Cycling / Tim Brown : Velodrome Struggles to Emerge From Obscurity

In their efforts to put the Encino Velodrome on the map, officials of the cycling venue would settle first for a place on the freeway.

Tucked into a corner of the Sepulveda Dam Recreation Area, the velodrome is out of sight and, officials figure, out of mind. Track representatives have lobbied for the installation of a sign on the Ventura Freeway that would tip motorists as to their whereabouts.

On Thursday, Caltrans granted their request. Alex Baum, 14-year chairman of the Bicycle Advisory Committee for the city of Los Angeles, drafted a letter to the mayor’s office and the Department of Transportation requesting such a sign.

“There are so many people who don’t know where we are,” Baum said. “If there is a little sign there, it will bring to the public’s attention that we do exist, and it will give them access.”

To illustrate his point, Baum told a story of his brother roaming Ventura Boulevard in search of the elusive velodrome. He eventually stopped--presumably at a doughnut shop--to ask a policeman, who said he had never heard of the place.

“As it has been said before,” Baum said, “the Encino Velodrome is the best kept secret in the Valley.”

The velodrome has applied to play host to next year’s Junior National Championships and Madison Championships, as well as the Olympic Festival in 1991, meaning a larger flow of traffic.

“I think it’s high time people know the velodrome exists,” Baum said.

Add velodrome: After an off week, the velodrome resumes its racing schedule at 7 p.m. Saturday with the first Scotty Munro Vets Special Night.

There will be the regular slate of events as well as racing for veterans, those being racers 35 and over.

Scotty Munro is a track enthusiast who, for the past several years, has volunteered his time at the track for maintenance and repair work. Munro is also a veteran rider.

“We decided to honor him because he has put in a lot for the velodrome,” said Ray Joiner, the track announcer and an instructor. “We’re hoping to encourage some of the vet riders to come out.”

Bring in the stunt bike: Road rash isn’t the kind of thing a cyclist goes looking for. In fact, on the national scale of things to avoid, having the first six or seven layers of skin torn from your body by skidding across several lanes of pavement ranks just below burning an American flag in the town square of Pickuptruck, Ark.

David Brinton, however, would like to be a road rash achiever. The North Hollywood rider, who learned his trade as a BMX freestyle rider, wants to be a stunt cyclist.

“Stunt work is something I’d like to do as a future career,” said Brinton, who also will ride in Sacramento and San Rafael this weekend. “I enjoy the risk. It’s just fun, and it’s a challenge.”

Brinton will demonstrate some of his skills at 3:30 p.m. Saturday, when ABC-TV televises the Beverly Hills Subaru Classic, a criterium held July 23 in which Brinton competed. A portion of the coverage profiles Brinton and his stunt work. He has appeared in the movie Quicksilver, which contained many cycling sequences, as well as a commercial for Crest, his current sponsor. So far, remaining upright on his bicycle has proven more lucrative than the alternative.

Bar fly: Fin Halsa, a nutritional bar new to the health food market, has offered its services to John Wordin, a West Hills cyclist who already races under the Nissan-Schwinn team’s flag.

“They are going to provide me with all the bars I can eat plus financial help,” said Wordin, who will race today in the Old Sacramento Criterium and Sunday in the Subaru Cycling Classic, a criterium in San Rafael.