Tag Archives: Marymoor Park

The Racers Doing Their Thing

In a recent post, I shared some shots of an evening at the Jerry Baker Velodrome in Marymoor Park, Redmond.  We had a good time enjoying the racing, the food and the beer and, a couple of weeks later, they were holding a large meet with many international riders taking part.  This seemed like it would be worth a follow up visit.  That proved to be a good choice.  The size of the field made for much interesting racing and some drama.

Getting there proved a touch more difficult because a concert was also on at Marymoor Park but we made it in before the events got underway, so all was good.  The quality of some of the athletes was impressive.  In one race, a breakaway was well established for a large part of the race and I thought there was no way that they would be pulled back.  However, I was mistaken.  With only a couple of laps to go, a few broke away from the pack and bridged the gap to overhaul the breakaway with what seemed like ridiculous ease.  Most impressive.

There were some riders that were clearly in a league above.  You could see them managing their performance through the races, coming to the front for a while, biding their time for much of the race and then turning on the power when it was required to come home with the win.  Other riders went off on solo breaks which got them some time at the front but, by the end of the race, it was clear that they had burned themselves out.  It made for a lot of fun to watch so I am grateful for the effort that they all made.

Another top evening out.  The food truck may not have been quite so good, but the beer was still excellent, and the racing was a blast.  We shall see when we can next get down there to watch some more.

Friday Night at the Velodrome

I persuaded Nancy that a fun Friday evening could be had in Marymoor Park if we went to watch some track cycle racing.  Not sure how I managed that, but the food trucks and beer garden might have swung it for me.  Jerry Baker Memorial Velodrome is located in the park and is the last velodrome available in the Pacific Northwest of the US.  It attracts lots of riders as a result.  It is ages since I last went to a velodrome to watch racing, so I was looking forward to it.  The Nationals were on in California, so some of the regular racers were away but there were still plenty of competitors out.

I shall share some examples of the wider view of the arena, the competitors and the spectators for now.  Some more racing specific shots will come in a separate post.  It was a great evening with lovely weather (and great food and beer), and I think we both enjoyed it.  The racing was well structured to keep it entertaining, and they even had races for the kids.  The star of that show was a kid with a big wheel!  It was all I could do not to reference respecting my “authoritie”.

Marymoor Dragons

A sunny afternoon was a good time for a ride since such nice days are likely to be in short supply before too long.  I didn’t feel like pushing myself up nasty climbs on such a lovely day so went for miles rather than climbing feet and took the trail down the Sammammish River and on down through Marymoor Park and alongside Lake Sammammish.  As I went through Marymoor park on my outbound leg, I noticed what initially appeared to be a couple of plows alongside the trail. I decided to check them out on the return leg.

When I came back, I realized that, far from being farming implements (albeit on a small scale), they were actually sculptures of dragons.  A pair of them, presumably taking flight?  I was glad I waited until the return journey because the sun was that bit lower and the light a bit warmer.  That did make it a bit more tricky to keep my shadow out of the shots but I just about managed.