Kenosha Velodrome and Big Fish

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Every year my father and I go salmon fishing on Lake Michigan for Fathers Day out of Kenosha. Due to scheduling conflicts we were not able to make it until last Sunday. Above is the Washington Park Velodrome, the oldest operating velodrome in the United States. Too bad there were no races this day, but it was cool to see it. The banking is steeper than it looks. Information and history on the velodrome here and here.
The following day I caught a beauty king. It was a good weekend with dad.

We ended up with a cooler full of mostly cohos, this king and one lake trout. I will be eating fish for a long time.

8 thoughts on “Kenosha Velodrome and Big Fish”

  1. I get up at 5; fix breakfast and walk the dog by 5:40 – off to work at 65:30. That history was a bit long but was surprised to learn that in the 20s cycling was the highest paid sport –

    I think the earliest velodromes (when’s the last time I got to talk about “velodromes” much less say it? ) – anyway the first ones were wooden tracks.

    One of my summer jobs was working at a fish plant – and when the salmon came in I would work from 0300-midnight – just unloading the fish from the ice pallets (a good 1,000 lbs) and putting them on the table for others to fillet.

    Since salmon are so expensive only the best would fillet – miss meat and you are losing big $$$

    Once slice and each side would be literately stripped of meat.

    I smelled so bad that my mother made me change clothes in the garage.

    people would get into my car and say “what’s that smell?”

    I of course would answer “what smell?”

    That fish oil would actually permeate the skin – you couldn’t wash it off.

    It was a memorable summer. I learned to distinguish Kings from Silver – Steelhead were easy.

  4. The track at the Kenosha velodrome is steeper than the one at Northbrook, IL. Both are paved. I think the track angle is a function of track length: shorter tracks need to be steeper or speeds would have to be lower.

    Indoor velodromes usually have wood tracks. This allows them to be disassembled and moved to different locations, or to free space for non-cycling events. Indoor bicycle racing was a big spectator sport in the early 20th Century. Events were held in major venues such as Madison Square Garden. There was money in it and the big stars of the time participated.

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