I made it to the Nashville Speedway ride tonight. Here are my thoughts for anyone interested in riding it in the future:
-parking is extremely easy
-after parking, just get your bike out of the car, mount up and ride 50 feet to the entrance of the racetrack
-check in at the entrance, then continue riding your bike (through path between the upper and lower grandstands) to the actual track surface. There are no curbs, etc. that require you to get off of your bike at all.
-the track is divided into 4 car-sized lanes. The two outside lanes (high on the banked oval) are for slower riders and side-by-side riding. The two inside lanes are for fast riders and pacelines.
-yes, you do actually ride on the high-bank section of the oval (2% grade in the transition from the straightaway to the turn, according to my GPS).
-The surface of the track is in fair condition, but there are some potential "tire grabbing" cracks to watch out for. Definitely ride around solo a few times to check it out.
-The two pacelines I joined were going around 24mph. I think there were a couple of pacelines going faster at times during the night.
-if you want to be on a paceline for more than one lap, work your way to the front. The back of the paceline tends to break up at the end of each lap (people bail out). That resulted in me having to go 27mph for way too long to bridge the gap that was created.
-There were about 40 riders, but with the size of the track, that was no problem at all.
-When you are passing another rider, call out "stay" to tell them to hold their line. Don't call out "on your left" or "on your right".
Overall, I'd highly recommend it. With the 2 hours of riding time that's allowed, its a great way to get in 30-40 miles on a weeknight, with no need for bike lights.
