Recreational cyclists lack facilities
All cyclists face the same challenges on urban New Zealand roads, regardless of how quickly they are riding, but part of the solution could come from overseas initiatives.
Separating commuters and competitive riders, by providing dedicated training facilities, is common practice internationally.
North Harbour Cycling Club president Ian Lochhead sees potential for a criterium track to be built to provide an off-road alternative for competitive riders and the general public. A criterium is a circuit race held on either a road circuit or purposebuilt off-road course between 800m to 3km in length. A 155-hectare property between Dairy Stream, Green Rd and Sunnyside Rd, near Dairy Flat, was sold to the former Rodney District Council in 2005 to establish a sports park . It is within this development proposal that Lochhead would like a purposebuilt outdoor cycling criterium track. Lochhead highlights limited training facilities on the North Shore for cyclists.
‘‘The biggest difference for a competitive cyclist is they travel significantly faster than the average commuter and often will ride in a bunch. The big issues for competitive cyclists on the North Shore is to accept that the roading network is unlikely to change dramatically in favour of cyclists in the near future.’’