World-class cycling velodrome nears opening in Detroit

Only two U.S. cities have a specially designed sports venue for indoor bicycle-racing.

Next month, Detroit becomes the third.

The Lexus Velodrome is scheduled to debut Dec. 9 with a preview race around the track, which is called a velodrome. Regular public use of the venue will begin in mid January, including free fitness and training programs for youths. Organizers' goals include forming the nation's largest minority cycling team and developing Olympic-caliber cyclists.

Situated at 601 Mack Ave. in Midtown, in the city's Tolan Playfield park, the velodrome is inside a large white air dome that rises 60 feet off the ground and is visible from I-75.

Ten laps roughly equal a mile on the 166-meter wooden banked track, which can only be used by purpose-built track bikes. The 64,000-square-foot venue also features a flat concrete track surrounding the velodrome for running, walking and skating.

The velodrome is a nearly $5 million project, financed entirely by an anonymous donor who loves cycling and wants to introduce the sport to others. It will be run day-to-day by a new nonprofit organization – the Detroit Fitness Foundation – and funding for operations will come from a mix of user fees, donations, events and corporate sponsorships.

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"There is no taxpayer money whatsoever in our facility, either in building it or operating it," said Dale Hughes, 68, of Rochester Hills, a world-renowned velodrome designer who is the foundation's executive director. Hughes, who also coaches cyclists, has built more than two dozen velodromes since the 1970s, including for the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

Lexus, Toyota's luxury auto brand, this month became the velodrome's naming rights sponsor under a multiyear deal. Lexus already sponsors many amateur and professional cycling events across the country. The velodrome is still searching for five more sponsors.

“We see cycling as a platform for reaching affluent millennials," Lexus spokesman Curt McAllister said. "Our research shows that millennials appreciate cycling and it’s actually high on their hobby list.”

The velodrome could be a big treat for area cyclists and make Detroit a national destination for high-level races, where bikes can hit speeds over 40 miles an hour.

However, Hughes said the foundation's main goal at the velodrome is to provide fitness and sports opportunities for area residents, particularly youths and seniors. To that end, the velodrome venue will have free daily programs for both groups.

Seasonal passes for everyone else will be $200, or $175 for Detroit residents. The daily pass will be $20 (or $15 for Detroiters), plus $10 to rent a mandatory track bike. There also will be 10-visit packages for $100 or $75.

Hughes noted how the track bikes are all fixed-gear bikes without brakes. "You control your speed up and down with your feet," he said.

Hughes, who plans to help coach racing teams at the velodrome, said he anticipates the popularity of cycling to take off in Detroit once the venue opens.

Near the air dome's entrance last week was a giant poster of cycling legend Marshall Walter Taylor, an Indianapolis native who, in the 1890s, became the first African-American to win a world championship in any sport. Taylor held the title "World's Fastest Bike Racer" between 1898 and 1910.

"My goal is that a year from now, we have the largest minority cycling team in the United States," Hughes said. "I think we are going to get a lot of kids from Detroit who have never seen a (cycling) track, don't know what a track bike looks like, but I think we can get them excited."

"I'm pretty confident that we're going to find a young woman or a young man who's going to fall in love with this sport and get into the 2020 or 2024 Olympic games," he said.

Modern-day velodrome racing is still a very small sport in the US, although somewhat bigger in Europe. There are roughly two-dozen outdoor velodromes in use in the U.S., including the International Velodrome at Bloomer Park in Rochester Hills that Hughes also designed and is used for races and open riding during warmer months.

There are just two other indoor velodromes: one in Los Angeles, the other in Colorado Springs, Colo., which only recently gained a temporary air dome for winter months.

Velodrome racing's heyday stretched from the 1890s until World War II, when there were hundreds of velodromes in the county and races could draw crowds in the tens of thousands.

In Detroit, the old Olympia Stadium where the Red Wings played was built to accommodate a velodrome and occasionally hosted cycling races that stretched for six days. Hughes said the Lexus Velodrome is "very very similar" to Olympia's track.

A large outdoor velodrome was later proposed for the Michigan State Fairgrounds off 8 Mile as part of Detroit's failed bid for the 1968 Olympics.

The fairgrounds finally did see a velodrome in 1972, when a 160-meter wooden track was installed in the State Fair Coliseum for the Motor City Six Day Bicycle Race. The race happened again the following year, but this time on a velodrome inside Cobo Arena.

Members of the Wolverine Sports Club in 1969 built an outdoor velodrome in Detroit's Dorais Park near 7 Mile and Mound roads. That track was used for cyclist training and racing until the mid to late 1980s, when deteriorating concrete made it too bumpy.

The Dorais Velodrome eventually fell into disrepair. A volunteer clean-up effort in 2010 made the track usable again, although primarily for mountain or motor bikes because of cracks in the concrete.

Today Hughes is one of a handful of people in the world who design and build velodromes.

He built his first in 1976, a portable track that he carted to races on the pro circuit. Thieves later snatched that velodrome from a Detroit warehouse in 1981 after hot-wiring a tractor trailer that was towing it.

An aerial search by helicopter for the purloined velodrome was unsuccessful. Hughes never saw it again.

"I'm the only person in the world who's ever had a velodrome stolen," he said.

Hughes said the Lexus Velodrome is about the 28th velodrome he has done. His other tracks have been all over the world, including South Korea, China, India, Kazakhstan, Switzerland, Mexico, Texas, Canada and Cleveland.

One of his most famous projects was the 250-meter velodrome he designed and built for the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. The Atlanta track was relocated to Bromont, Quebec. Hughes kept a slab of the track that he fashioned into a personal desk, which visitors can see inside the Lexus Velodrome.

The story of how Detroit got its velodrome involved an unexpected phone call in October 2015. Hughes said the caller was a high-net-worth individual who had grown up in metro Detroit and moved away to California and later Colorado, where he had taken up cycling and did some racing.

The man had recently moved back to southeast Michigan, Hughes said, and he wanted to help area youth gain unique opportunities in life.

The private donor ultimately paid the nearly $5 million cost of building Detroit's velodrome. The man also gave about $125,000 for improvements to Tolan Playfield. The city of Detroit also contributed about $250,000 for the park upgrades through funds that were earmarked years ago for use at the park, Hughes said.

"This was sort of an impossible dream that I had, and our angel donor is making it possible," Hughes said. "I'm hoping that I can turn some Olympic dreams for some kids here."

Contact JC Reindl: 313-222-6631 or jcreindl@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @JCReindl.