Image
Preparing for the start of a race at the Point Breeze Velodrome, Philadelphia PA, 1918.
Credit: Courtesy Urban Archives, Temple University Libraries, Philadelphia
By the late 1800s almost every major city in the eastern United States had an oval velodrome track with steeply banked curves to enable bicycle racers to achieve high speeds. In the early 1900s, ethnically diverse working-class riders dominated professional track racing.