Spin the District Spotlights East Point's Velodrome
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David Egetter was in for a wild ride the first time he cycled around the Dick Lane Velodrome in East Point.
Egetter, a veteran biker who raced criteriums in college at the University of Georgia and on mountain bikes while serving in the Peace Corps in Honduras, said his first velodrome experience felt more like skateboarding, with the high-banked, concrete turns.
“I was like, ‘Ahh, I don’t know if I like this,’” Egetter said. “You can’t stop pedaling, there’s no brakes, and you have to have speed going into those banked turns to stay on the banking. It kind of went against a lot of my biking instincts. Coasting, using brakes and using gears are three things that had been ingrained in me.
“All of a sudden, that’s stripped away and I’m just trying to stay upright on the banking.”
But after a few times around the track, Egetter was hooked. Today, the Velodrome is among his favorite spots to hop on a bike, whether it’s a heavy workout on his lunch break or weekly Wednesday races with the East Point Track Club.
Velodrome racing is the back in the spotlight this week with the second weekend of the Spin the District series on Saturday at the Dick Lane Velodrome. The East Point Omni kicks off at 6 p.m., featuring more than $3,000 in prizes for racers.
The competition Saturday will be fierce, with riders from around the nation and world heading to town to race on the only concrete velodrome in Georgia (and one of only a few dozen in the U.S.) but Egetter said, like all Spin the District events, the Omni is just as much about being a spectator as a racer.
“It brings a lot of folks from all over the country to our little velodrome,” he said. “I don’t even race - I’d get blown out of the water by this competition. I go for the party and to watch. The level of competition goes way up. It’s really a lot of fun, having the beer trucks and DJ. Your biking friends come, neighbors come, it’s cool to have all these circles come together.”
The atmosphere will mean some added visibility for one of East Point and the Tri-Cities’ gems. Egetter said one of the draws of the Velodrome is the great community, fostered by the East Point Track Club, that surrounds it.
“It’s great to see the youth riders from the East Point Track Club compete at a higher level,” he said. “We’re always rooting for the youth track riders that we race with every week but now they get to be in the spotlight at a higher level. I’m expecting to see a few of them that kick our butts every week putting up a big fight on Saturday.”