Riding to the Olympics in London
By Nicole Visschedyk
nvissche@uwo.ca
Beep-beep-beep. The starter countdown begins.
Muscles taut, a young woman raises her seat off the bike. Beep-beep-beep.
A mechanical arm releases the ultra-light frame. Body curled around
her bike, her strong legs pump hard.
Amy Armstrong, 23, is an elite athlete training for the Canadian
track championships.
Wearing an aerodynamic racing helmet, she thunders around the
small wooden track. Armstrong appears to be riding parallel to
the floor as she flies around the steeply banked corners of the
138-metre wooden oval. Organizer and coach Rob Good yells instructions.
He has been helping her from day one.
The track under Armstrong's wheels has only been around for a
few years, but already the facility is changing the face of Canadian
cycling.
Tucked away on the outskirts of London, the
Forest City Velodrome, opened in 2005, has become a training
ground for Canada's top-notch cyclists, thanks to a team of dedicated
bike-lovers.
A few years ago the old arena, the Ice House, hosted little league
hockey tournaments and Ice Capades.
Within months two organizers took the track from a pie-in-the-sky
idea to a volunteer run co-op. Riders buy one-year memberships
starting at $250.
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| Photo by Nicole Visschedyk |
| The velodrome was built inside an arena. |
The facility had been the dream of 53-year-old Good for years.
He fell in love with cycling in high school on the old outdoor
track in Delhi, Ont. "We used to battle it out every weekend.
That's where I learned to track cycle."
An advertising salesman by day, Good partnered with 89-year-old
Albert Coulier to create the space.
Like Good, Coulier knows his bikes and his tracks. He has been
building the curved wooden structures since 1939. Coulier has
built temporary tracks, used for competition, all over North America,
including velo-tracks in Maple Leaf Gardens, Madison Square Gardens
and the track used for the 1976 Montreal Olympic games.
Still active at the London velodrome, the Tillsonburg, Ont. resident
was once one of the country's top cyclists. He was short-listed
for the 1940 Olympics that were cancelled because of the Second
World War.
The two cycling enthusiasts put a business plan together, sold
shares and made the dream a reality.
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| Photo by Nicole Visschedyk |
| New riders learn to navigate the track. |
"It took four months to go from an idea to hosting a race,"
said Good.
He and his volunteers can be seen almost every day fitting nervous
looking new riders with bikes while simultaneously bellowing instructions
to young cyclists.
For Amy Armstrong, "being able to ride in the winter means
I can fly come summer."
For mountain bikers and road cyclists alike this track allows
them not only to keep their legs strong, but to socialize with
other gear-heads. Only two other covered velodromes exist in North
America, one in Burnaby, B.C., the other in Los Angeles.
Of the 300 members of the velodrome co-op, Good estimates 90
per cent are recreational riders. "The other 10 per cent
are racers under 19, hoping to go to the Olympics for Canada one
day."
Many members come out every Saturday to watch both recreational
and elite athletes compete in a variety of races.
Decked out in a rainbow of brightly coloured jerseys, firefighters,
doctors, lawyers and retirees warm up on stationary bike rollers.
Ten-year-olds rub shoulders on the infield with national champions.
An announcer babbles excitedly in the background describing the
complicated races to new spectators unfamiliar with the sport.
People of all ages and abilities come from all over the province
to showcase their cycling prowess and participate in a variety
of races.
Nurturing and inspiring this young talent is a priority for Good.
"The younger we can get them riding bikes safely, and with
skill, the better prepared they will be if they want to be competitive,"
he said.
Robert Rupay believes his young son and daughter's skills have
improved from careful coaching. He and his wife, Brenda, drive
the three hours from Peterborough every weekend so their kids
can benefit from Good and his posse of volunteers.
"Where else can you train in winter? You're stuck like a
hamster on a wheel inside," said Rupay.
He describes his son, Kyle, as addicted to the sport. "He
just loves to race."
At age 14, Kyle is one of the riders who may one day be an Olympian.
The teen has won multiple medals in both track and road cycling.
"Rob Good really encourages the kids," said Rupay of
the Velokids team designed to get children as young as eight involved.
Rupay likes to see his 12-year-old daughter, Brianne, share the
track and her down time with professional female athletes.
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| Photo by Nicole Visschedyk |
| Riders prepare on the infield. |
"I like her not to be intimidated," he said. "To
see: this is who I can become."
Good and fellow volunteers like Mary Kelly have worked hard to
attract females to what is often a male-dominated sport.
Kelly, 67, sells hot dogs during the races to raise money for
the co-op. A lifetime cyclist, she has been helping out from day
one.
Money raised from a variety of fundraisers goes to general upkeep
and the top-notch bikes riders rent if they don't own a track
bike.
The bikes are fixed
gear, which means riders must be constantly pedalling. They
also have no brakes, which makes many first-timers queasy.
"When I first saw the track, I thought there's not a snowball's
chance in hell I'm going to get on that thing," said Kelly.
It was only after her nine-year-old grandson rode that she felt
chagrined into riding.
Many people are initially intimidated by the steep sides and
the appearance of a fellow rider vertically above their head,
says designer Bob Schelstraete, son of Albert Coulier.The complex
craft of building the elliptical surfaces passed from father to
sons.
With his brother, Schelstraete has built temporary tracks all
over North America.
"People walk in and go, wow!" said Schelstraete. "They
think it looks like riding on a wall." Despite much of the
work being done by volunteers, construction of the London facility
cost more than $140,000, said Good.
Each supporting beam must be
individually designed and constructed to ensure a perfectly
smooth ride. Instead of temporary tracks, builders of the London
Velodrome used marine grade plywood to ensure a long life.
The track is steeper because it had to be squeezed into the old
hockey arena space. "Normally tracks are larger. This is
one of the smallest," he said.
"We had to build right into the stands to get a high enough
bank," said Schelstraete.
He and his brother, Ron, did the design and much of the construction
work.
"The trick is getting the right angle," he explained.
"There has to be enough banking to hold you in as a rider."
Schelstraete and his brother, Ron, often help out at races, pinning
numbers on jerseys or organizing events.
Because of its small size, the track is substantially faster
and more technically challenging for riders like Amy Armstrong,
says Schelstraete.
Armstrong relishes the challenge. "I feel so powerful and
in control. There is so much to focus on, nothing else exists
when I'm on the track."
