Random Thoughts from the velodrome

• Among the many things I never thought I'd see in my lifetime? Ticket touts outside a track cycling event.  I've been to some track races (alright, I've ridden some of them) where the number of people circling the banking on bikes outnumbered the number of people watching. But yesterday afternoon, as we made our way to the Velodrome, there were a couple of scallies in smart casuals offering tickets at inflated prices.  
• Another? Two immaculate Colnagos, leaning unlocked outside a Manchester McDonalds. Their owners, riders from Hong Kong's track team, were missing no opportunity to stock up on carbs and essential fats. 
• Clearly, some of the crowd here are newcomers -- struggling with many of the arcane intricacies of track racing.  To be fair, halfway through the men's scratch race I gave up trying to work out which riders were a lap up, who was two laps up and who was off the back and resorted to shouting "Come on, Bradley", with everyone else.
• Although it's a partisan crowd, cheering all British riders to the rafters, it's also a knowledgeable one which recognises quality riding above everything else.  The cheers for Francois Pervis when the Cofidis rider edged Jason Kenny by less than a tyre's width in an exciting keirin final were genuine and generous.
• Victoria Pendleton is awesome.  Just awesome.  Without taking anything away from her at all, you can see her opponents visibly giving up the minute she starts turning on the power.   
• I wanted to get a picture of the nice new British Cycling stand by the South Curve, but some fat bloke was being interviewed in front of it.