The Golden Era of Soviet Track Cycling

Baku is home to a cement velodrome. For those who don't know what a velodrome is, it's a track, normally made of wood, that you ride around on a fixed-wheel bike that lacks the ever so important braking mechanism. Professionals fly around the track at speeds in the neighbourhood of 60 km/h. It's impressive, but the sheer magnitude of the sport isn't realized until you actually step onto the track.

Well, after much hassling from my dad, I finally made it. My riding partner: an old Peugot road bike. The track looked worn, but in relatively good condition (one could only imagine its state during Brezhnev's hay day). I started out riding on the inner track (it's perfectly flat), petrified of what would happen if I ventured onto the more-than-45-degree-banked corners. I'm no physics major, but I just couldn't see how such a corner was possible at speeds less than 45 km/hr. It was seriously like riding next to a wall.

A couple of times I got the speed up to the point where I thought maybe the first ring on the banked corners was possible. Alas, only twice I was able to make it the full away around without chickening out. Maybe next time I'll man up and go higher up on the corners.