Just to clarify brother Baylis's remarks...
At about three pm Jack Bissell, his cousin Steve, and I, decided that it had cleared up enough (not much, but enough) for the track to be dry.
After a wonderful picnic lunch (thanks Sterling and Regina! That was above and beyond..) Jack, Steve and I went up to Pedalpushing bicycles, a used bike shop not far from the Velodrome. What a place! A tiny storefront of three rooms, filled almost floor to ceiling with bicycles. Crammed, jammed, and wedged in like almost nothing I've ever seen before.
The owner occasionally sells cool bikes he finds on ebay..there was nothing all that special there when we were there, but it was fun climbing all around stuff looking to see what we could find. I'd say the sexiest thing we found was an orphan fork for a late-ish Pogliaghi, that was it...
so, after looking around at the bikes...and the bmw motorcycles at the dealership next door, we drove back to the track, which was completely dry...we had a wonderful hour ramming around the track. We had it all to ourselves. It was a blast. We even maintained a pace line for a kilometer or so, the lead-out rider dropping above and behind on every lap. Steve is a member of the Velodrome club, and he gave me (a total tyro) some pointers...including the obvious one that you have to accellerate into the turns to keep your speed up..I guess I was slowing down a little.
What I find so cool about a track, which you trackies know well, is how all you have to do is pedal and maintain a steady line. The track steers the bike for you! That is so cool.
At one point during our three-man pace-line, it was as if we were all floating, drifting around the track without any effort.
I'm a convert! I need to start going out to Encino. I hear the turns are much steeper..<g>
We finished out the afternoon by going to Steve's house and watching that video of the 1973 Giro...something-something and Watercarriers...the narration for that film is so hilarious..the mild british narrator sounding like an all-too-accurate imitation of Richard Bach, or similar. The soft stoner music is the perfect touch...
Charles Andrews
SoCal