Velodrome

I have always wanted to race on the track some day. So when my friend Jim at Final Fit told me has been developing really accurate aerodynamic testing on the velodrome and needed an athlete to test run, I jumped up and down nine times and said YES PLEASE I want to come!! Think wind tunnel - but while riding around the velodrome. I was shown lots of charts and graphs and math formulas about how accurate this testing is. It was all very interesting. But I was super excited to just ride my bike around in circles really really really fast.

The LA Velodrome is a wooden track.

I was given lessons about how not to fall down on the banked corners, how I wasn't supposed to coast, clip my pedal, crash, etc. The corners are steep. And the wood looked like a hard landing surface, so I paid attention.

Each test involves riding around the track 12 times. I convinced Jim to flip the number chart for me and even ring the bell for the final lap. (Because when riding at speed, the bell just makes me feel like a superstar in some Olympic event!)

It's a tough job. You can see me behind Jim going into the corner. The corners on the velodrome are awesome. I can't describe it other than I felt like I was 12 years old on a merry-go-round wanting to go faster and faster each lap.

We spent nearly three hours testing different helmets, water bottle configurations, etc. Seeing the data was impressive.

Profile Design brought multiple products for testing. They also took some awesome photos.

I'm pretty excited to go back for round two of testing.

But first I'm headed to San Francisco this weekend to kick off the 2013 race season. Bring on the frigid Escape from Alcatraz!