5/14/97
I took time off from school on Tuesday to work on my qualifying topic outline. It turned out to be not so much of a big deal when I actually sat down and started to write it. At around 5:00 PM, I rode my bike out to the Marymoor Velodrome, where they have open practice sessions on Tuesdays. It was supposed to start at 6:30 PM and I thought I'd get there too early, but it turns out everyone gets there early.
I signed the obligatory release forms, and followed the directions of Mike Miller, coordinator of the Tuesday Track Training sessions and a member of the ACC. I picked out a bike from the MVA bike locker, and took off my pedals and put them on the track bike.
Quite a few people were there, and quite a few ACC members where there as well. Besides Mike, Don (Wells?), David Kerchinsky, and Ken Yonemura were there. Ken actually taught me a trick to get the !#$@#$ pedals off the bike easily (you don't take off one completely, and you step on the other pedal to give you the torque to take off the other one).
It was quite a lot of fun. It wasn't too difficult to figure out how to start and stop, and you really do concentrate a lot on bike handling and things like keeping up the correct pace in a pace line and being aware of your surroundings when pulling off the front and such.
I will definitely make a habit of doing more of these track sessions.