February 12/05 9:44 am - London Velodrome News, Ziggy's Open House, Lance on Oprah

Posted by Editor on 02/12/05
 

London Velodrome at the Bike Shows
Courtesy Rob Good

The Forest City Velodrome will be represented at the Montreal Bike Show, February 18th-20th in the Adventure Bound Booth.

A special thank you to Leonard Hill for making the arrangements for us to be in attendance in the Montreal area market. Adventure Bound distributes the Prorace and Isaac Track Frames in Canada. The bicycles will be available from dealers in Southern Ontario.

There are many track cyclists who race in Quebec through the summer, and It is our intention of bringing these riders on a regular basis to compete in London throughout the winter. Please drop by our booth and find out what's new at the velodrome.

Toronto:
We would also like to thank Canadian Cyclist (Rob and Tracy) for their generous donation of their Booth #781 at the Toronto International Bike Show, March 4th-6th. The Toronto show is at the National Trade Centre at the CNE, in downtown Toronto.

At the Toronto Show, a miniature version of The Forest City Velodrome will be at the booth. The display area will promote our programs for Youth, Handi-sport, Racing and Fitness programs forthe recreational riders who will use the facility.

To help promote the track, flyers, tax deductible donations and membership forms will be accepted at both events.

Volunteers are required for the Toronto show. If you can help out, please email me (Rob.Good@ypg.com). The show begins Friday at Noon - 9pm, Saturday 10am - 8pm, Sunday 10am - 6.

Yours in Sport

Rob Good

www.ForestCityVelodrome.ca


London Velodrome Plans and Work Schedule

The Forest City Velodrome is being Designed and Built by long time Velodrome Contractor, Albert Coulier and Sons.

The plans call for a 142m portable velodrome which will fit into the "Building" in south London. The structure will be constructed of wood and metal, to the high standards of the UCI.

The dimensions of the velodrome will be 16 feet wide, 16 degree banking on the straightaway with 50 degrees in the corners, speeds on the track will be able to handle up to 75 kph. Well within the standards.

With the building materials ordered, it could take approximately 2 weeks for them to be delivered. Once work begins, the completion of the first phase (Velodrome) of the Multi-Use Sports facility should take 4-6 weeks. During this time, we also plan to paint portions of the inside of the building, seating area, wall at the top of seating area (standing room) and move some of the seats to the centre of the grandstands.

Also during the construction phase we plan to install ramps over the stairs at the top of the building to enable walkers and runners to train. It is our intention to install a running mat to cover the floor and make the building more pleasing to the eye for runners to use the building.

We plan to install flooring on the infield for our Children's program. This program will teach bicycle safety and skills to the Youth in the community from ages 4 years to 11years old. Once the kids graduate from the beginner program they will go into the Champions of the Future, where they will ride and train on the velodrome in hopes of going on to International competitions to represent Canada.

This initial phase takes us to early April, with the completion of the Velodrome and the other improvements which we listed above.

Track riding and programs will begin with events every Saturday night.

Phase 2 involves the use of the infield, where the plans have flooring going down for other sports like Volleyball and Basketball, to be available for use throughout the year.

This should take us to the September when all plans, programs and events will be re-evaluated to see which should be modified to meet our needs.


Ziggy's Cycle Open House

Ziggy's Cycle in Kitchener, Ontario is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, and will be holding a Customer Appreciation Night on February 24th from 7:00 to 10:00 pm. If you are in the area, drop by at 417 King Street West. Live Music, Door Prizes, refreshments and representatives from Trek, Cannondale and other manufacturers will be on hand to answer your questions.


Lance on Oprah

Oprah Winfrey devoted her entire show yesterday to Lance Armstrong. Also appearing were Lance's mother, and his partner, singer Sheryl Crow. Winfrey put the question to the 6 time Tour de France winner - will he race a 7th Tour? - and received a "Yes" answer. But ... which year? No answer on that yet, so no real change in the Lance Tour watch. I wonder if Vegas has a line on this yet: "10-4 Lance skips 2005, even money for 2006."

We also heard that Lance still has "a few tadpoles" available, if he (and presumably Sheryl) decide to increase the Armstrong clan (singing cyclists?), and Sheryl revealed that Lance has inspired her to write love songs, as well as debuting her Lance-inspired single "I Know Why".

Oh yeah, Lance had a bike race with Oprah. He agreed to ride one-legged, still won, and fixed Oprah's bike after her chain fell off...