Geoff Balme: Arguments going round in circles

Geoff Balme.

There have been recent comments in the media that only elite cyclists will ride at the proposed Hawke's Bay Multi-Use Velodrome, that to ride such a track you need to be some sort of athletic freak, that it's physically impossible for most people to ride on a track that is banked 43degrees in the corners, and that the cost of track bikes is prohibitive etc.

Those comments are wrong. The truth is that if you can ride a bike you can ride on a velodrome. These days most velodromes make it easy to start riding on the track by providing bikes, helmets, instruction and track time as part of an affordable 'Have a Go' package and the proposed Hawke's Bay Multi-Use Velodrome would do the same.

Wide community use is essential for modern multi-use velodromes to ensure that they are a valued part of community sporting and recreation infrastructure and to help with financial viability. The days of simply building such a facility for events or high performance use are gone.

When we were planning the Cambridge Velodrome we looked at what many other velodromes around the world are doing in the community space, what they are doing well, what isn't being done so well, what is working, what isn't working etc. From that we designed a suite of programmes which by and large are achieving good community uptake. And the programmes continue to evolve to meet community demand.

With learn-to-ride-track programmes, riders can be up and on the track within the first hour of riding. Programmes with qualified coaches will be available at the Hawke's Bay Multi-Use Velodrome to introduce people aged 10 and over, and with a range of abilities, to the facility.

At the Cambridge velodrome in the year to June 2015 there were nearly 25,000 'community' rides on the track, i.e. excluding Cycling New Zealand and competition rides. Of those 25,000 rides, half were recreational riders, 29 per cent were school/junior riders, 11 per cent were club riders, and 10 per cent were corporate riders. After two years of operation Cambridge has more than 1000 'community' riders accredited to ride the track, not including the significant number of occasional, one-off and tourist riders who also use the facility.

The following case studies from the Cambridge Velodrome further demonstrate community use.

Cambridge High School is located 5km from the velodrome. In 2015 over 40 students trained every Wednesday after school and raced every Friday night and once a month, on a Sunday afternoon, in school competitions that attracted riders from far afield. Eighteen students also studied and passed NCEA Level 2 or 3 Track Cycling.

Velo Equip is a group of 24 recreational riders, 9 females and 15 males, with most never having ridden on a velodrome before Cambridge opened. They now ride Monday nights 6 to 7pm and often in other sessions. Their ages range from 40 to 68 with 54 being the average.

Wheels in Motion is a programme involving over 50 disabled or aged cyclists who ride trikes in 10 weekly sessions at the Cambridge velodrome, mainly in the centre of the track but occasionally on the track itself. Four local rest homes have regular weekly bookings and bring van loads of residents to the track. Disabilities include autism, cerebral palsy, dementia, heart, intellectual, multiple sclerosis, obesity, Parkinson's, stroke and visual impairments. One rider is 97years old!

From a cycling perspective there would be something for almost all of Hawke's Bay 25,000 cyclists at the Hawke's Bay Multi-Use Velodrome.

On Napier City Council's website there is page for the major projects Council currently has underway. The page for the proposed Hawke's Bay Multi-Use Velodrome has further information including answers to Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) and a short video that shows the many ways a multi-use velodrome can be used. You can find the page at

www.napier.govt.nz keyword #prjvelodrome

Now that you know more about the opportunities to ride at the proposed Hawke's Bay Multi-Use Velodrome, if you think you might want to ride the track Napier City Council wants to hear from you. On Council's website at the Multi-Use Velodrome project page there is a link to enable you to register your interest for riding on the track. Or you can go directly to

http://goo.gl/forms/LX9Inby8Oa

I encourage you to register your interest.

- Geoff Balme is Project Manager for the proposed Hawke's Bay Multi-Use Velodrome. From 2011 to 2015 he was Chief Executive of the Home of Cycling Charitable Trust and responsible for planning, fundraising, construction and initial operation of the Avantidrome/National Cycling Centre of Excellence velodrome at Cambridge.

- Views expressed here are the writer's opinion and not the newspaper's. Email: editor@hbtoday.co.nz