{"id":183674,"date":"2021-05-24T14:39:59","date_gmt":"2021-05-24T14:39:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/?p=183674"},"modified":"2021-05-24T14:39:59","modified_gmt":"2021-05-24T14:39:59","slug":"what-happens-when-velodromes-decay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2021\/05\/24\/what-happens-when-velodromes-decay\/","title":{"rendered":"What Happens When Velodromes Decay?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>I believe the biggest legacy of Le Tour de France are the fantastic French roads. Not only do beautiful roads result in the best road racing in the world, but they also leave a legacy that can be enjoyed and appreciated by both motorists and cyclists.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Track racing is another matter because, while the thrill of track racing is visceral, they\u2019re not really of much use to an articulated lorry. Let\u2019s compare two legendary velodromes \u2013 and the difference that is made when we invest in our history.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>The South Chicago Velodrome, USA<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Bike racing was popular in America long before football, hockey, and baseball, and Chicago\u2019s South Side Velodrome is part of that history. Unfortunately, the old-world pursuit of velodrome racing is in danger of being forgotten. But not if the non-profit organisation South Chicago Velodrome Association have anything to do with it.<\/p>\n<lite-youtube videoid=F2BkS8buv9w params=\"enablejsapi=1\" style=\"background-image: url('https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi_webp\/F2BkS8buv9w\/maxresdefault.webp');\"><\/lite-youtube>\n<p>This video, taken in 2015, shows the passion for saving the only velodrome left in North America that has a 53-degree bank \u2013 just like you\u2019d find in the old world of Ghent, Belgium. But despite the undoubted interest of the visitors, the South Chicago Velodrome has continued to decay. Here it is in 2021.<\/p>\n<lite-youtube videoid=SMGFo0lsxyY params=\"enablejsapi=1\" style=\"background-image: url('https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi_webp\/SMGFo0lsxyY\/maxresdefault.webp');\"><\/lite-youtube>\n<h2><strong>Herne Hill Velodrome, UK<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>In 1948 the Olympics came to the United Kingdom and Herne Hill Velodrome was built to home the cycling competition. For many years afterwards, Herne Hill became synonymous with Britain\u2019s most democratic and inclusive sport \u2013 cycling like a mad man.<\/p>\n<lite-youtube videoid=q4iglF714cI params=\"enablejsapi=1\" style=\"background-image: url('https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi_webp\/q4iglF714cI\/maxresdefault.webp');\"><\/lite-youtube>\n<p>Sadly, Herne Hill had fallen into such disrepair that by 2011 its most famous competitions were hosted elsewhere. Fortunately, British Cycling was able to secure a 15-year lease and track-meets have allowed a cycling community to flourish there once more. Check it out&#8230;<\/p>\n<lite-youtube videoid=saVO7lBFKwM params=\"enablejsapi=1\" style=\"background-image: url('https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi_webp\/saVO7lBFKwM\/maxresdefault.webp');\"><\/lite-youtube>\n<h2><strong>What will save Chicago?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The thing with Illinois is that it\u2019s not short of cyclists and people willing to invest in cycling. There has been plenty of investment in bike stations and painted bike lanes. Maybe Chicago needs a reminder that cycling isn\u2019t just about transport \u2013 it\u2019s about romance.<\/p>\n<p>And there\u2019s nothing more romantic than cycling 500km between Christmas and New Year in freezing temperatures\u2026<\/p>\n<lite-youtube videoid=MLHin4Tud9w params=\"enablejsapi=1\" style=\"background-image: url('https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi_webp\/MLHin4Tud9w\/maxresdefault.webp');\"><\/lite-youtube>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I believe the biggest legacy of Le Tour de France are the fantastic French roads. Not only do beautiful roads [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":99,"featured_media":183681,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[334],"tags":[5290,5289,5288],"global-categories":[3366],"class_list":["post-183674","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-socialising-and-culture","tag-herne-hill-velodrome","tag-south-chicago-velodrome","tag-velodromes","global-categories-cycling"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.3 (Yoast SEO v25.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>What Happens When Velodromes Decay? - \u0160koda We Love Cycling<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Let\u2019s compare two legendary velodromes \u2013 and the difference that is made when we invest in our history.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2021\/05\/24\/what-happens-when-velodromes-decay\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What Happens When Velodromes Decay?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Let\u2019s compare two legendary velodromes \u2013 and the difference that is made when we invest in our history.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2021\/05\/24\/what-happens-when-velodromes-decay\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"\u0160koda We Love Cycling\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-05-24T14:39:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2021\/05\/Herne-Hill-Velodrome-profimedia-0139558257-CVR.webp\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"tereza\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Christopher Ashley\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2021\/05\/24\/what-happens-when-velodromes-decay\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2021\/05\/24\/what-happens-when-velodromes-decay\/\",\"name\":\"What Happens When Velodromes Decay? 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