Utah Velodrome, D.O.A? M.I.A? R.I.P.?

The majority of hits I get on my blog are looking for information about the Utah Velodrome which was supposed to be in the planning stages up in Ogden. Since it has been quite a while since I posted any updated information about the velodrome, I figured I would see what I could find.

I checked at the Salt Lake Velodrome Association website, which when I try to pull it up from work it says the url is available from godaddy.com, but when Kelly pulled it up from home last night still seemed to exist. Then I did a google search under Utah Velodrome. Now I know why I am getting so many hits from people looking for information: Guess who is at the top of the page! Probably the only time my meager little blog will appear at the top of any list, but #1 is #1. Woo Hoo! Other searches for information on the velodrome also lead to dead ends, and articles dated Sept 2008 talking about funding being denied by Weber County.

I can only speculate that this means that the Utah Velodrome is dead before it even started, or has been shelved for the foreseeable future. With the increase of people riding bicycles, and the renewed interest in track bikes (although the majority of those are under the skinny leg jeans of some fixed gear freestyler doing skid stops and trackstands in the middle of some downtown intersection, and unfortunately will never see the banked track of a velodrome) that is a sad thing.

That leaves the nearest velodrome to us as the Idaho Velodrome and Cycling Park in Eagle, Idaho - a suburb of Boise. **Word of caution** do not rely on Google maps to give you directions there. We stopped in Boise on our way back from Washington - yes, I will post pictures of that trip, soon - and I decided to take a ride out to find the velodrome armed only with my blackberry, google maps and no actual address. Just so you know, the velodrome is on Horseshoe Bend Road, which is also known as Old Hwy 55 about a mile from State St. It is NOT on Old Horse Shoe Bend Road - which does not exist. If anyone knows how to tell Google Maps that their directions suck, please let me know. They sent me a couple of miles in the wrong direction. I never found it, because I didn't know the actual address until I got home and was able to do a more thorough search, and because my wife was anxious to be back home after a week away, and didn't want to spend any more time on a wild goose chase.

The "A" on the left of the map is where Google Maps says the velodrome is, the bullseye, on the right is where it actually is.

Let's hope that one day, we will once again have a velodrome here in Utah. We may just have to wait a little longer.