Dalai

Fair call.

I was recently surprised to see total number of racing cyclists in Australia too! Only just over 24,000 members including Coach and Ride (non race) licences...

https://www.cycling.org.au/Portals/10..._FINAL_web.pdf

79pmooney

One big plus of small tracks - far better for spectators. I've watched events at Marymoor and Alpenrose. Marymoor is a far "better" track. Alpenrose is much more fun to go to watch.

Ben

carleton

Yeah, I agree.

This has always been one of the benefits that track has over road, crit, cx, and MTB racing is that it all happens within view.

I really don't know what kind of kick in the arse that track cycling needs to become mainstream again.

chas58

Well, Dale sure as heck is trying - with four new velodromes within a few hours of Detroit (not to mention hos creations all over the world). Its not like US Cycling is helping (or really even understands track racing).

The Detroit 'dome isn't going to be like an expensive Olympic track - its a bit simpler and more community friendly space to to have a workout and some races. It will probably look something like this:

fietsbob

No Tracks no young rider development , no Medals in the olympics , the US must be OK with that

[online] Seen Manchester UK ,Velodrome has a white table cloth Dining, caterer bringing meals to people at their Races .




After the Job collapse and outsourcing of US Auto industries, Detroit has huge tracts of vacant land to build on, for Cheap.

If it were the Cycling community making a Velodrome popular Whats wrong with PDX.

CX is their thing , when the outdoor summer track is closed, no olympic gold in that.

gtrob

Remember that it takes someone behind a project to happen, it doesn't just pop up on its own. The rochester track exists because of Dale. Our milton track was going to be temporary for Panam if it weren't for a few key people (one who is worth more than everyone on this forum combined).

I think more tracks could happen, the harder part is finding the right people to make it happen. I am guessing the 50 awesome tracks in AUS have a big government support, not sure fund raising and private works.

queerpunk

yeah.
that money's gotta come from somewhere.

in the USA, ours is all tied up in corporate welfare and tax breaks for football stadiums that get used as many as 8 times per year.

no money for education though.

gtrob

Maybe not indoor, but I bet you could crowd source fund a short outdoor track. Ideally city donated land in a park (like ivbp), or cheap nothing land (like lots of places). Between public and corporate donations I bet you could raise a lot in a city with a decent cycling culture.

Call it the Subway Verizon Mcdonalds Ford Velodrome park presented by Costco and it should pay for itself

chas58

Well, IVBP (Detroit burbs) was basically crowd funded before crowd funding. A starter track is around $100,000 (assuming you have the land for it). The Detroit indoor track will be around $3 million.

You are right about having key passionate dedicated people around it. That makes all the difference in the world. Recently Cleveland is an example of a grass roots program that went well, Chicago is an example of how it can fail, although they seem to have turned the corner on that one...

700wheel

The Encino track, along with several baseball fields, is located on a potential flood area upstream from the Sepulveda dam. So the rent from the Federal Govt is extremely low.

Dalai

Closer to 100

Yes all Government support as far as I'm aware. Even my clubs track had substantial repairs a couple of years ago paid for by the local council. Joins replaced, new wider duckboard and infield drainage...

chas58

Nice, and this is what we get in the US. ;-)



American's sure as heck don't wan't to pay for a velodrome (just look at Boston's problems).

Heck, even if it is fully funded, the locals around here go ape. With our first velodrome, you should have seen all of the yard signs stating “say NO to the velodrome” when most of those people had never heard of a velodrome. Shoot, we get more people to the park for a highschool track meet or mountain bike race than we ever got for a velodrome night (and no one protests those events).

Similar resistance is happening with the Detroit proposal. The land has been an empty building, then a vacant patch of dirt and weeds (we have lots of those) for over a decade, and still we get strong resistance with comments like:
"They are going to be right next to the senior citizens. I don't think that is going to be good,"

Like empty fields, abandoned buildings, and crack houses are better? I scratch my head sometimes...

Voodoo76

Sad to see too many laps there. The only reason Dorais lasted as long as it did was local racers cleaning and patching it up every spring. Hauling junk out of the infield. All on our own dime. City would mow next to it sometimes, never really any support.

Soil_Sampler

Photo Essay: Colorado 7-11 Velodrome gets a cover - VeloNews.com

chas58

Yep, looks like suddenly 3 indoor tracks for the US:


DET: 166m
LA: 250m
COS: 333m


If you can ride well on all 3 of those, you can ride anything!




Grand Opening of the 7-11 VeloDome at the USOC Olympic Training Center, Colorado Springs, CODec. 7, 2015
Photo Essay: Colorado 7-11 Velodrome gets a cover - VeloNews.com

Seven reasons why you should take up track cycling - Telegraph

queerpunk

i thought that detroit one never panned out... is there an update on it?

chas58

It went underground. Yeah, the locals got up in arms with the idea of replacing abandoned fields and liquor stores with a bicycle and fitness facility. They shot down the initial proposal. So, it went underground until it was safe to resurface. I'm just shocked sometimes how much people resist change.

But its time to come above ground and into the light again. The new facility will be in a great location - right in the hipster corridor (bicycling in Detroit has exploded to staggering levels in the last few years), and provide a nice year round play space for youth (a prime goal of the project), inner city kids, hipsters, velodrome racers, BMX riders...

detroitjim

Here is a post from Detroit Greenways Coalition.
Groundbreaking for America's 2nd permanent indoor cycling track this Thurs Dec 1 @ 2:30p. Tolan Playfield in #Detroit, NW corner Mack & I-75.

detroitjim

Greenways Detroit posted today.

Detroit indoor velodrome groundbreaking rescheduled to Jan 3rd at 2pm.

houleskis

Where's the funding coming from for the Detroit 'drome?

sergioflorez

there's a proposed indoor velodrome in or around new haven, ct. no more word about the velodrome in pittsburgh.

detroitjim

An outfit called Detroit Velo Project. I can't find much about them.

houleskis

I met a gent from Detroit at a race this weekend. He said that the delay was due to the fact that the mayor wants to be present for the ground breaking but he had to attend the funeral of a police officer. Generally speaking, he seemed pretty optimistic and it sound like U.S Madison National are set to be held there late next year. So, that sort of sets a deadline for the project. He mentioned that the entire project isn't slated to take too long to build (I forget the timeline but I was surprised that it was relatively short). Small indoor wood track (designed by the same person as the Milton velodrome) with a bubble on top supposedly makes it a relatively simple build compared to a facility like Milton.

chas58

What would you like to know?

carleton

Well...I haven't seen my other car key for like 3 days now.

...any advice would be appreciated