HawthorneVillager.com

Is there anywhere that taxpayers/voters can easily track the spending on this project, total and town share, until completion?

Rick, I don’t think you understood what Sandeep was trying to say. He said “Imagine” if this generated a profit. Like we tell our kids to imagine santa clause bringing presents.

For example; Imagine, if after this is built and the town goes broke trying to cover the maintenance, the region buys it as a landfill, saving the taxpayers millions and eliminating the new bag tax.

It’s never going to happen, but just imagine how nice that would be.

The political spin on this is making me vel-omit! This Town is being taken for a ride alright and it goes round and round and round and round and we will all pay and pay. I don't care to argue where the money is coming from. It's going to the wrong place and doesn't serve the greater good.
Having said that, its too late to stop it so then since we will be shoveling out the cash, will Infrastructure Ontario be sharing more information with us than just spin? What about the Town, any plans to share project status? Searching our website show last info May 2012? Any facts or truth out there?

I don't think that it would be too late to file an injunction to prevent the construction. Are there any lawyers on this board that could talk more to this?

It's ok if you aren't comfortable showing yourself in public dressed in lycra. Lycra isn't a fashion statement, its far more functional for certain types of riding. I only asked because my earliest memories of biking were going out to Kelso from Mississauga and riding a crappy department store bike on the trails. I had no interested in road cycling, track cycling, cyclocross or any other lycra wearing branch of cycling. Once I actually opened my mind, I found that these other disciplines were a lot of fun, including track. You should try it sometime.

What is your point about owning a bike that isn't limited to indoors only. Is that an argument? Like any sport, specialized equipment is required. Go rent one at the velodrome when it opens if you don't want to buy one. The same way you rent ski's at a ski hill (if you didn't own specialized downhill skis).

I have noticed this over the years with our posts - that we're practically the same person interest wise. If you tell me that you ride at Kelso, I might actually have an identity crisis and wonder who I'm actually posting as right now.



Guilty as implied. I have not ridden on a Velodrome track before. Not to say that I wouldn't as a rule; but much like the never ending debate between skiers and snowboarders, I mountain bike over road racing and likely won't ever make a switch. (I also ski)

Not to completely derail this thread but road racing is nuts to me. Riding inches away from cars on single lane country roads who are driven by stressed out nuts like me is just crazy. Same with riding in a circle in a Velodrome; no interest to me whatsoever. Give me a dirt trail in the quiet woods away from everyone and the chance to crack my head open on a rock any day. And the trees grew naturally too!

Lance Armstrong has done amazing things in drawing people into that sport, I just happen to think all those people picked the wrong discipline when they went bike shopping. Viva la Tour de France.

I will say that this velodrome will make Milton a biking paradise for sure. Kelso on one hand and the track on the other. The best of both worlds. Sounds like a good time to open a high end bike shop in Milton.


Also Vel-omit.... Awesome! Also see: Velo-dromesyndrome. Get it? Too insensitive?

_________________

Yeah... that more or less sums it up.

I can get the Velodrome experience in a spinning class at the gym. (Which I don't)

I can't get the Kelso, Albion Hills, Boyd, Hardwood Hills experience anywhere but at those places.

_________________

Road racing and track for pussies? You are mistaken. The shaven legs, spandex, and smooth surfaces are deceiving.

I own 6 different bikes currently, 3 mountain bikes, road bike, cyclocross bike, track bike, and recently sold 3 of my older mountain bikes. I got into mountain biking first, it was my gateway into all sorts of riding. While I've primarily been riding off-road (both leisure and racing), this season was about 5000km on the road. Milton, not only offer's great mountain biking, but the back roads are great too. Lots of fantastic category 4 level climbs scattered all around the escarpment, which makes for some really challenging and physically demanding rides. All these are key reasons that made Milton a very attractive place for us to move (yey Friday is closing!)

That said, having ridden all of these styles, I can speak from experience and road riding and track are incredibly tough sports. The consequences for crashing on hard asphalt are going to do more damage and hurt far more than most spills your going to have at Kelso (minus falling off the bluff onto the ski hill). Especially when you are going 80km an hour down a hill on a road bike (very easy to do coming down the escarpment—if you want to experience the thrill of speed, you won't find get the same effect on a mountain bike, at least not in Ontario). You have to have your wits about you. While mountain biking, in the presence of rocks, and roots, seems far more "manly" I'd argue that the road can be just as tough or tougher. In the fall/winter, there is no forest to shield you from the elements or cold. That will really test you.

Track racing, although it doesn't look like it, is a full contact sport. Your equating track riding to the simple action of turning pedals on a spin bike, which is not accurate (especially since you have disclosed you have not ridden on one). There is tremendous mental strategy (depending on the type of race) and you you are in close proximity to other riders, and it takes balls to make a big move and navigate through a group of other riders. Its common to make physical contact with other rides in the corners when trying to pass. I've seen some pretty agressive, intense racing on the track. Fingers crossed you don't crash! Yes, riding out on the track by yourself could be compared to a spin bike (although I recommend you attempt riding on a set of rollers for the full body workout), but the racing or group experience is far different, and will push you harder than your toughest ride at Kelso/Albion Hills, or your stationary bike. You can't replicate that on a spin bike, heck, you don't even have any wind resistance to contend with. Even getting out to train on the track with a group of people is a lot of fun; you can get a paceline going and reach some really fast speeds. When its your turn out front, your going to have to work really hard to keep the pace up. Suffice to say, you can't replicate the track experience, without a track.

Anyways, this is all cycling minutia. Non-cyclists without a doubt will have an opposing opinion. I just find it strange that there seem to be a lot of close minded people assuming that no one will ride on it because they wont. All I can say is, if and when it's built, at least give it a go: rent a bike, and enroll in a session to introduce you to the Velodrome. It will be a fun outing in the least. Don't be intimated by the shaved legs, spandex, and lack of "manly" rocks and roots.

This is along the lines of what I have been saying all along. Focus on improving the lives of the local community FIRST! Pet projects for special interest groups go way down the list.

One of our elected officials may chime in and tell you that the funds going toward the Velodrome can't be used for any of the items you've just mentioned. Much in the same way they will tell you that they can't build roads before the area is populated. They'll tell you thats not how the funding gets doled out. I say bollocks to the we can't do anything about it cause thats not how the system works approach. I say if the system doesn't serve the best interest of your people you lobby to change the system. Don't just throw your hands up in the air and pretend there's nothing that can be done about it.

Where the heck do you live that you can store 6 bikes! Wow.

Second, while you gave a good post, you'll not win me over with it.

I fully acknowledge that road racing can be/is dangerous, which is another reason you won't see me out there. I won't be eating pavement, or being on the business end of a ton's worth of metal on the road ever. I also won't need to bump and grind on the nascar like velodrome track. (I also hate nascar, sorry everyone! I'm a formula one man in that case.)

What you do is a good workout, has elements of danger, and in the right situation requires strategy. But it will always just be a milquetoast ride to me. You can't dress it up enough to win me over. The Tour de France may be the hardest race out there and may even be impossible for a normal human to do without help - but it's still just straight riding on a road.

It also reminds me of running. I've ran a lot in my day. Long runs and races. It got incredibly boring for me; similar to a road ride. So I had to kick it up a notch and that's when I got into adventure racing.

More disciplines + longer races = more fun. That's what I need for stimulation out there: Variety, nature, and a challenge. That's the difference between road and mountain biking.

One thing I will say: I'm not entirely convinced this Velodrome won't be a hit even after the games. There are a ton of road riders in the GTA and this place will cater to all of them. I'll suspect that place will see it's fair share of business. Enough to break even??? I dunno, but I think it will be closer than most think.

_________________

PS: I am a F1 guy too, we are more similar than you think in that regard. Track racing requires F1 level tactics though, despite it being a Nascar-esque loop. It's a lot more sophisticated than $hit kickers driving stock cars IMO

Fair enough about not winning you over but its weird to think of it as a straight road? The road descents in the mountains insanely challenging to do at speed (similar to how technical mtb riding can be), not to mention the elevation and climbing multiple mountain passes. Road riding to me used to seem sooooo borring. Riding on a smooth surface with less technical obstacles. Then I discovered that you can find the same sort of isolation and relaxation that you do on the mtb, but on the road, and cover a lot more ground in the same time frame. This summer I did a 3 day tour around Georgian Bay and out to Manitoulin Island covering about 600km. It was fantastic, most notably the quiet backroads and riding before sunrise when no one was awake. Felt very much like being out in the woods riding singletrack, just different.

Right now I am living in a condo building in Etobicoke. I have some in my unit, and 3 creatively hung up vertically in my storage locker. A couple which I don't get to use regularly, I left back home with my parents. When we move to Milton they will all come and I am looking forward to converting the unfinished basement into my workshop/bike/man cave where I can keep them all in one spot with my tools, truing stand, work stand etc... We can't wait to get settled!

Anyways, despite differing opinions on the velodrome, hopefully we'll run into one another out on the trails. A group of us ride regularly at the Agreement Forest near Hilton falls on weekday evenings, and weekend mornings.

Going to have to ask you to stop making so much sense.

It would be a fascinating exploration to see what the $50-$100 million this Velodrome will cost would get us in equivalent hospital/school facilities/equipment.

Thankfully, we have nspace here to praise the forward thinking future of cycling. It will surely have a vast economic impact by encourage people to shack up at the local hotels, eat at the local restaurants, etc.

Oh wait.

Anytime!

that's what she(male) said!

Ba-dum, tish!

Tell that to this same town council who voted in a last-minute hospital tax grab levy, payable by us through property tax increases.