Cyclists want to be part of solutions....

There was an interesting op/ed by some Fort Collins folk on the Coloradoan today.

Cycling at an intensity level for fitness requires that we go long, go fast, or go uphill (fast). Group riding is part of the program, too. Lance Armstrong trained in groups on open roads. Neither the state's trails laws, nor the sheriff's interpretation of the highway laws, encourage us to do that on trails or roads. The huge success of the 6-Day Races at the CSU Oval indicates that track cycling is popular with all ages, both as spectators and participants.

Fort Collins should plan to provide land for a recreational and competitive cycling facility within its parks system, with a velodrome, a "closed to traffic" Criterium course, a kids' learn-to-ride course, plus MTB and Cyclocross courses.

Much of what is positioned above and in the aricle was critical to the arguments made during the planning and advocay stages in front of Boulder City Council and teh P & R board. For Fort Collins and Anywhere, USA, it will take a unified voice and very direct needs evangelized over and over to ensure what is desired and needed by the community is heard and ujltimatley recogonozed before it can be approved. This parallels the efforts of many of the core Valmont Bike Park committee members who have not deviated from their view of the Valmont Bike Park need for the community for many years.

Read the whole article here.