In following the trend of increasing the popularity of biking in Utah through accessibility, the city of Draper has put into action plans for building a velodrome.
According to a cycling and mountain biking site, lindaroeder.suite101.com, a velodrome can be either indoors or outdoors and are usually made of concrete or wood. Though their materials and locations often differ from one another, their basic structure is the same. They are all the same oval shape and are made up of steeply banked curves.
Draper’s City Councilman, Jeff Stenquist, is a cycling lover himself and pointed out that though there are numerous velodromes throughout the world, the closest ones to Utah are in Boulder (over an 8 hour drive) and Colorado Springs, Colo., (over a 9 hour drive).
An article by The Salt Lake Tribune said that there are about 800 velodromes in the world but according to the American Track Racing Association, only 24 of those are in the United States.
Bringing a velodrome to Draper won’t be the first time one has been in the state of Utah. The Salt Lake Velodrome Association states that Salt Lake City had two in the early 20th century.
According to The Salt Lake Tribune, “The association said Draper’s site would be conducive to world-class racing. At 4,600 feet, the air is thin enough for setting speed records, but not so thin as to limit the athletes’ abilities.”
This velodrome is supposed to be just one part of a bicycle park in the foothills of south Salt Lake County.
An arena of this magnitude and functionality will not only help to bring visitors to Utah, it will also be giving cyclists a place to race more safely. Cycling races in Utah currently have to be held on roads because there are no facilities of this kind. Even though roads are roped or blocked off during races, the chance of encountering a car or pedestrian are higher than if they were racing in the velodrome, a place that is especially theirs.
According to bicycleinginfo.org, 26% of cycling that takes place is for recreation, making it the number one reason for bicycling. This is a large chunk of the cycling population.
Bicycleuniverse.info used numbers from the United States Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Traffic Administration to figure out what the likelihood is of a cyclist being injured while riding in comparison to a passenger in a vehicle. He found that cyclists are at least 3.4 times as likely “to die as motorists per passenger mile,” but that number can be as high as 11.5 times, depending on which Federal numbers are used.
Cycling can be a dangerous activity, which is why the bicycle accident lawyers at the Christensen Law Firm are grateful to see facilities being put into place that could eventually lead to a decrease in cycling-related deaths and injuries in Utah. If you or a loved one has been injured in a bicycle accident, call the Utah bicycle lawyers today at 801-506-0800 to find out what options are available to you.