheels with a 47 x 16. The track resurfacing, completed earlier this year, is good. I’m glad that squiggle along the blue line in turn 2 is gone. The juniors were working hard so I'm tried to stay out of their way.

After 20 minutes of warm-up and recon, it was time to try my new wheels. Thanks to Joe's Bike Shop http://www.mtwashingtonbikes.com/home.aspx for hooking me up with these Bontranger Aeolus wheels last Christmas (similar to these but for fixie http://www.bontrager.com/model/06329/en). They're 50MM deep carbon-rimmed tubulars, I mounted a pair of 120-gram Vittorias, but I've been really careful about where they get ridden meaning they had never been ridden yet. At 160psi they're stiff and I could feel they accelerate quicker than my other wheels, even with a one-tooth higher cog. At first I was a bit pensive about riding them hard, maybe not used to that sound of carbon fiber, but they became more familiar after a few laps. Climbing up the banking was fun.

Next was the aero setup. I left the wheels and gear unchanged but swapped the bars and helmet. Shortly after I started with this setup most of the juniors took a well-timed break, so I had clear track for a hard 3-lap (1K). No doubt a bigger gear would have been appropriate, but I was able to work up to my lungs making that impressive wind-sucking sound.

I put the drop bars back on and rode about 20 minutes of conversational cool-down with one of the parents, stopping around 8:30PM.

Drove back to the hotel for a quick shower, then walked to Italian pasta dinner next door. As I'm walking back to the hotel around 10PM the rain begins. Forecast is for heavy rain and wind overnight. I'm glad the weather timing worked so well.

Total driving for the day: 145 miles

(images: Van empty, Van packed, Steve at Ttown, Ttown neon sign)