Welcome to the Olympic 2012 Velodrome - the prologue

Whoosh  - the Shanghai Express flying by

First footfalls in the Olympic Park - February 2012

We missed out on Track Cycling Tickets for the Olympics, shame, but we did manage to get a couple of tickets to the Test Event. At £40 a pop, just for qualifying heats, they were not cheap but it seemed like a nice thing to do and it would mean we would be first!

Making the first impression - our seats

We would be at the first event at the Olympic Park, the first event at the Velodrome, the first time anyone sat on seats 439 and 440 in Row 3 of Block 123. And they would be best seats in the house, well we thought so anyway!

So cometh the day the two country bumpkins headed off for Stratford. Wonder how many foreign visitors will expect to see Ann Hathaway’s cottage? As it was an evening session, planned to finish at 22:30, we decided to avoid the Western Region trains. Taking the car we braved the M25 heading for Woodford to pick up the Central Line. The Woodford Car Park was £4 and then £7:70 each for Travel Cards for just 5 stops - should have bought an Oyster Card really. Never mind, buying a ticket was complicated enough for us. After twice asking for help from the station attendant with the button pushing, I still could not find the right slot for my credit card, luckily he was patient. Not sure where my card would have ended up if it had fitted in one of the other orifices.

TW arrives

Anyway there were regular trains going West into Town. We managed to negotiate the route from Stratford Station to the Olympic Park. People in Yellow Jackets with 'pink gigantic hand syndrome' pointed the way. We had to walk through the massive Westfield Shopping Centre – managed to keep TW focussed on the cycling ahead, luckily she loves Track Cycling, I bet some of the corporate wives at the Olympics don’t get past the shops!

Bit of a queue for security before a slow walk to the swimming pool to pick up the Shuttle Bus to the Velodrome. They would not let us walk as there is still construction work going on. The bus driver identified some of the structures for us like the Basketball Hall and the Water Polo Arena before we arrived at the wood clad Velodrome. Very impressive! It’s a bit like entering a gigantic Noah’s Ark. These animals entered two by two and headed for the catering concession. I think the staff had just landed via Ryanair from Eastern Europe but they were friendly enough. Clutching beer, crisps and a BLT, good health food, we headed for our seats on the back straight.

Rear View of the German pursuiters

Our seats were excellent, great view with plenty of leg room. Our events were ‘only’ qualifiers – for the Ladies and Men’s Team Pursuit – but it was very exciting. The rides were against the clock and the fastest two qualified to ride for Gold on following days. The Japanese Ladies were up first but they were having a bad day and did not really try but it got better. Nobody fell thankfully. The Germans and Koreans tried hard, on their rollers anyway. The German Ladies warmed up for a couple of hours just in front of us, nice view but shame about the racing, got a slap! They were worn out by the time they hit the track.

Team GB in pursuit

The upshot was that Team GB reached both Finals, the Ladies to meet Canada and the Men to meet the Aussies. The crowd was brilliant, really noisy and manic whenever Team GB were involved but polite with everyone else. The partisan crowd was probably noisier than it will be at the Olympics as it was all British and no Corporates. Much too soon the racing was over and it was time to head home!

We had a long wait for our temporary Shuttle Bus back to the swimming pool but we were not too worried. 6000 people in a bus queue must be some sort of record and certainly another first. We’d enjoyed our evening and we managed to avoid being interviewed by LBC Radio. The reporter picked on a couple in front of us in the queue and a couple behind. Pity though, I’ve a great face for radio, as they say. We did chat to Dr Chris Jarvis in the queue which was interesting. He’s been a Doctor for the Cycling Federation for years and gave us some background and a couple of mementoes to take home. We found our way back to Stratford Station past the shops and were soon bouncing along back to Woodford on very wobbly rail tracks. We sat next to an unpaid volunteer who was loving being involved in the Games and the ‘London Prepares’ events.

Olympic Velodrome - on the final bend

It’s easy to be cynical but much more fun to be involved, wish I was going back in August but it will look great on the telly. C’mon Laura!