What a Difference a Day Makes

This past Wednesday, despite the intermittent rain and cold, windy conditions and otherwise Belgin spring weather, much was accomplished at the track. #1 the infield was graded to faciliate better drainage with the help of Larry and his bulldozer, now we need to spread some grass seed and we'll be in great shape; and #2 the tenth section of trackside board was completed, getting us to 80" so far.



Remember you can become a contributor to the ongoing project of erecting the trackside boards, just email info@northeastvelo.com for details.



The forecast for tomorrow's "Try the Track" Clinic looks promising, as does the weather looking into next week for the season's opening week of our Weekly Omnium Series.

Thrilllist.com Features "Try the Track" Clinic

Today's Thrilllist.com listing features the Northeast Velodrome and the "Try the Track" Clinic. Thrilllist is a pretty cool site that lists all sorts of activities in the Boston area, and always does so with a "different" angle on the event. Check out this listing and Thrillist here.

Clinic Sold Out!

Thanks for everyone's interest in the Velo's 1st "Try the Track" Clinic--with several days to go, the 30th rider has enrolled in this intensive course. We'll plan to have another clinic shortly, please email info@northeastvelo.com to express your interest in future clinics.

Weekly Wrap-UP

Week of April 24, 2010 comes to and end--and a good one at that. 4 days, including today, Saturday, of pretty spectacular whether in Londonderry at the Northeast Velodrome & Cycling Park--still a big windy on the back straight, but windy and 65-70 degrees is far better than last week's conditions. We've got about 40 feet of new boards erected, more to follow this week. The track's been patched in spot, is smooth and ready to roll for this week's Open Training and the "Try the Track" Clinic next Saturday. The week's weather outlook is not so great for Tuesday, but great for Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday.

This week we continued with our clean up efforts; here you can see just a fraction of the debris that was collected and carted away during the week. One thing that we did happen to find that we thought was kind of cool, was one of the old [original?] signs for the track when it was a go-kart speedway.



We'll be coming out with the Northeast BMX Track's practice and racing schedule shortly, as well as our plans for track improvements, and call for volunteers. Marie Russell, the NH State Commissioner for the NBL and Mike Kimball, of the soon to be opened Seabrook NBL track, have been incredibly supportive and helpful. Please check back soon on the blog and on our main site for more info.

Rest assured, BMX racing is alive and well in NH!

Buy a Board Program

Buy a Board Program:

Anthony Laskaris started racing on the Velodrome in Northbrook, IL over 25 years ago, when Track Cycling was immensely popular due to the success of the National Team in the early to mid 1980’s. “It was fantastic back in those days, when we’d get between 200 and 300 spectators banging on the boards for midweek racing!”

And speaking of boards, he promptly came up with a great idea, which will help erect boards around the perimeter of the Track.

For $50.00, you can become a “Board Member” (play on words,) and have your very own 8-foot board erected on the Track. The $50.00 fee is a one-time fee which will cover all material costs, and labor, AND, you will get your very own small signature plaque saying: “This Board donated by_______.”

This program is open to individuals and not corporate sponsors, and is a great way for you to become part of the Velodrome and help us fund the boards around the Track. All the boards will be painted white to give a uniform presentation, and allow us to hang sponsors banners on them.

Anthony has already erected the first 4 boards, and the first 4 Board Members are:

Anthony Laskaris
Jeff Palter
Kurt Begemann
Jeanne Hurtz

Below is a picture of Anthony knocking out the first few boards this spring.

For more information on how to become a part of this very helpful program, please contact: info@northeastvelo.com

Some Beautiful Days This Week

Three simply beautiful days at the Track this week--tonight capped off our first week of open weekday training and it was clear skies, and a gorgeous sunset, albeit a bit chilly by 7.15pm. The temperature was as high as about 60 at 4 o'clock, but it was still bearable by 6pm, although definitely dropping quickly. We rode 50 laps into the wind on the back straight, and we definitely felt it, but still so great to be rolling on the track after a winter indoors. Over the past couple of weeks, we've cleared an enormous amount of trash off of the property, patched the track in several places and even have the 1st 3 boards back up trackside. Ken McCallum was at the track rolling for a solid 90 minutes on his pursuit bike just coming off of a few weeks of training in CA at the ADT center. With the first week behind us, we look forward to the Try the Track Clinic in 2 weeks--there's still space for those interested in an intensive learning experience, and then racing in May. Looks like rain this Saturday, please check in our site for any rain cancellation notices; we've also put a Weather Channel link right on the home page to see current weather in Londonderry. Thanks for reading. Jeff

Bunch & Pursuit Series Posted

We've just finalized the dates for racing, for both a Bunch and Pursuit series. Check out the website here. And remember, the track open this Saturday for training at 9am.

BMX Racing UPDATE 4.1.2010

Update 4.1.2010

A quick update, we know a lot of people are wondering what's happening regarding BMX at the Cycling Park for this season. I would personally like to assure you that we are presently finalizing the appropriate paperwork with the NBL for the BMX Track at the Northeast Velodrome & Cycling Park. The folks in Ohio from the NBL have been super supportive over the last several weeks. We will have a full compliment of racing this Spring and Summer under the NBL association, which will be held on Saturday mornings--exact time for registration and racing to be determined. This shift to an earlier time will allows riders to race here in Londonderry, and still have enough time to do more races at the soon to be built NBL track in Seabrook, NH, which is only about 40 minutes away. More details and race calendar to be announced shortly.

As for the track itself, considering the hard winter, and of late, all the rain we've had, the track has held up remarkably well. We've got some work to do regarding drainage, and some maintenance, and this coming weekend should do well to help dry out the racing surface. We'll keep plugging away to constantly improve the facility.

We'll be looking for some volunteers to help us run registration, and working on the track. We've got Mike Kimball, who formerly ran the Track at Rye Airfield, and who is presently working on the Track in Seabrook, lending a hand [thanks Mike!]. We had a great meeting today with Mike, cleared some debris, and have laid our plans to get the track in shape, and ready for some racing! Watch out for more information about racing at both tracks, not to mention the NBL track presently in Wakefield, MA.

Please email, Jeff Palter, at info@northeastvelo.com with any questions, and if you're available to get involved with the track and lend a hand it will be greatly appreciated.