New Canadian Cycling Team?

[gkichok]

This is always the problem with marginal sports. Government money for athletics is directed at where we have the best chance for medalling at the Olympics, so we will probably never have a covered velodrome or other necessary facilities. I just watched a DVD about Lori-Ann Muenzer, who won a gold medal in Athens more or less unsupported. I would argue that in the short time the sport has been around, Canadians have done far better in international triathlons than in cycling. You don't need a team, and at the higher levels of the sport the money is decent.

Just a quick note about an existing covered velodrome in Canada: http://www.burnabyvelodrome.ca/

See the list in of all velodromes here in Wiki.

I do not disagree with you, but I think the Canadian Government and four provinces BC, Alberta, Ontario, and Quebec (The 4 richest provinces) have spent money on the sport of cycling and I think we Canadians need to acknowledge and thank them for there support. To be blunt we have 8 velodromes, the US has 24, we have 1 indoor velodrome, and they have 2. This works out to be about 2/5 of what the US has for a population of about 1/10, which meaning we have twice the number of velodromes per capita, and the list of other countries is even more revealing.

I am sure more could and should be done to boost the sport of cycling but back in the days of Steve Bauer, Alex Stieda, Brian Walton, and me; the 1980's, all of Canada was invested in the sport. Yellow Jerseys and World Championships will do that type of motivation to an entire country. Back then, I raced in BC but moved to Ontario to find a better coached and a stronger team. I raced for Pedal Magazine in 1990 along with other promising riders like Clara Hughes. Even back then she was more talented than any woman I had ever ridden with in BC including Sarah Neil, Alison Sydor, and Jill Smith and Clara was a mere 18 years old. On training rides, I remember trying to help the younger riders learn about riding quicker with less effort, finding there rhythm and flying above the bumps on the road. There was so much promise in the sport back then I am shocked by the state we find cycling in today. We have turned our attention towards other sports that are more popular today like ‘soccer’ (football). Three of my local bicycle shops are gone and replaced by soccer stores. I never would have believed the sport would have declined but again it was the media and the doping scandals that hurt the most.

In Canada I truly believe that our governments do just enough to keep us wanting more, which is a good thing, but if you want someone to blame about the lack of facilities and government spending cycling or any sport you must look at the athletes around you and yourself.

What have you done for your sport of choice?

There is only one exception and that is in Quebec where I have quoted wiki below; Quebec has one of the best sporting organizations in the country, producing some of the greatest athletes but can lose two velodromes? I live back in Vancouver now, and the beautiful award winning long track speed skating facility in the Richmond Olympic Oval with the most advanced ice making equipment available is slated to become a large recreation centre after the 2010 Olympics are gone leaving only Calgary’s facilities for the world’s best long track speed skaters for training. This I just do not understand. I guess it is better than a biodome.

Wiki quote:
Olympic Stadium in Montreal, Quebec also housed a velodrome, but years after the 1976 Summer Olympics, it was converted into the Montreal Biodome, an indoor nature museum.
Quebec City had the Vélodrome Louis Garneau, but it was demolished by the city in November 2007.


Gerry Kichok from crazyrides.com

 

[the delgados]

Burnaby isn't the only Canadian city with an indoor velodrome.
The Forest City velodrome in London On. is located in what used to be the home of the OHL's London Knights.