Pittsburgh's "ISLAND 200" and the "Coatesville National Velodrome and Events Center"

National Velodrome Center

NATIONAL VELODROME AND EVENTS CENTER 

"First Indoor Velodrome for East Coast will draw international competition and other Events"

A bike race is like a track foot race on wheels. The same kind of athletic ability and the same strategy for winning is a part of both track and field events and bike racing events.  In other words the skills are transferrable.  The main difference to an athlete is there is no possibility for a professional career as a track foot racer.

It's difficult to get young black people that shoot baskets here and have the dream of being an NBA star that it's a LOT more probable they can be a international bike-racing star.

It’s understandably difficult for people who have never visited a velodrome like the Valley Preferred Cycling Center that a velodrome is an exceptional recreation opportunity for all Coatesville residents.

Keep in mind that Assistant Coatesville City Manager Jean Krack brought David Chauner to Coatesville to look at the “flats” as a site for a National Velodrome. So in a way the City of Coatesville was way ahead of Pittsburgh. Coatesville got jammed up in a John Birch Society property rights thing that didn't happen in Pittsburgh. 

The fast growing popularity of bicycle riding and bike racing in particular means that there is a large market interest for velodromes. Coatesville still has a chance to build an world class indoor velodrome like Pittsburgh did. We just can’t be first in the nation anymore. 

And, the people who build and operate 25 Million dollar +velodromes are about the only business type that doesn't care that Coatesville has an armed robbery problem downtown. 

The Island 200 in Pittsburg opens for business soon.

“Island 200 Velodrome – a fast track bike racing stadium – is scheduled to open its doors to the Pittsburgh public in early 2014. Located on the formerly industrial Neville Island, just outside Pittsburgh, Island 200 will soon be set on an international stage as one of only two indoor velodromes in the United States.
  

The stadium will serve as a multi-purpose facility featuring sporting events, concerts, corporate tradeshows and more. Island 200 needed end-to-end marketing solutions for their emerging brand, to generate awareness and excitement before their 2014 debut.” 

FROM: 

http://www.bluearcher.com/Portfolio-Island-200

THIS YOU TUBE VIDEO IS SPONSORED BY THE ISLAND 200 VELODROME in Pittsburgh, PA

http://www.island200.com/

“In the early 20th century, if residents of America’s burgeoning cities didn’t feel like going dancing or to the theater, they had another option for live entertainment: bike racing. Now, thanks to some ambitious bike activists, the pastime has returned to some of the nation’s roughest neighborhoods via crowdfunded, volunteer-built velodromes…
  

But although track racing has remained popular in Europe — it’s been an Olympic sport since 1896 — stateside, velodromes went the way of the icebox after World War II. Recently, however, these tracks have begun to reappear. A 166-meter velodrome opened in Chicago in 2011. That was joined, in August 2012, by a similar one in Cleveland. Yet another velodrome will soon go up in Pittsburgh. 

And here’s the kicker (or kickstand, if you prefer): These velodromes occupy previously vacant land in struggling parts of town. Think $3,000 bikes zipping through neighborhoods of $3,000 houses. 

Why would anyone build an elite, European-style athletic facility in the rustiest precincts of the Rust Belt? The answer comes from the convergence of two renaissance movements — one aimed at reinvigorating cycling, the other America’s inner cities. 

The architect of these tracks — literally — is Dale Hughes of Rochester Hills, Mich., a lifelong cyclist and designer of world-class velodromes via his company V-Worldwide. The Chicago, Cleveland, and Pittsburgh tracks are his designs. 

“The reality is that cycling is small sport,” Hughes explains. “We cyclists have to win over one rider at a time.” Better to do that in the city than the ’burbs, he says. “It’s harder to get kids to bike in the suburbs because they are booked 24/7 all summer long.” So why not bring a little bit of Europe to the ’hood?
 More HERE: 

High-end European-style bike tracks — the next big thing in the hood?
By Christopher Weber