November 12, 2007 (London, ON) — Here’s the latest news from the Forest City Velodrome on Expanded Rec Sessions, Devo Weekend, Elite and Junior Women’s Training Camp, Membership and Donations, Can-Am Challenge, Skills and Drills, New Partners

Expanded Rec Sessions

Sunday Rec Sessions will begin on December 2nd. The 2 hour session is from Noon – 2 pm. Rob Fournier is going to look after the time slot as Session Leader. Thanks Rob and crew for stepping forward to look after this very popular Sunday session. If you would like to assist Rob please email info@forestcityvelodrome.ca or talk to Rob on Tuesday nights.

The Sunday morning Sport Rec Pace Line Session will get underway on Sunday December 9th. Chris Vlemmix and Brian Kelly are Session Leaders for this training time spot. The Velodrome will be open at 9:30 am — noon.

The Sport Pace Line is a great way to prepare for the 2008 Road Season. This 2 _ hour session will feature 2 pace lines on the track at different speeds. This depends on the abilities of the riders who attend the session. The expected speeds will be 33-35 kph & 37-40 mph. It is recommended that you attend the Thursday night Sport Rec Sessions as a way to prepare yourself for the Sport Pace Line on Sunday mornings. The Sunday Sessions are drop in.

Devo Weekend Starts — Nov. 16-18

Over 60 racers are expected to attend the 3 day race weekend starting Friday night at 7 pm. Dubbed a Devo (development) is far from the truth. These racers are coming out this weekend to have one thing in mind:

1. Improve their times in all TT events
2. Start preparing for Junior Worlds in South Africa in 2008

The racing will be hot and heavy as Ontario’s top track racers will compete in a series of races to determine the overall best racer in the Omnium Competition. When you come to watch the action, you will see riders as young as 10 years old (Velo-kids) racing as hard as our Elite Racers. Word has it, a couple of Americans will be racing. It should be a very entertaining weekend.

Check out our website www.forestcityvelodrome.ca for updated information.

Elite & Junior Women’s Training Camp

– Friday, November 30th 6-9pm
– Saturday, December 1st 8:30-11am & 6-8pm
– Sunday, December 2nd — 9am-12pm

This camp is open to all Elite & Junior Women plus we would like to invite all Cadet Men to attend this intensive 4 Session Camp.

Race simulations, sprints, pace line, pursuit endurance training is on the agenda.

The Sunday morning will feature an advanced pace line training to develop fitness of all athletes who attend. Regular FCV Sports Riders are invited to the Sunday 9am-Noon session.

Membership and Donations

Money makes the world go around. Well the same is true at the FCV. It’s November and if your membership is due, please complete the membership form from the website and send it in ASAP. Your attention to this important matter is appreciated.

If you would like to make a donation to the FCV you can still receive a 2007 tax deduction.

Can-Am Challenge

Come and watch racers from the legendary T-Town Velodrome in Pennsylvania, along with racers from New York City and the Mid-Western United States, battle Ontario’s best at the FCV.

Saturday November 24th at 7 pm and Sunday November 25th at 12pm

This will be an event you will not want to miss as this is the last race weekend before Winter Nationals in February.

There are many new racers at the Velodrome and many are recent graduates from the University of Western Ontario. Jobs seem to be hard to come by. If you and your company are in a position to help, please email info@forestcityvelodrome.ca and we will make sure the riders in need will be forwarded to you. Just another way to help out cyclists in need.

Skills and Drills

Skills & Drills continues every Monday night at 7:30-9:30 pm. This session is geared to the rider who would like to improve their riding skills. The drills include intervals, roller sessions and advanced pace line work.

Improve your confidence and have more fun riding at the FCV. Come early for a great warm up during the evening ride.

New Partners

In addition to the Travelodge, the FCV supporters staying overnight in London, will receive preferred rates at the Days Inn on Wellington Road. The Days Inn is 1 km from the Velodrome. Just mention “you belong to the Velodrome” to get the VIP rates.

Reservations can be made by calling 519-681-1240. The FCV welcomes the Days Inn as a partner.

Rumour has it the temperature in the Velodrome this winter may be a few degrees higher!

November 21, 2005 – The past 10 days have been “Over the Top” in more ways I can tell you …

From the high of receiving our Trillium Grant, to tending to one of our up-and-coming riders after crashing, during what was suppose to be a fun Madison, in front of one of largest crowds of the season.

In the last five laps of the 30 minute Madison, an exchange between teammates Vince Dejong and Adam Thuss went terribly wrong. Exact details are still being analyzed, but, the end result was that Adam was sent over the handlebars landing face first on the track. The impact caused Adam to lose a tooth and receive extensive track rash to his face but luckily no broken bones.

I spoke with Adam’s dad this afternoon. He was released from the hospital and was able to walk to the car for the long ride home. Adam was in pretty good spirits considering the impact. During the check-up, Adam had to provide a urine sample. He asked the nurse if she needed “A” and “B” samples ….. both samples apparently came back negative.

Earlier in the evening, Bermuda went down on the last lap of the points race. The rider causing the crash was DQ’d from the race. The race committee is looking at further sanctions. A decision will be made by Wednesday.

On a happier note, the racing on Saturday Night was a Fundraising event for the London “Italian Seniors Project”. The large crowd was thoroughly entertained with a wide variety of track racing. We are still counting the admissions and it looks like over $1,000.00 will go to the Project. A Big thank you to all the Volunteers who made the entire day flow so easily.

I am also pleased to announce that the Ontario Trillium Foundation has been able to provide funding to the Forest City Velodrome. The grant will be used for operations, camps for women & young racers. The grant was not as much as we applied for, but it will go a long way in supporting the Velodrome. Thanks to everyone who helped out with the grant application, and to the volunteers that make our Velodrome operate so efficiently.

Get Well Adam and Bermuda …we hope to see you at the track soon.

Yours in Sport,

Rob Good

November 8, 2005 -The Forest City Velodrome has been open for six months and I thought everyone should know just how we are doing.

The Velodrome opened in late April, our website was up and running, the site has had 1.4 million hits with 15,000 unique visitors. The volunteers were ready and the cycling community was waiting to get on the track. In the first couple of months, our volunteers were teaching many new riders how to rider a Velodrome. Quite a task when you consider most Velodromes do not have a banking of 50 degrees. The 138m distance around the track, is now starting to show the importance of a safe riding environment.

We spent the summer refining our teaching skills and coming up with innovative ways of bringing the Track Experience to as many recreational riders as we could. As of today I’m proud to say we have 99 paid members of the Forest City Velodrome Association. This number is three times more than my best forecasts. Our New riding schedule as of Monday November 14th will reflect the fact that 85% of our members are Recreational riders on the track. Only six hours a week is devoted to Racing, all of the rest of the ride time is for our Recreational members.

Our racers have been putting on very entertaining races on Saturday nights since we opened our doors. All racers do not pay an entry fee to race. Our paying spectators have made it possible to expand our Velo-Kids program and our soon to be introduced Junior Olympic Development Program, with Former National Team Athletes doing the Coaching for our Juniors and Espoires. Albert and my goal has been to produce 3 National cycling team athletes in the next 5 years. This is only the beginning.

Ontario cycling had it’s first 6 Day bike race in 35 years. The 6 Day in October had lots of spectators and over $3,100.00 in prizes for the racers, not bad for our first attempt. The second 6 Day is coming up in Mid-December. Our first Swap meet is being planned for Saturday December 3rd – 10am – 2pm.

As you can tell I have mentioned nothing about finances. To date we are doing very well and have enough money in the bank to carry us well into March of 2006. Another exciting local program, involves The City of London and the Velodrome. We are going to introduce up to 160 of London’s youth with our facility in the next few months. Our Trillium Grant is still being assessed we should know more information in the coming weeks.

In closing I wanted to thank all the Velodrome Volunteers for their hard work in the first 6 months. We all are looking forward to a very busy Winter Season at the Forest City Velodrome. For more information go to our website at www.ForestCityVelodrome.ca

Yours in Sport,

Rob Good

March 26, 2005 – With the Track Worlds in the news, I thought it would be a good idea to update everyone on the construction so far on the indoor belodrome in London.

The construction is progressing as we had hoped. Here are some photos of of the sub-structure in corner #2. You will notice how smooth the transition is from the banking to the straight. This will allow for easy over taking during racing action. On Saturday afternoon the Cote d’Azure was being laid on the bottom of the track, the transition from the apron to the racing surface will be super smooth with no separation from one to another (seamless).

We are waiting for the plywood to arrive, this should happen in the next few days. It will take approximately 5 days to install the plywood and paint the lines. We are still confident that our first night of racing will be in April. I will confirm the date as we get closer to completion of the construction.

A special thank you to Ron and Bob Schelstraete and the crew of dedicated craftsmen who are putting together on of the finest Velodromes in the world. Of course without the guidance of their father Albert we would not have been able to be within two weeks of opening.

Lastly, Operational we are need of donations, If you can spare any amount of money we would greatly appreciate any donation. A tax receipt will be given to any donation over $20.00. If you want to buy a piece of the track for $500.00 we still can sell 22 shares.

Check out www.ForestCityVelodrome.ca for more information.

January 29, 2005 – The Forest City Velodrome project is steaming along, with plenty of corporate donations thus far (and more needed, visit www.ForestCityVelodrome.ca for info) and a few cyclist donations.

Rob Good has provided a short update on the status of the facility:

“I just got off the phone with the property owner we were shooting to have the paperwork completed this afternoon, you guessed it, it will take the weekend to formalize the agreement,” Good said, “We are attempting to have this completed by Tuesday February 1st. I ask all supporters to be patient as these things do take a little time. As soon as the paperwork is complete, the building materials will be ordered with construction to begin on the Velodrome within ten days. It is our intention of posting pictures every couple of days to help show the progress we are making on the track.”

Good said that the velodrome should be complete four to six weeks after construction is started.