"Your fear will keep you safe..."

There are pictures of this adventure to the ADT center up in LA...but I can't find my cable for my camera at the moment so they will have to wait.

Thursday at track training here in at the SD velodrome I was hardly able to contain my excitement of today's adventure up to the LA velodrome although a few people made me start to question my sanity.

From one guy who used to train on the ADT track regularly:

It's so cool...you can actually feel the g-forces pushing you onto the track when you go around the corners.

Me in my head: g-forces...on a bike? What did I just get myself into??


From another guy who just got certified and begun racing up there:

You have to do a flying two hundred, remember you are dropping two stories down from the top down into the sprinters lane and you really FLY on your 200m.

My response:

I might throw up if i try that.

His response:

Yea, well...the wood on the track isn't sealed...uh...maybe not this time.

When we showed up the juniors were out riding and training...this kid who is 8 years old and a munchkin is flying around the track(his bike size...a 42). Apparently...he's been riding a track bike for three years....um...since he was five. Ok...so little kids can do this it can't be that bad...right? And then there was this awesome lady in my the session. It was her birthday on Friday...she had turned...seventy. Yep...5 year olds and seventy year olds can do this...i sure hope I can do this.

We got the schpeil...don't slip off the track, don't slip off the track...oh and...don't slip off the track. Gee thanks for that advice. Actually the best advice was: Your fear will keep your safe...mainly because you are so freaking scared of slipping off the track that you end up giving a super HARD effort around every turn when you approach it. (as well as just with your comfort of riding with other people around you.)

My first go at the track I came off shaking pretty hard from all the adrenaline, but as time went on I got the hang of it and didn't have to go quite FULL speed the whole time. But you do have to power through the turns pretty hard.

In a nutshell: It.was.awesome.

I only ventured above the sprinters lane up to the relief/blue line...any higher kept wigging me out...but next time...next time...maybe the blaustrade...the tippy tippy top. :-)


And the best part? We got an extra hour on the track too. I am now TUCKERED out, but I can't stop smiling. Looking forward to more adventures up there! I'll try to wrestle up my cable to upload those pics this week. Pretty trippy looking down over the side of the track and it is a steep drop...but super cool.