Joel
09-25-2006, 05:32 AM
For those of you who did not see the prior post, our 9 year old son who had shall we say –no to negative interest - in anything remotely related to bicycling expressed interest in riding of all things a track bike!
So after some investigation – and rechecking to make sure he wasn’t kidding – we found that the track in down in South Florida had track bikes available to loan to kids.
After a nice 3 ½ hour drive from Orlando we arrived at the Brian Piccolo velodrome. On the way down we talked about –whatever you do don’t coast – and what ‘stick’ and ‘stay’ meant, along with if there is trouble go up the track – not down and the consequences of touching wheels. He reminded me that I had been saying this stuff for a week and he got it. I hoped that he’d listened!
Once we arrived we say that they have a large selection of loaner track bikes that are in various states of repair and disrepair. There are only a couple of bikes for kids. We found a bike and dug through a bucket of pedals and attached them.
The track itself is concrete and has a roller blade track in the infield. The surface is concrete and is in great condition there are a couple of minor ripples in the turns but are really not a bother. The apron is wide and smooth. There is slight banking on the straights, and the curves look to be the full 27 degrees.
Early on a Saturday morning there were four other riders there. All of these folks were doing serious training but were very nice and quite supportive. If any of you reading this were there please speak up!
Anyway, so how do you get a 9 year old started on the track? Well on the apron. Of course he’d never even used toe clips so that was pretty interesting. The first pedal stroke he pulled his feet out and went sideways. After that it was clear sailing.
He was buzzing around the apron actually going pretty fast, and watching the “real racers” on the banks. This went on for about an hour with lots of stops (Dad – can you get off and catch me again?). He had no problem with the non-coasting issue. We must have stopped after every third lap. I ran more than rode!
Then much to my surprise he said that he wanted to go on the banks. The other riders were taking a break so I told him – ‘go you have the whole track’ and just held my breath. He did a couple of runs in the sprint lane on the straights and the curves on the apron.
After about 15 minutes he was doing laps completely on the sprint lane. The folks who were there training were shouting encouragement which helped more than anything I could have ever said.
Meanwhile I’m doing some sprint laps and just rolling in the apron waiting for the next ‘catch me Dad’. No one else was on the track so I figured time to ride a few laps hard. Now get this – I’m coming out of the turn – head down in the sprinter lane and I see someone swooping down from the top of the track along side me, and hear someone screaming YEEEHAAA. You guessed it.
Then back up he went again. Needless to say I could not believe it. We spent the next hour or so having – and using - the entire track to ourselves. I just held my breath a few times hoping gravity, speed and the tires all held. They did and we got through the session without any crashes.
His parting shot: “Dad this track bike is WAY more fun than my bike at home…too bad we can’t take it with and do this at home.”
And that’s a fine Saturday in my book!
Best,
Joel
P.S. Some pictures attached if I did this correctly. The jersey I’m wearing is the old St. Louis Cycling Club track set. And yes, I had a blast too.
So after some investigation – and rechecking to make sure he wasn’t kidding – we found that the track in down in South Florida had track bikes available to loan to kids.
After a nice 3 ½ hour drive from Orlando we arrived at the Brian Piccolo velodrome. On the way down we talked about –whatever you do don’t coast – and what ‘stick’ and ‘stay’ meant, along with if there is trouble go up the track – not down and the consequences of touching wheels. He reminded me that I had been saying this stuff for a week and he got it. I hoped that he’d listened!
Once we arrived we say that they have a large selection of loaner track bikes that are in various states of repair and disrepair. There are only a couple of bikes for kids. We found a bike and dug through a bucket of pedals and attached them.
The track itself is concrete and has a roller blade track in the infield. The surface is concrete and is in great condition there are a couple of minor ripples in the turns but are really not a bother. The apron is wide and smooth. There is slight banking on the straights, and the curves look to be the full 27 degrees.
Early on a Saturday morning there were four other riders there. All of these folks were doing serious training but were very nice and quite supportive. If any of you reading this were there please speak up!
Anyway, so how do you get a 9 year old started on the track? Well on the apron. Of course he’d never even used toe clips so that was pretty interesting. The first pedal stroke he pulled his feet out and went sideways. After that it was clear sailing.
He was buzzing around the apron actually going pretty fast, and watching the “real racers” on the banks. This went on for about an hour with lots of stops (Dad – can you get off and catch me again?). He had no problem with the non-coasting issue. We must have stopped after every third lap. I ran more than rode!
Then much to my surprise he said that he wanted to go on the banks. The other riders were taking a break so I told him – ‘go you have the whole track’ and just held my breath. He did a couple of runs in the sprint lane on the straights and the curves on the apron.
After about 15 minutes he was doing laps completely on the sprint lane. The folks who were there training were shouting encouragement which helped more than anything I could have ever said.
Meanwhile I’m doing some sprint laps and just rolling in the apron waiting for the next ‘catch me Dad’. No one else was on the track so I figured time to ride a few laps hard. Now get this – I’m coming out of the turn – head down in the sprinter lane and I see someone swooping down from the top of the track along side me, and hear someone screaming YEEEHAAA. You guessed it.
Then back up he went again. Needless to say I could not believe it. We spent the next hour or so having – and using - the entire track to ourselves. I just held my breath a few times hoping gravity, speed and the tires all held. They did and we got through the session without any crashes.
His parting shot: “Dad this track bike is WAY more fun than my bike at home…too bad we can’t take it with and do this at home.”
And that’s a fine Saturday in my book!
Best,
Joel
P.S. Some pictures attached if I did this correctly. The jersey I’m wearing is the old St. Louis Cycling Club track set. And yes, I had a blast too.