London Velodrome
© International Olympic Committee
Bend hosts world-class cycling events, from road cycling to mountain biking to cyclocross. Some use that as momentum to develop home-grown athletes to someday compete in those events. Organizations such as Mt. Bachelor Ski Education Foundation (MBSEF) and Bend Endurance Academy devote untold hours grooming tomorrow’s top cycling competitors. Along those same lines, Michelle Bazemore contends many cyclists started successful racing careers on the velodrome track. She maintains that a velodrome is one of the last pieces of the puzzle to help solidify our status as a top-tier bicycling town.
What is a Velodrome?
From Wikipedia,
A velodrome is an arena for track cycling. Modern velodromes feature steeply banked oval tracks, consisting of two 180-degree circular bends connected by two straights. The straights transition to the circular turn through a moderate easement curve.
For more, see Wikipedia.
In May 2010 she founded the non-profit, Bend Velodrome Project (BVP) which has one goal: build and maintain a world-class velodrome here in Bend. Initially, BVP dedicated much of its focus to the mundane tasks of incorporating and filing the formal paperwork with federal and state agencies for its not-profit status. Bazemore, who heads up the organization’s board, is now eager to take the next step in making her dream a reality.
Before Bazemore moved to Bend from Indianapolis, she raced at the Major Taylor Velodrome. She says she quickly fell in love with the sport after trying it out. Since then she has raced masters nationals several times, and grew her connection to the sport by volunteering as a coach and serving on the Major Taylor Velodrome’s not-for-profit board.
Michelle Bazemore
© Michelle Bazemore
She still goes to Alpenrose Velodrome in Portland to compete during the summer, and says that while they have a great group of people to run the facility, it is falling into disrepair. She feels Bend has an advantage over Alpenrose because of our weather.
One More and Off We Go
In a phone interview Bazemore points out that there is enough organizing work for five board members and is actively pursuing a fifth. She has the four other positions filled: herself, Kevney Dugan (Director of Sales & Sports Development at VisitBend), Chet Davis (from Nike’s global marketing), and Peter Werner (2010 Big Chainring Recipient). Werner has been added with the understanding that a fifth member will be forthcoming. The ideal fifth board member will have land acquisition experience, as well as be able to work with developers, because that is where she wants to focus BVP: acquiring land and building a track.
– Michelle Bazemore
Big Bucks
When asked how much BVP would need to get a velodrome constructed, she has seen quite a wide range of amounts at other projects with some well over the $1Million mark. Part of what drives that wide range is the fact that development costs vary based on the land acquired and if the track will be in or outdoors. An indoor track can be up to four times more costly to build than an outdoor one. Beyond pure economics, Bazemore is also in favor of an outdoor facility because she isn’t interested in competing with winter sports. Her target audience already recreates out of doors in the winter.
Another velodrome project in the works is the Rock Hill Bike Park in South Carolina which will include, “a BMX park, cyclocross course, road bike loop and mountain bike trails with the centerpiece of the facility a four-million dollar velodrome.” According to an article on the project, after visiting the location, Steve Johnson, chief executive of USA Cycling, said, “the velodrome and surrounding venues could host national championship caliber races.” The Rock Hill Bike Park is slated to be completed by December 2011.
Bend Velodrome imagined at the old county landfill
NW Simpson and Mt. Washington
© Steve Jorgensen
Bike Community Reaction
Bazemore has been inspired by the initial reaction from folks she has spoken to about the project. If you ask Bend Endurance Academy’s Cycling Director Bill Warburton, a velodrome can be a key tool to develop young riders. He says,
“Our local riders will benefit the most because the track is the best place to get young riders out with a coach to work on team skills, sprinting, drafting and all the other tactics that make them better cyclists no matter which discipline they end up choosing…. The track is the place to introduce those skills and ideally, the place to work on them on a regular basis.”
Keep It Running
With an endorsements like Warburton’s, support from the cycling community seems a lock. In a perfect world, a Bend velodrome could sustain itself. The reality, however, may tie BVP to the strength of broader community support to cover on-going maintenance costs. That part of the project remains untested as of yet.
Some velodromes around the country are operated by a city’s Parks and Recreation department. Bazemore’s team hasn’t yet broached the subject with the Bend Parks and Recreation District (BPRD) in part because she didn’t feel they were fully prepared. A Parks district running the Bend velodrome is not necessarily a recipe for success either though. In Indianapolis, their Parks and Recreation group ran the velodrome, and according to Bazemore, due to budget cuts over several consecutive years, the facility had deteriorated. A separate group bid on take over running the facility, and was awarded the task.
According to former mayor of Bend and bike enthusiast Bob Woodward, “I’m sure people talked about a velodrome over beers after a ride, but there was never a movement to get one going here.” Overall community interest may be low if you gauge it by a 2008 survey BPRD commissioned Leisure Vision to undertake. According to the survey of 878 households which gives them a 95% level of confidence in the results (+/- 3%), of the 28 types of facilities asked about, an outdoor cycle training facility was 25th.
Chart from BMPRD 2008 Community Survey
Click to see full sized chart
Despite obvious hurdles to the project, Bazemore remains undaunted in her vision. If her competitive spirit is any measure, look for news about BVP milestones in the near future.
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{ 3 comments }
I think these efforts need to be made. You don’t just push over a coke machine. You have to rock it back and forth a few times. Those previously failed attempts at an ice rink are just steps toward another recreation option being created. There is no question that an outdoor track would have a very long season. Its March 9 and if there were a track to ride on, I would be there today. Its perfect weather for riding.
I appreciate this effort being made and would like to offer my full support as well.
Matt Plummer
Central Oregon Racing
Lucas-good story. For a frame of reference, consider what’s gone on re an ice skating facility over the past decades. 30 years ago blue ribbon committee of business owners, doctors etc was formed and a facility discussed. Nothing came of it after a year of work.
Then some 15 years ago, another push started and got as far as putting down a sheet of ice in Juniper Park to show what could happen if a rink was built. The possible rink set to be put down close by the National Guard Armory and Deschutes Brewery never came to fruition as a possible large $ investor walked away.
In 2006, another rink idea was put forth and Parks studied all the rinks in the N’west and found most operating in the red. The one successful rink of note (In KFAlls) had most of the its construction labor donated and was/is highly subsidized. That movement died.
More recently Marshall Glickman and friends started up the idea of a multi-purpose center that would house a rink and convention/meeting space. The idea ran out of steam when the economy tanked.
Bottom line: even with, in some cases, big bucks and good intentions behind a project like a rink (which scored much higher than a cycling facility on the Parks survey results), it’s hard to get these efforts to produce a result…..and a rink is way easier to sell the public than a velodrome…
As much as we love cycling, a velodrome is like a very expensive toy that we can’t afford even if we got huge financial support…veldromes take a tender loving care and their maintenance, security, insurance costs are killer.
Bob
What a dumb idea. At least have the insight to put the thing inside. Outside will only be usable about 3 months out of the year. And if she thinks her target audience is only people that will use the thing in the summer, that excludes all those who don’t share her passion for all things winter. And there are a lot of those. What about competing with those that do summer sports? A lot of folks would rather ride outside in the summer, and inside in the winter. Duh!