Events: Golden Wheel/ Tandemonium! at Valley Preferred Velodrome

Due to inclement weather Golden Wheel/ Tandemonium! was cancelled and rescheduled for August tenth.

(2018) Let’s storyboard an introduction. Let’s start with the rosy sunset over the backstretch of the Trexlertown/ Valley Preferred Velodrome. The layers of colors will carry the drama: the indigo sky, rosy horizon, deep green grass, and the contrasting white of the concrete will invite the viewer in. The camera will pan around turns three and four and riders will start to come into focus. It’s a velodrome; track bikes are expected. Except that’s not what we get. For an ode to children of the eighties we can throw in smoke machines and metal rock.

It’s hard to top the excitement of Tandemonium! at the T’town velodrome. What could be better than two professional track riders on the same rig? The answer is simple: bring back the high wheeler machines from a century ago. This Friday Doylestown Bike Works, known for their passion of Penny Farthing high wheelers, will turn loose bygone technology. If it sounds like a bad idea, consider this is where track racing got its start. Continue the unique bike night by watching the tandem track bikes circle the track two-by-two and all at once to conclude the night. 

Doylestown Bike Works has been hard at work over the past few years getting high wheels back into the cycling conversation. They have promoted the Lenape Scorcher, a high wheel race on the closed streets of Doylestown’s Arts Festival. They have also provided bikes for Philadelphia’s Preston and Steve Show when one of the hosts stated he wanted to try the high wheel. It will be a homecoming of sorts for these bikes to revisit the configuration that gave them their start.

This Friday, August 3, the Valley Preferred Velodrome will open its doors at 6pm with happy hour commencing directly. Racing will start at 7:30. Get there early to see riders forming a long pace line for warm-ups as well as getting up close and personal with the gigantic 50-inch wheels of the historic high wheels. The velodrome in Trexlertown is a perfect family outing based on its schedule, open space, and economic ticket and food options. Imagine a night where standard track bikes, quietly called ‘singles’, are the minority attraction for the night. We will see you there.