Take one impossible dream, and add an angel donor with deep pockets.
What do you get? An impossible dream that comes true – in this case, a new indoor velodrome that's just opened up in Detroit's Midtown area.
It makes Detroit one of only three U.S. cities to have a specially-designed facility for indoor bicycle racing, and its designer believes this velodrome could put Detroit racers in future Olympics.
Dale Hughes, executive director of the Detroit Fitness Foundation and the designer of the new Lexus Velodrome, joined Stateside to share the story of how the new velodrome came to be.
Listen above for the full conversation, or read highlights below.
On hopes for the velodrome
“We do have a lofty goal of seeing if we can't get a young woman or a young man who may never have seen a velodrome in their life and get them onto the 2020 Olympic games, or for sure the 2024 Olympic games.”
On the caliber of racers
“We're going to have regular Friday night and Saturday night races, and the races will have our local kids racing, but we'll also be bringing riders in from around the country and around the world, so we're really going to have a world-class facility here that is going to showcase world-class racing. So, on Friday night and Saturday night, we expect to fill the house here.”
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