On Saturday morning, over 50 people showed up to Alpenrose Velodrome, but they weren’t there to race or to spectate. And instead of energy gels and sports drinks, they fueled up with precision made pancakes from the skilled hands of Chris King, owner of Chris King Components.
It was the annual track clean-up and repair day and the volunteers needed the carbs to tackle all the scraping, painting, cement patching, and sweeping it takes to get the velodrome ready for the busy track season ahead.
happy to help.]
Junior racer Kallen Dewey put in her share of sweat equity. Kallen, who did RAGBRAI on a tag-along bike when she was 9, had a pretty logical outlook on the situation, “I use it (the track), so I figured I should help maintain it.” Seems to make sense…although apparently every year someone shows up ready to ride, only to turn around when they realize the track is closed for the day. Lame.
I talked with OBRA man Mike Murray as he repaired a crack near the finish line. He said between team practices and weekly events, the track is in use seven days a week.
I also snapped this revealing photo of Brad Ross, the man behind the Cross Crusade (hence the tattoo). He was there to give something back to the velodrome that hosted over 700 racers for one of his cyclocross races last year.
If you haven’t ridden or been out to watch an event at Alpenrose, promise yourself you’ll do it this year. There’s something for everyone and it’s even a great place to bring the family.
For more photos from clean up day and last year’s cyclocross and track events, check out my 119 photos tagged, “alpenrose”.
Wow, I did not realize Chris was so young and handsom!