After a night of minivan's, planes, and an automobile, I made it to Colorado Springs. A nice direct flight from HNL > SFO > DIA > COS.

The pre trip nightmare was finding out that United Airlines are also on the "lets charge cyclists $175 each way to take their bike" bandwagon. First piece of baggage is $20, $30 for the second, and $125 for the third. Ouch!

Solution:
- Bike boxed up to 62 cardboard linear inches = Piece of regular checked luggage! ($20)
- Pack wheels seperately = Piece of regular luggage! ($30)
- Stuff regular bag of clothing into the overhead compartment ($0)
- TT Helmet as personal item ($0)

Bonus = Pre-pay for luggage on United.com and save a further $10.

I got into Colorado Springs at 120pm... No lost bags and no broken items = Happy camper.

Enterprise car rental... $200 for 5 days = Happy camper.
Being offered a PT Cruiser = Not a happy camper.
Taking option of a Chevy HHR = Marginally happier camper.
Getting upgraded to full size car with more balls = Happy camper!

Thanks to the gold ol' cyclists network (ZH), I get to stay with winner of the final stage of the '87 Tour de France. Ex-pro, Jeff Pierce, and his pro cyclist wife Jo Kiesanowski. Super awesome hosts, and they cook a mean dinner too.

Velodrome banking on the east side.

7 Eleven Velodrome, Colorado Springs, CO. USA from Mike Zagorski on Vimeo.

I spent the afternoon getting my legs and mind used to riding around in a 333m circle with one gear and no brakes. The last time I was on a velodrome was 2003, but after 20-30 mins I had it nailed. I spent about 1.5hrs riding the 7 Eleven Velodrome with a standing 2km, flying 2km, and flying 1km effort thrown in with plenty rest between. The first effort hurt (6200ft elevation!), but the times were all better than I expected. Game on!