The library that became a velodrome

Picture a library that is also a velodrome.

In 2010, a student at Pomona College built exactly that — a miniature banked track inside a decommissioned library. A rider could lap the entire room in five seconds.

Strange? Yes. But also, somehow, perfect.

A velodrome is a purpose-built space where you surrender to a single, repeated motion. You don't navigate. You don't decide. You just ride — and somewhere in that loop, the thinking stops. Effort becomes rhythm. Rhythm becomes flow. And in that flow state, fitness is quietly being built.

A library works the same way. You surrender to the book, the line, the turn of the page. The noise of the day falls away. Something is quietly being built there too.

One installation. Two spaces doing the same thing.

Your best training rides work exactly this way - thoughts fade away, and you disappear into the effort. That's not distraction. That's the work.

Find your loop. Surrender to it.

See you next time,

Steve