Bikers’ Dream: A Bronx Velodrome and Indoor Skate Park.
Bikers’ Dream: A Bronx Velodrome
Above left, the Kingsbridge Armory briefly revived six-day bicycle racing in New York in 1948. Jack Simes, far left, and Mike Green want to restore the long-vacant and much-fought-over armory, right, for cycling events.
By J. DAVID GOODMAN
DWARFED by the soaring expanse of the long-vacant Kingsbridge Armory, a small group of bike advocates and Bronx residents strolled through the main hall recently and imagined a mecca of bicycling.
Picture it: Over here, young BMX riders from the neighborhood perform tricks, spinning their bike frames and leaping over obstacles. Over there, racers warm up and cool down, as fans drink Belgian beer at an indoor bar and live bands play.
And in the center, under the lights, elite athletes from around the world zip around a smooth plywood track during six days of competition — the sort of marathon racing that once drew tens of thousands of spectators to cycling tracks, or velodromes, across New York, from Coney Island to Madison Square Garden.
“Six-day races are a blend of Broadway show, going out to dinner and high-end sporting event,” said Jack Simes, a Pennsylvania bike track developer and elite rider who led the group through this vision for the Bronx armory, New York’s largest and among the most fought-over. “We want to bring them back to New York.”
Mr. Simes and Michael Green, the former president of a local bike racing club, have founded the National Cycling Association to help create a cycling center and 820-foot track in the armory. As a first step, they plan to seek city approval to rent the fortress for a demonstration race sometime in the next year as a “proof of concept,” Mr. Simes said.
Theirs is just one of several proposals for the 285,000-square-foot space. But the dream of recapturing the glory days of the velodrome has been surprisingly common, if largely quixotic.
Jason Gallacher, a bike shop owner in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, recently had the dream, picturing bike aficionados flocking to an indoor track in Greenpoint. “I firmly believe that there needs to be a beautiful facility in this city,” he said. “We created track racing.” But his proposal has been shot down by residents, who would prefer to see a public park instead.
Josh Rechnitz and Matthew Heitman formed a nonprofit group, New York Velodrome, in 2009 to push for a track in Manhattan. The effort has faltered, and the group appears to have ceased trying.
The Kingsbridge Armory was the site of an indoor racing revival in 1948, when six-day races returned to the city, but only briefly. And the most promising plan would have built a track in the Bronx as part of the city’s bid to host the 2012 Olympics. That, too, failed.
Still, as the Bloomberg administration has beckoned bikers to the streets in recent years, many have looked back at the history of New York cycling and the heyday of urban track racing, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Then, Madison Square Garden attracted hordes of race fans to grueling competitions that, long before Nascar, featured hair-raising speed and spectacular crashes. Newspapers condemned the brutality of races in which racers pedaled nonstop for days. “The knowledge that a man can propel himself 1,769 miles in 110 ½ hours is purchased too dearly when it costs the reason and the physical well-being of the person who imparts it,” The New York Times said in an editorial in 1897.
City lawmakers responded by limiting the time a racer could ride in one stretch. But the organizers adapted, adding a second rider to relieve the first periodically in team events that came to be known as Madisons.
Modern six-day races, which are held mostly in Europe, limit the amount of cycling per day. The demonstration race that Mr. Simes and Mr. Green want to bring to the Kingsbridge Armory would feature six nights of events on a temporary track, with tickets sold for all or part of the competition.
From there, the two hope to attract strong corporate sponsors and show the city the viability of a permanent cycling center in the Bronx.
But, for the moment, the idea faces significant challenges, starting with financing. The permanent track alone would cost a few million dollars, by Mr. Simes’s estimate.
The armory has already been the battleground for a rancorous public fight over a planned mall that pitted residents against developers, and Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg against the City Council.
After the mall project was scrapped in 2009, many competing proposals emerged, including a film studio, an educational complex and a home for sustainable food production. “Whatever it is, it has to add to the community,” said Kwasi Akyeampong, a community representative from the Kingsbridge Armory Redevelopment Alliance, who tagged along with the cyclists’ tour last month.
As they gazed around the drill floor, another group — dressed in business suits and talking about a hockey rink — moved quickly past. “That’s the competition,” Mr. Simes said. “But I like a horse race.”
Should the cyclists lose that race, there is still one place for bicycle track riding in New York: the Kissena Velodrome in Queens. It may not have a roof, a bar or even a subway stop close by, but racers still compete there regularly on its banked and sun-baked circuit of asphalt, as they have since 1962.
Whole Story Here.
Future indoor skate park in the Bronx
The Bronx‘s long-vacant, hotly disputed Kingsbridge Armory could become a massive cycling palace, housing a velodrome and a BMX course.
A proposal submitted this spring to the borough president’s task force calls for the rundown, fortresslike building to host international racing events and free programs for kids. The armory’s large 600-by-300-foot drill floor makes it especially appealing, said would-be developer Michael Green, former president of the Century Road Club Association.
“We want to get more young people involved in cycling,” said Green, who pointed to the success of a similar project, the 168th St. Armory Track and Field Center in Washington Heights.
The proposal for a cycling center – one of several ideas under task force review – follows a 2009 battle over a plan to redevelop the armory into an enormous shopping mall.
Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. warred with Mayor Bloomberg over the plan, and demanded wage guarantees for anyone who worked there. In 2009, the City Council sided with Diaz and voted the project down.
About a year ago, Diaz formed the task force and later commissioned a study by students from New York University‘s Robert F. Wagner School for Public Service. He’s expected to release the study’s findings soon and outline the other proposals under review.
A spokesman for the city’s Economic Development Corp. said the Bloomberg administration will “listen to all feasible proposals that include private-sector investment and use city funds responsibly.”
Green said he and his partner, Jack Simes, president of the National Cycling Association, already have financial backers for the Kingsbridge Road cycling project.
Mel Rodriguez, founder of Bike the Bronx, said a cycling center could help keep kids healthy and slim.
“I’m 100% for it,” said Rodriguez, of Co-op City. “It could help solve the problem of obesity in the Bronx.”
But local activist Desiree Pilgrim-Hunter questioned the need, saying a cycling center isn’t one of her neighborhood’s top priorities. “We need schools built. We need living-wage jobs at the armory…and affordable food options,” Pilgrim-Hunter said.
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2011/06/20/2011-06-20_history_bronx_building_kingsbridge_armory_may_become_cycling_center_and_bmx_cour.html#ixzz1Q4H1IgTs
King Of New York Documentary Trailer
Check out the article below.
2011 King of New York® Dates and 2010 Event Short Documentary
Bronx, NY – December 2, 2010 – The 2011 King of New York dates have just been announced – mark your calendars for August 6-7, 2011! Keep an eye out for limited edition King of New York t-shirts and hats in time for the event too.
The King of New York always comes through with something unique every year. KoNY Sport Organizer and Baby Bean owner Danny Parks has been working with King Midas Films on their plans for a full-length feature film to be shot in New York City in 2011. “I’m psyched to be working with King Midas Films to help show the modern day New York City BMX scene on the big screen,” says Danny. The story, about a New York City BMX street rider, takes place against the backdrop of the King Of New York BMX contest and will feature many NYC pro riders in the film. “The King Of New York is an annual gathering of the family that is New York City BMX culture and I can’t think of a better event to serve as the backdrop for our picture,” said Brandon David Cole, President of King Midas Films.
In the meantime, King Midas Films and Protagonist BMX have put together a short documentary on the 2010 King of New York event. Protagonist is a BMX apparel brand that produces videos which capture the forward movement of the BMX culture. The 2010 ProtagonistBMX.com programming slate includes a BMX reality series and exclusive rider profiles with the FIT/S&M pro team.
Check out the 2010 King of New York short documentary here:
About King of New York® and Baby Bean
The premier Pro/Am action sports event in New York City, the King of New York (www.kingofnewyorkevent.com) began in 1995 as a bicycle stunt competition in the Bronx and is now one of the longest running action sports events in the world! Featuring top athletes from around the world, winning the King of New York awards a highly regarded place in action sports history. King of New York is a Registered Trademark of baby bean productions, llc. Baby Bean (www.babybeanproductions.com) is an action sports marketing and entertainment agency providing Event Production, Athlete Representation, Media Communications, and Consulting services. Connecting brands and consumers through action sports, music, and lifestyle events, baby bean utilizes the talents of dedicated and passionate athletes, artists, musicians, and others with more than twenty years of experience throughout the action sports industry.
About King Midas Films and Protagonist BMX
King Midas Films (www.kingmidasfilms.com) is a Los Angeles based company that provides film production, post-production and viral-video marketing services. Protagonist (www.ProtagonistBMX.com) is a BMX apparel brand that produces videos which capture the forward movement of the BMX culture.
South Beach Civic Association Meeting on 10-27-2010
South Beach Civic Association Meeting on 10-27-2010
At the Meeting there was an amazing amount of kids, people, and parents from the Ben Soto Skate Park. Every group from Bike Riders, Skate Boarders, Roller Bladers, and Scooter Riders attended. Together we lobbied for the Project Spark proposed indoor skatepark and for the remodeling of the EXISTING Ben Soto Skate Park. We would like to say thanks to RoseAnn and Joe McAllister, as well as the rest of South Beach Civic Association for letting us speak, and N.Y.C. Comptroller John Liu , Parks Commissioner Long for listening to us. Also thank you to Jack Ryan for speaking on be half of all of us.
Redbull Trick or Treat Photos by Ed Pollio and Joe Burney
Redbull Trick or Treat Photos by Ed Pollio and Joe Burney.
King of New York 2010 Video.
KING OF NY 2010 from yoni arava on Vimeo.
Check out more @ yadontunderstand.com
2010 Afro Punk BMX Competition.
Here is a little video that Ed and me filmed while at the comp yesterday.
Also here is the video that the people from Afro Punk made of last years comp.
Part 1:
Part 2:
Pier 62 Skatepark Meeting on Tuesday June 22, 6:30pm
Hudson River Park Trust has decided that only skateboarders and rollerbladers can use this park because of “policy.” We believe this decision has nothing to do with the longevity of the park, it’s design, or the current users of the park. This is pure discrimination against all other users who should have access to this public facility.
Please join us at the Battery Park City Library, 175 North End Avenue in Manhattan at Pier 62 on Tuesday June 22, 6:30pm to respectfully voice our disapproval and tell them the facts.
Pier 62 [Updated]
Pier 62, originally uploaded by Group Home Bikes.
We rode it first. But Bikes won’t be allowed in.
UPDATE 3/26/10 - Click here to sign the petition
According to Danny Parks of City Sports Alliance.
