HawthorneVillager.com

I was a bit shocked to read that as well. That paper’s usually full of bleeding hearts, not common sense. Very nice change.

Article seems pretty one-sided.

I agree 100%. I prefer our boondoggles to be made in Canada. If you’re going to waste money, you might as well do it right and throw even more money on a less capable Canadian company.

No one other than family members and teammates watch it anyway.

The neat part to watch will be after you slip some exlax in to a basketballer's gatorade.

How will they dodge bicycles while running across the track to get to the restroom?

Is there some sort of traffic light system for people on the inside courts to cross?

Sorry for the naive questions, I've never been to a velodrome.

So how much does it cost to rent a bike and time at the velodrome? Do you have to book ahead or can you just walk-in and ride? How much time do our amateur athletes get the track to themselves?

Is like the swimming pool at the rec centre? Public swims vs. classes and such?

That may have been covered already, but I'm not going to search it.

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" The actual track itself is being designed by an American, Dale Hughes - again not surprising to see an international choice there. His designs are fast, innovative and cost-effective from what I've read."
hmmm... design dollars for the actual track, too? I have a design idea:

0 <-- turn that on it's side.

I also design olympic swimming pools: [===]

That's me the skeptic talking, of course... since I hate seeing anybody's money go to waste. Can't we re-use an existing design for the track itself? I know, there's more to it than that... There are a lot of us questioning a lot about this, and I think we're allowed to.

I dunno about that gold statue of Krantz.

For the same price we could probably get a mural all around the walls of the velodrome. Nine councillors in formal dress on gold bicycles pedaling like mad, while the other two councillors and assorted taxpayers, on foot and dressed in rags, try to poke broom handles in the front wheels.

Talk about tourist attraction. Why, it could be like Mt. Rushmore or Wawa’s goose.

I'm starting to warm up to this whole idea a bit. But it all depends on the operating costs and what it costs for the general public to use it, of course.

In Toronto (GTA), we ride for sport, and there are lots of road racers out there with disposable income. Have a look at many of those bikes they ride when you drive home next time. Most are over $2000, many over $3000 and some higher than $5000. These riders are pretty serious about their sport and I can see them wanting to use the white elephant.

I'm of the belief there will be demand for it.

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Sigbet says it runs a deficit until its ultimate abandonment by the city. This could be a closing, destruction or privitization.

LOL, spoken like a real-estate agent. The engineering details of the track, like the buildings are individual to each location. And why wouldn't you incorporate lessons learned to make a track better (that's the research & development engineer in me speaking). Here's a quote from Dale Hughes from an interview in 2006 that explains it well.



Note I bolded the more affordable part.

Here's the full article the quote comes from:
http://www.fixedgearfever.com/modules.p ... nt&sid=501

No idea what the situation will be with this velodrome, but speaking from past experiences at FCV in London, ON:

• bike rentals were about $10, bikes ranged in quality from vintage, entry steel bikes, to higher end domestically made bikes
• I'm sure they will introduce a comparable rental model, half decent track bike can be had for relatively cheap prices (far less components than a typical geared bike, no brakes, no shifters, no freehubs or cassettes), so they could pay for these with rental costs pretty quickly
• you had the option to bring your own pedals (if you have your own clipless pedals and shoes), or you can just wear normal shoes with toe straps/clips
• London has a number of "rec sessions" scheduled throughout the week, these are generally 2-3 hour windows (mornings/afternoons on weekends, racing in evening)
• they also had more advanced rec sessions (typically the differentiator here is faster pacelines for more experienced riders)
• to ensure track safety, there is generally a rule that you should have track experience before participating in a rec session (you need to know how to signal, and safely merge onto the track and exit the track without taking people out)
• London had a number of courses (eg: Track 1, Track 2) - these taught you the basics of riding safely on the track, getting riders comfortable with getting on and off, dropping in from the banks, controlling your speed w/o having brakes etc (the sensation of riding at the top of the track and cutting corner to drop down and accelerate through the bank is awesome!), those courses were about $30-$40 and included a bike rental.
• Once you had completed a course, you could participate in the rec-sessions whenever they had them. You have the option of paying per session, or buying a membership (year long, or trial)
• You had to book ahead to take a course, but just show up to ride the rec-sessionsm track schedules were posted online
• They had youth classes for kids learning to ride, I watched a few of these because the kids would go on after our rec-session, and all the kids were having a blast (good mix of boys and girls)
• Beyond the intro courses, they also had learn to race programs
• They also have a weekly rec session for 60+ or slower riders to ride at their own pace
• At FCV I saw a few instances of company team building type of outings, this is an easy money maker, if you can ride a bike its not that intimidating once you get going
• FCV also had an electronic timing option, so you could keep track of all your lap times and personal bests and access them online (great if you are serious about improving your fitness)
• Oh, and Spandex isn't a requirement to ride a bike

Of course, FCV is completely volunteer based, so hours of operation can be hindered by this. I am confident there will be plenty of time for amateur athletes to ride.

I agree.

I'm not quite sure what that means?? I question EVERYTHING ever since my Univ days, where my brain was corrupted with years of environmental education and asking "What If" about almost everything... my poor wife!!

I'm all for R&D for things that are produced en masse, but for a sport that has 4 indoor locations on the continent, is it necessary? And why do the tracks need to be faster? Isn't there a regulation speed, or is the intent to have all world records broken here due to track improvement? like juiced baseballs and LZR swimsuits, are we measuring the athletes, or do we just want to invent stuff to make them faster? (Then what happens when the canadian team that trains here goes internationally to compete, and their times are significantly slower?)

Standing still works just fine for swimming pools, tennis courts, ping pong tables, basketball courts, hockey ice.. sure there are improvements over decades, but aren't we just creating a market for what Dale Hughes has to sell? Of course standing still is not an option for a designer whose livelihood depends on it.

Again, I'm just questioning it for the sake of questioning it... I will absolutely ride there and use the facility when it is built, but if it is going to happen, I would like to see costs controlled to ensure viability long term. Is that "real estatey", or just good business?