Susan Jackson

Work at the cycling cluster commenced this week, and what should I start with? We could revisit why Bob is the man, the fact that next to the venue there is a Disney knock-off amusement park complete with a 1/3-size Epcot ball, or the story about me crashing an electric scooter into a building and a security desk at the same time. While you mull over those choices, why don’t I just get right into the crashing-into-bagillion-dollar-velodrome story?

Since the venue has different facilities for mountain biking, BMX, and the indoor events, we have access to some sweet Olympic-branded electric scooters to zip from place to place. Alex led us on a ride from the velodrome up to the BMX course (the downhill on the way back is great for getting around the engine restrictor) and rode his scooter right through the door to park it in our office. I attempted to follow but accidentally goosed the throttle and flew into—not through—the doorway, with a skid into the security guard’s desk to finish it up. And of course, the guy was sitting there. The table torpedoed back into him and though I was screaming “Oh my god!!! I’m sorry!” he never said a word to me. Just smiled. Crysty, my classmate and venue partner, erupted in hysterical nervous laughter behind me. Some samaritan helped me pick the bike up and I sheepishly wheeled it to the office. Inexplicably, no one really noticed, but Bob did inquire “Soosan, did you injure yourself?” Just my pride, Bob. Just my pride.

Fortunately, I didn’t injure the velodrome either. The impressive UFO-style structure took four years to complete and can hold 6,000 spectators. On our first day, we saw members of the Chinese cycling team taking practice laps with the aid of a pacing motorcycle. The banked sides of the bowl-shaped track sit at 47 degrees. It is mind-boggling that a bicycle, motorized or otherwise, can stay upright against that steepness. Though I’m told that the Chinese cycling team isn’t the most competitive, the quadzilla legs I saw cruising past me looked like they meant business.

I got a little choked up about the whole scenario. I’ve always been completely inspired by the true spirit of the Olympics. The majority of Olympic athletes don’t train so hard and sacrifice so much for money or glory—they do it for the love of sport and competition. To be near that is amazing, and I’m so happy I can be even a small part of it, water bottle cleaner or not.

Check out a video of our first look at the velodrome from the infield.

Tags: Beijing, cycling, Laoshan, travel

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 17th, 2008 at 10:32 am and is filed under Beijing Olympics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.