Most Americans and Europeans have the opportunity to ride
year-round. If you can pull on enough
warm clothing you can get out on the roads and get the pedals moving. Our friends in Canada haven’t such luck. Canada boasts a plethora of riding and biking
clubs throughout the country but in spite of global warming it is still cold
north of the 49th parallel.
At the time of this post it was 1°C
in Toronto with a high tomorrow of 2°C. Combine the cold with snow and chances of a
metric century Saturday are slim.
Canadians take it inside and ride in local sports clubs on
machines or in spinning classes. Many of
the clubs have posted times for indoor training and riding, they stay on
schedule. Another answer is the indoor
velodrome. The nation has two of the
three velodromes in North America with the Forest City Velodrome in London,
Ontario and the Burnaby Velodrome in British Columbia. The third is the ADT Event Center located in
Carlsbad, California. (The US lost an
indoor facility when Boulder Indoor Cycling closed last year). America’s newest velodrome is the outdoor
Chicago Velo Campus set to open fully in 2014.
In 2016 an indoor velodrome will open in New York City. The funding has been secured and construction
will begin on the Brooklyn Bridge Park Velodrome Field House. (More on this in
a future post). This marks the return of
velodrome cycling to the Big Apple.
The velodrome capital of the world may very well be
Japan. The country has over 50
velodromes, all outdoor. Most of these
facilities were constructed for the purpose of Keirin racing, a type of
peri-mutuel gambling and just one of four sports authorized by the government to
permit betting. It has been an Olympic Sport since 2002.
Back to Canada… The
nation that has brought the world ice hockey, little ham patties they call bacon,
and the hilarious Trailer Park Boys we can now add very cool velodromes with
the best arguably being the Forest City Velodrome just outside Toronto in
London, Ontario. The facility was
originally constructed as the London Gardens in 1963 as the home of the London
Nationals Hockey Club (now the London Knights playing home games at Budweiser
Gardens, formerly known as the Labatt Center). The Labatt Center was built in 2002 leaving
the London Gardens vacant. In less than
four months the old hockey arena was converted into a velodrome. The
site operates year-round with professional training programs, youth programs,
open recreational riding hours and more. The track is owned by individuals
holding shares in a public corporation, the Forest City Velodrome Association,
a nonprofit.
Before you show up north of
the border with your bike remember this direct from the Forest City website: A bike acceptable for use on the track
cannot have brakes and must have a fixed gear. There has to be enough
clearance for a 2x4 wooden stud set on its end to fit between the bottom of the
pedal and the ground when the bike is upright and the pedal is in its lowest
position. The bike must have dropped handlebars. And if it has
quick release hubs the levers must be taped to the frame. Your best
bet is to rent a bike from the facility and prepare for the 50 km/h slingshot!
Please visit our website at www.stickybottleteam.net for a video of a Keirin race from Japan.
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