ravenmore

An excerpt from an article from Roadbikerider.com newsletter:

---Austin, Texas, has long been a hot spot for roadies. Next it could be "the center of the cycling universe" (for North America, at least). A nonprofit group, the Austin Velodrome Project, is proposing a $35 million indoor wood track with seating for 5,000 race fans. If it happens, Austin may become the new home of USA Cycling, which is currently housed at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. The project's plans include developmental cycling programs for roadies as well as trackies, all of which has the full support of Austin's most famous bike rider, Lance Armstrong. In fact, the proposal includes a museum with his name on it. "I have a lot of my stuff -- all my bikes from every Tour and all the jerseys," Lance says. "You could certainly put some interesting things in there."

Here's the link if you want to read the newsletter:

https://www.roadbikerider.com/235i.htm

BTW - if you go to their homepage you can subscribe. They send weekly pdf files that contain some GREAT information and training tips. Just an fyi. A teammate turned me on to this site. Great stuff.

Cypress

Minus the one I have.

Heh heh heh.

ravenmore

Have to admit, I'm pretty stoked at the prospect of having something like this so close to home.

Grasschopper

Hmm should I be moving to Austin rather than Charlotte?

drdhsimon

I'm glad I AM moving to Austin this summer!!!

CardiacKid

This is a pipe dream. It will never happen, at least not to the scale that is planned.

DocRay

$35 million for a wood track?? We built one up here for <$1.5 million. That's austentacious.

pricklycommute

I am moving to Austin this summer too. I have to admit though, I wasn't too impressed with the bike lanes, bike routes, and paths around town when I visted. Tucson and Phoenix are much better for commuting, and have a lot bigger climbs for the weekends too. Of course, I am not a roadie, so maybe it's different for me on my touring bike. The bike shops there seemed nice enough though, with an inordinant amount of high-dollar bikes to satisify all the local Lance wannabees.

mellowdave

I have no idea where you went, but two of the nicest shops in town, carry bikes from all aspects of the price range. There ARE a large number of high end bikes here, but thats primarily due to the number of high end RIDERS here. (You know Gord Fraser lived here til this spring...so it isnt just Lance..) You go into town and you find all the wacky bike shops like university and Freewheelin, out in the "suburbs" if we have any of those here you find the 360 cycle works, and bicycle sport shops. Further out there is Bucks, (all they have are basically entry level bikes) and a couple of others. We also have Nelo's, perhaps you've heard of them?

So by all means, keep you narrow self in Tucson and Phoenix, the traffic here is bad enough.


Raven, did I see you on Parmer again yesterday?

velocity

Leave it in Colorado that is a great place to visit

mellowdave

I used to go to Charlotte a lot, and if I HAD to live outside of Texas, I think it would be Charlotte, or the RDCH area. I love that area. Obviously since I was stationed at Ft Bragg, we only visited, but those of you who know Bragg know there isnt much LEGAL fun going on in Fayetteville on the weekend, so the wife and I got out almost EVERY weekend to Raleigh or Charlotte.

Great great cities. My wife always comments on how much Austin feels like Raleigh.

Cypress

Austin is nice, but I prefer long sustained climbing at altitude.

When I was there, my friend took me up the "hill" that Austin has. It seemed more of a sprint effort than a climb.

CardiacKid

As planned, it includes an indoor track, shopping mall, office building, dorms and the museum.

mellowdave

Must have been Mt Bonnell. There are a few good climbs around, I did 2800 feet monday night, but you have to get out west a bit. (I know 2800 ft isnt that much, but its a pretty good for Austin)

pricklycommute

So by all means, keep you narrow self in Tucson and Phoenix, the traffic here is bad enough.

What do you mean by narrow? I was stating what I found. I didn't say that the shops didn't have lower end bikes, just that they have a lot more high-high end bikes than the shops in Tucson. There are plenty of $2k-$3k bikes here, but the number of $5k bikes in Austin was amazing. BTW, I could use one of those litespeeds - I did a 7,000 ft climb (slowly )on Sunday with the touring bike, fenders, rack, and a pannier. Not bragging, many do the climb often, but it was a first for me.

Also, what is up with the feeling that some Texans think they live in the center of the universe? I mean come on, Austin is nice enough, but the rest of Texas? Geeze. I've never gotten that vibe anywhere else. Not insulting you, just wondering.

CardiacKid

Austin is flat as a pancake. We only have one hill and it has a toll booth. Don't come.

merlin70

Moving to mid Texas in the summer? Get that A/C cranked up. The brutal summer is one factor reducing Austin's attractiveness as a cycling destination.

Might I suggest my native San Diego? Already has a velodrome in place too.

CardiacKid

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention the heat. It gets really hot here. Usually somewhere around 130 in August.

2Rodies

After spending much of my cycling life climbing some big mountains I though riding in Austin with it's puney hill would be a pice of cake. Give me long sustained tempo climbs any day. The 'hills' around Austin hit you one after onther. You come down here and go on the ATC Sat morning ride and tell me the cycling terrain here is easy. It's like doing intervals for 40-50miles at race pace. These guys don't slack on these climbs the sprint them. Then they drill it on the flatter section to the next roller then sprint that. It never ends. I miss my 1-2 hour climbs they seemed so easy!

velocity

Austin has some good climbing shorter and sweet. But Colorado has some peaks!
Keep peaking dudes
V

Thylacine

Hey, have you guys seen this!?! I just went to my bookshelf and found this thing called an 'atlas', and you won't believe this - there's like, HEAPS of other countries out side of the USA!!!!!

Some craphole in Texas is the centre of the cycling world? Yeah, riiiiiight. You produce 2 good cyclists in a hundred years and all of a sudden you're the centre of the cycling universe? And even in a sport you think you invented - "mountainbiking" - you're now crap at. Good cyclists per capita, you may as well stay on the couch and keep eatin' Twinkies. Belgium has you beat. Heck NEW ZEALAND has you beat, and they only have 4 million people and 200 million sheep.

And it's going to take more than a track in some redneck craphole where they think everything is big because they haven't discovered the this thing called 'the rest of the world' to change that. Heck, we have one of those in every town, including towns that don't even have a post office. Or a pub.

Okay, that last bit was a lie.

Flame on!!

ravenmore

Nope - wasn't me this time. I usually don't get out until after dark these days(during the week anyway) and mainly stick to the well lit neighborhoods. I'm really looking forward to daylight savings time. Next time you think you see me give a loud "MIKE" shout out - that'll get my attention. Of course if its not me you're on your own... Something that might help - most of the time these days I'm wearing a 1 size too small Team 360 Cycleworks Jersey.

merlin70

LOL, wow pretty brutal, although there is some truth to it.

Don't forget Reno, NV as a runner up to producing top cyclist per capita. Anyone remember Greg LeMond?

ravenmore

Hehe - didn't mean to start a whole "Texas is awesome" thread. Just wanted to comment on the big Veladrome project as it was mentioned in a non-local write up. I just think its cool to have something like that here.

I do think Austin, at least, has a large and growing cycling community. It has for a while. I'm not sure but I think Lanced moved to Austin from Plano when he was young because of it.

Somebody have a list of pro Texas cyclist? I know Lance and Bobby Julich obviously. Not sure who else.

Dubbayoo

won't happen. The velodrome in L.A. doesn't get enough use and Austin is a fraction of LA's market.