The Forest City Velodrome is an indoor cycling facility in London, Ontario, Canada. The building was constructed in 1963 as the London Gardens, home to the London Knights ice hockey team. In 1994 it was renamed London Ice House. In early 2005 it was remodeled into the Forest City Velodrome by local cycling enthusiast and track racer Rob Good and Albert Coulier's Apollo Velodrome Systems company.
It is the only indoor velodrome in Ontario and one of four indoor cycling facilities in all North America.
The Forest City Velodrome is the shortest permanent velodrome in the world, measuring 138 metres with 50-degree bankings and 17-degree straights.
The Forest City Velodrome runs several programs designed to encourage recreational cycling and develop competitive cyclists. Learn to ride programs introduce new riders to track cycling. Organized drills help cyclists hone their skills. Frequent recreational sessions give riders of various skill levels time to ride on the track for fun, fitness and training. Periodic race nights develop racing skills and give spectators the chance to learn about and enjoy track cycling events.
The building that is now called the Forest City Velodrome has gone through many alterations over the years. One of its more famous moments has to have taken place February 1968 when Johnny Cash proposed to June Carter on stage in a performance.
Famous quotes containing the words forest and/or city:
“I perceive that in these woods the earliest settlements are, for various reasons, clustering about the lakes, but partly, I think, for the sake of the neighborhood as the oldest clearings. They are forest schools already established,—great centres of light.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“... city areas with flourishing diversity sprout strange and unpredictable uses and peculiar scenes. But this is not a drawback of diversity. This is the point ... of it.”
—Jane Jacobs (b. 1916)