Casual Conversation

It's less than typical motorsports in cost. I worked with Gideon because the chain of bike shops I worked for sponsored him. Olympic athletes are usually from well off families that could afford to help them get to events and stuff, but most athletes are very poor. No one does it for money. At the Olympics level, that is your whole life. Everything you eat, when you sleep, and every aspect of life revolves around the training routine. You have no real free time. You can't eat what you want or when you want. Even going riding with friends you can't ride at a level others may want or show off at all because it isn't part of training. Most athletes can only do it for so long because they can't have relationships or careers. Their entire life is on hold until they decide to close that chapter and move on.

Velodromes are rare, and indoor velodrome's are even more so. I just happen to be near to Los Angeles where the only indoor velodrome in North America is located, thus how I know Gideon.

On a velodrome you ride the original bicycle. It is fixed gear with no shifting transmission, and no freewheel coasting mechanism. The chain is directly connected to the cog on the rear wheel. If you pedal backwards from a stop, you go backwards. There are also no brakes. Your legs pressing backwards or resisting rotation will slow you down. All bikes were like that in the beginning during the 18th century.

Events like what Gideon was racing are actually where motorcycles were invented. They were made for pace bikes because velodrome racing was huge from 1880-1920. The first sports celebrities were cyclists. The first international African American celebrity was Major Taylor.

Velodromes started with events paced with multi person tandems and got as high as 5 and 6 man tandems before the first steam motorcycles began being used. It didn't take long before the pace bikes started racing too. This lead to a new massive sport called board track racing. This is where brands like Indian and Harley Davidson became famous. The earliest Indians and Harley's still had bicycle frames and crank pedals.

Anyways board track racing was super dangerous. The bikes used drip oil systems and had no transmission, while motors were nearly 1000cc. Accidents were common and you can only imagine the horrific injuries from splintering wood planking. There was a major accident that killed two or three dozen spectators and ended the sport for good in the USA.

Your post link seems to be a mix between the board track and velodrome and likely has roots back to this era of history.