An afternoon at the Los Angeles Velodrome...

The son and I spent an enjoyable, rainy afternoon indoors at the LA Velodrome watching some of the racing during the first round of the LAVRA Cup. I have been to the Encino Velodrome a handful of times, but never to that tracks younger and more glamorous sister at the Home Depot Center. Indoor velodromes, like this one, lend themselves to some interesting photo opportunities, so while I took some still shots, the boy did some filming. The action was quite fierce, but unfortunately like so many local-oriented bike racing events, they just don't have the draw to bring out large numbers of spectators - it was most definitely worth an afternoon though. Oh, and photographs just do not do those banked turns justice. They are steep.

Los Angeles Velodrome, LAVRA Cup 2011, Round 1 from Michael Wagner on Vimeo.

If you really want to see something dramatic, check out the photo on Ride the Black Line, of the splinter that Malaysian racer Azizulhasni Awang picked up in his leg after crashing. Makes me queasy. To top it off, Mr. Awang remounted and finished third. That's some tuff stuff.