COLORADO SPRINGS — The cyclist community in Colorado Springs is asking for more access to the velodrome.
The Velodrome in Memorial Park is an indoor bike racing track and serves as the training venue for the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic cycling teams. It is just one of 16 velodromes in the United States.
Kim King with the Colorado Springs Parks Department said a few people have expressed their frustration to the parks board, saying there is not enough community access to the space.
King said one of its goals was for it to also be open to the public, but there is not a written agreement in place on how many hours of access should be made available.
One Retired US Olympic Cyclist, Maddie Godby, said she spent thousands of hours practicing under the dome and inferred this track should be available to anyone with the cycling spirit.
“This has been my home away from home,” Godby said. “For the entirety of my 12 year career.”
Godby represented Team USA at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics Games. She competes in track cycling in sprint events. Godby credits some of her success to her training facility, The Velodrome.
“There were plenty of training hours almost seven days a week,” Godby said.
She began riding at the Velodrome even before she was an elite athlete.
“It's really an unique experience, where youth can see the best of the best and also race alongside them. Whether you want to come ride laps in the winter, or come race because you have aspirations,” Godby said.
Godby said before the pandemic, local cyclists could race there several times a week.
“There were twice weekly local racing nights and international and national events too,” Godby said.
According to Godby, the Velodrome shut down from 2020-2021.
“In 2022-23, there were super, super limited hours that equated to two nights a week, kind of for four hours and then only nine race nights the entire year,” Godby said.
Godby said herself and other members of the cycling community in Colorado Springs would like community events and access to return.
“Basically all they have to do is open the door and there is no additional cost to keeping the facility open to the public,” Godby said.
But King with the Parks Department said it is expensive to host public events.
“We really just have to move forward to figure out how we can open the facility to populations that are not just our elite athletes,” Godby said.
She is concerned not having enough access to the Velodome could limit the development of future US cycling athletes, something that could have negative consequences in future games.
“Here in Olympic City, USA, community and youth programs are not able to access this facility, well that really limits not only our high performance program it limits the development of athletes, both in the talent pathway as well as our elite athletes. Then future Olympians in like 2032 can't access the velodrome either,” Godby said.
Godby is a volunteer with Kids on Bikes. She said that the organization along with many others in Colorado Springs would be interested in using the Velodrome space.
According to the Parks Department, U.S. Cycling and The United States Olympic And Paralympic Committee manage the velodrome. I attempted to contact them for comment but have not heard back.
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