I decided for fun and to teach you more about me to share a few things about how and why I designed a velodrome to achieve my dream of coaching and running programs for mostly kids while turning enough of a profit to keep the facility open and cover expenses in a small town, without using your tax dollars to do what I want, not one dime, baby. My idea or dream for retirement was to retire from professional coaching with enough money to build my own private velodrome and use it as a base of operations for running youth programs to help kids. I have spent most of my life helping people, especially kids, even while fighting for my life with this illness and this blog is proof of that.
This is a nutshell example of how a professional would design a 21st Century velodrome in the US to be profitable to show the complexity of doing it right and I know you ain't seen nuttin' like this, baby. I know, I've looked, if for no other reason than to get ideas for building and running my velodrome.
First, I already told you that I found I could build a world class bicycle racing 250 meter board track with 56 degree bankings for only $400,000 and could put a steel 3 story open suspension lid or building over it for only $400,000 more for a total of $800,000 for the building and track with the building easily providing enough room for other facilities. I also found that you can have an "add on" facility to the steel building along one long side for just about $10,000 to $20,000 more, which is a steal for such things as lockers, showers, offices, equipment storage, class rooms, and other such things. I expect the prices would be higher today but not too much.
For reference, my track would be positioned running east and west and the main entrance facing north with parking to the north and east. To save on construction, this track would be built with the "pit" design similar to the famous basketball "Pit" at UNM with the highest point of seating at ground level and the highest point of the track below ground level. You would walk into the stadium and look down into the pit or velodrome and seating.
With the pit design, that I was trained to use in college, you can build the track and its support facilities for about one third normal cost of building everything above ground the way they do with these huge football and baseball stadiums. Only the offices, concessions, stores, and such would be above ground plus this decreases the required height of the steel building by 3 to 4 stories because the highest point on the track is 29 feet above ground with seating above that. Remember that this is a high altitude facility at 4,200 feet or about 1,400 meters in clean air.
Now the problem that makes this so complex is that I must run all of the events, classes, clinics, and other programs necessary for all athletes to get all of the training, instruction, coaching, and competition for them to improve and be world class athletes while managing the facility to bring in enough revenues to cover all costs of ownership and also make a profit for growth and improvement.
My business strategy for achieving this is to give as many people as possible as many reasons as possible to use my facility as often as possible to maximize revenues for the facility.
To do this, I have to make it a multipurpose facility and properly manage it similar to how I am trained to do for any university sports program.
First, this means, I have to have all of the support facilities a good track must have such as offices for management and sports promotion for other professionally trained people, locker rooms for men and women with showers, a bike repair room where the riders can use their own tools with our benches and work stands to fix their bikes and other equipment, a room for race officials to have pre race meetings and do post race report work, an access to the infield for athletes, coaches, and officials, with an official's stand, a sports announcer's station, all of the required electrical and electronics, and a warm up area for the athletes.
It has to be understood that the best long term promotional strategy for such a facility will be as a Christian family sports and activities facility to bring in revenues today while getting the adults' kids to like coming to the facility for decades from now so no alcohol or other drugs will be permitted or served (that research is a whole nuther story I already explained to you). You also have to understand that all sports programs are competing with all other forms of entertainment so we have to out compete them. Yeah, I am a pretty competitive person.
That is all standard athletic administration.
A wooden bike track can never be used for any sport or activity which would cause enough damage to prevent use by bicycles such as motor sports. This track can only be used for bicycle track racing, training, classes, and clinics because even just slight damage you can't even see will make it unusable for track racing because of a combination of narrow, high pressure tires and pulling Gs on a 56 degree banking. Just the slightest ripple could cause a racer to lose control of their bike and crash and repair work is expensive. This is also why wood tracks outdoors turn to crap really fast. They use a laser guided sander to surface such tracks.
You also have to understand that a 56 degree banked track is too steep for children under 12 to race on because they can't go fast enough for the G forces to keep them on the banking so they would have to race on the flat apron around the inside bottom of the track (but I have a better idea) and the infield needs to be at least 1 to 1.5 meters lower than the apron for spectator visibility of the entire track.
Then I found that I can easily fit a 100 meter wood track or roller drome (yes, I researched everything roller skating) with 10 to 15 degree banking inside the 250 meter track with plenty of room to spare for a pit area for bicycle track racers at one end. This track can be used for warm up for bicycle track races, staging track races for children under 12 to begin getting them used to riding on a banked surface while young (my better idea) and, most importantly, for fun, and for roller skate and roller blade racing competitions and training, classes, and clinics for all of those sports and activities to increase the use of the facility by other athletes and fans to increase revenues for the facility.
The highest point on this 100 meter track needs to be at the same height as the apron for the 250 meter track.
Then I found that a 40 meter wood track or roller derby drome with about a 3 to 5 degree banking can be built inside the 100 meter track with room to spare for warm up by the 12 and under kids and roller skaters racing on the 100 meter track, for a "tikes and trikes" competition by kids from about 1 to 6 years of age, and for the very popular and money making women's roller derby competitions and for training, classes, and clinics for all of those sports and activities. The roller derby competitions, if done right, are always a good money maker or what is called a gate activity but it gets better.
The infield of the 40 meter roller derby track will be on two hydraulic lifts to bring the infield up to above the apron on the 250 meter track for a live music stage with a two story open dance floors with lights, TV screens, and sound at the west end of the track. You have to understand that the acoustics of a velodrome are such that sound from the infield can be heard all around the velodrome very well so it will be perfect for live music, which will bring in really good gate or money at least once per week.
AND athletes can train on ALL three tracks while they are having live music and dancing. THAT is athletic administration.
That gives me two very good weekly money makers, which should easily keep my facility in the black and make it possible to fill 10,000 seats when all other velodromes in the US are glad to fill 100 to 200 seats because they don't know crap about athletic administration and activities promotion.
Remember that by this time we will be hosting activities for bicycle track racing, children's track racing, tikes and trikes racing, roller skate and roller blade racing, roller derby, and live music concerts but that is only for starters in spite of the fact that that alone should provide the revenues required to sustain my desired programs for track racing without one dime of your tax dollars.
But it gets better.
My research showed that the idea of a sports facility having a "captive audience", which causes sports facilities and movie theaters to "gouge" on prices with decreased quality food for their concessions is a myth which causes those facilities to lose a lot of money because the people can always 1) sneak food in, 2) eat before they come, 3) eat after they leave, or 4) worst of all, just not come causing me to also lose gate, which really hurts a facility's revenues and profits. Therefore, all of my concession foods MUST be competitive in price and quality with all other restaurants in the area to maximize profits from my concessions and gate. Remember that I am in competition will all other food suppliers including home cooking.
Don't be greedy because greed destroys common sense.
Also, I decided it would be even better and encourage more people to come by having a food court similar to mall dining areas placed in the southeast corner of the facility with a variety of foods such as burgers, hot dogs, Mexican food, Chinese food, pizza, and others. The people would be able to purchase the food from vendors and either eat at tables in the southeast corner of the facility or in their seats around the velodrome. This will significantly increase revenues for the facility.
But it gets better because the concession area will be on the first floor with a 15 foot ceiling and just above it on the second floor with a 15 foot ceiling (inside a 3 story steel building) will be a very nice multipurpose restaurant to also significantly increase revenues for the facility. This will be a nice quality restaurant with sound proofing where you and your date would wear nice clothes for a nice sit down dinner and dancing.
Oh, did I say dancing?
Yes, decades ago, before that stupid dancing with the stars thingy on TV, I researched real competitive dancing, studied the rules for floor size requirements, and designed the dance floor for my restaurant to be big enough to double as a competitive and recreational dance facility. The main dining area will be to the west of the dance floor with folding bleachers being to the east and enough room on the north side for a live band or recorded music area and the kitchen area on the second floor of the add on to the south of the dining area. This makes it possible to have very nice dining with recreational dancing and also stage competitive dancing, especially for children and youths to bring in more people.
You maximize the efficient use of every resource you have. If I have empty space, I find a way to use it. That is from my training in athletic administration.
Now, to increase the draw to my facility (even more), I would program in different foods and music for different nights for the restaurant because, yes, I did my market research for my area, you know, like I am trained to do with both my training in athletic administration and with my M.B.A. My primary market would be the El Paso, TX and Juarez, Mexico area with about 2 million people and only 1.5 hours drive away from their pollution. Many of my chosen sports and activities are very popular in Mexico to draw people from there because I do my homework.
On Friday nights, I would have western music and food, one night a week, I would have Mexican music and food to draw people from as far as El Paso and Juarez, Mexico, we have a large first generation German population here so one night a week would be German music and food, there would be a night for 50s and early 60s music and food, and then a night for ballroom dancing with a variety of European and other related foods.
Then I can use the offices and storage areas at the velodrome for staging bicycle road, cyclocross, and MTB racing in the surrounding areas for additional sports promotion and revenues. I would also have a few different types of stores in another corner of my building complementing my events for additional revenues, ALL of this inside one 300 foot by 400 foot, 3 story, inexpensive steel building with about a 20 foot wide add on.
I can extend the building to the east (with steel buildings, this is easy and cheep) for just a few hundred thousand dollars more to create a gymnasium in which this old man can easily stage many events and activities for things like roller skating and roller blade hockey, indoor soccer (yes, it is a real off season sport), team handball, roller figure skating, roller skate competitive dancing, gymnastics competitions for kids, volleyball, bike ball, and artistic cycling just to name a few to get more people to spend more time at my facility to provide the revenues to keep the doors open, run all of the desired activities, and even turn a profit to spend a little money on me.
The most complex thing about this is doing what I have been trained to do for a university by programming and coordinating all of the required elements for all of these activities such as classes, clinics, training, and competitions, for which I would also hire a professionally trained assistant athletic administrator because, believe me, it would be very complex...but a ton of fun dancing in my own tornado. Now that would be fun.
Remember that this is just the nutshell version of what I can do and the prospectus would be at least 20 times longer, probably about 100 pages with much more detail.
For the fun of it, partly because that, with my illness, I didn't have anything else I could do, I also designed a "velodrome" for MTB, cyclocross, cross country running, and cross country skate racing (yes, they have off road roller skates with big wheels) with hills, flats, water hazards and gates to change the course dynamics, with the infield being used by a BMX course, another velodrome for cross country skiing with hills and flats and gates to change the course dynamics with a snow machine using science to make real flake snow and not just ice that included facilities for Olympic speed skating in the infield.
No empty spaces allowed, baby.
Have you figured out yet that I really love doing homework or research, designing, and building things. This is what God is holding me back from so I will write this blog to help you. You're welcome and I pray that I have helped you a lot, especially in finding Jesus as your savior. I know that, if you have read all of these 1,500+ essays, you have learned something, probably a lot.
My dream has been put on hold until after the Battle of Ezekiel 38 & 39, then God is going to open the door and you will see a one man stampede through that door. Doing the Snoopy dance while dancing in tornadoes. I have this and more all drawn out in detail with the programming and it was fun doing it.
During that period of time, in part to try to find something I could use to start a business and then also to pass time, I researched probably at least 100 different businesses plus potential hobbies and have about 130 folders with only God knows how many hundreds of files backed up a few different times.
Just for fun, I designed a nice 4 bedroom 2 story home with a garage and workshop where 2 of the bedrooms were to be used for an office and a bike work and storage shop in the house.
After I did everything with that that I could, I expanded to a Spanish style 2 story hacienda with a solar glazed plaza or central court yard and, after I did everything with that that I could, I finally decided to do a project that would take a lot more time and designed a medium size 3 story Moorish style castle with drum towers in all four corners, a solar glazed bailey or central court yard (36 feet high with trees, plants, and grass plus two waterfalls, two converging streams, and a pond with the family dining area on the second floor protruding out into that little forest meadow), a moat, crenellated battlements, two gate houses, front and back, with draw bridges and portcullises, a rampart surrounding the moat, which was a recreational water area for boating, swimming, and fishing, a spectacular ballroom/dining area, indoor swimming pool (really nice one with plenty of extras like low and high diving boards, a water slide, Jacuzzi, sauna, and steam room with a pump room, rest rooms, showers, and equipment storage - hey, 20 years is a long time to be bored, especially for an ADHD person), small gym with equipment storage, wood and metal working shop, bike shop, 50s diner for family parties, craft shop, detailed electric train room (a big one for which I researched everything electric train for months), fantasy play room for children with a miniature castle in one of the drum towers for a children's play house and hidden Narnia play area, weight/exercise/dance area, class rooms, computerized 20 inch telescope (yes, I researched everything about that including the dome to be placed on top of one of the drum towers), large private library and computer room with an office space, and much, much more. I must have studied 100 castles and castle nomenclature before I did this and it was definitely different because it was MY castle and ME done my way but anyone would love it because it was designed for family fun, exercise, and entertainment with healthy living and that doesn't include the 20+ acre surrounding grounds area with trees, a barn, and other play areas. It would be one fun castle to raise a family in and talk about off grid, I made this thing completely off grid before it was popular to live off grid with geothermal heating, cooling, and energy and a private well and waste disposal.
Hey, it was my version of a live-in Disney Land.
For fun, I used my training in mechanical engineering and drafting to actually draft out a rough blue print for my castle and it was a real whopper and ton of fun to do. It took me about 2 to 3 years of spare time to finish it and then I just got bored after that because I just couldn't find anything else to design. Yes, I am a workaholic and love working, designing, creating, building, and succeeding so my illness with severe chronic fatigue syndrome has been a living hell. You know, if I had been a couch potato, what would have changed but to do that to an ADHD workaholic is brutal.
Hey, I even designed about a dozen different deserted Pacific islands to be responsible eco friendly tourist resorts to make money and did all of the research for everything on everyone of them while trying to make each one unique in some ways specific to the island structure.
I even designed at least a dozen different businesses for half a dozen different local lakes from small sailboat rentals to different designs for riverboats and schooners for day trips, weddings, family reunions, conventions, and just for fun. I have studied the history of sailing and everything boats from small sailboats to square riggers and paddle wheel riverboats. You should also see the airplane stuff I have researched.
Speaking of boats, in doing my research for these businesses, I learned that Hallberg-Rassy of Sweden makes some of the best sailboats in the world and they customize their models for you. To learn more about the boating industry and to have fun, I decided to use their 62 foot cutter rigged sloop to design a $2 million yacht for my future family including all of the electronics for communications, radar, sonar, navigation, optics systems, a custom dingy by Zodiac with additional electronics relative to that boat, emergency survival systems, anchoring systems, different sails, and everything else in minute detail based in part on what I was learning from the cruising industry. I spent about 3 years designing that boat and learned a lot that helped me design craft for those other businesses.
Speaking of survival, I read too many survival stories over the last 70 years and too many of them ended badly because the people sat on their butts waiting for others to rescue them and the rescuers didn't get there in time, you know, before they died.
God taught me that, in an emergency, if you can, rescue yourself and don't wait for others to do it because, all too often, they don't. Therefore, all of my survival plans were based on me being about to save my own butt long before anyone else could. That just makes sense to me.
Always have a plan Z for when everything else fails.
I watched those dinks on that "real TV survival" crap. They were probably a bunch of city slicks who had never been any closer to nature than a local city park and didn't know squat about surviving.
You want to learn to survive?
Study archaeology because you will study how our ancestors survived for thousands of years with none of today's conveniences, not one. Put a group of archaeologists who specialize in studying ancient man in one of those "survival" situations and they will build a city and we are talking Babylon and Nineveh because they know how our ancestors did it. Now that would be fun to watch.
Someday, I should do an essay on survival. Would you like to see one or two essays on survival based on archaeology? You will be surprised at how easy it is with archaeology. The basics are incredibly simple.
You couldn't begin to imagine the stuff I researched and designed while dying and fighting for my life so just imagine how much more I could have done had I not been so ill. Besides, it was fun. It is no exaggeration when I say that I easily know more about more things than any Ph.D. on this planet.
Think not?
Remember that I have also studied all of the hard sciences, I have an M.B.A., I studied the history and archaeology of every continent on this planet, I have studied all of the major religions, the biggest ones most significantly, I am trained by the US military in weapons technologies, all forms of warfare, espionage, and electronics warfare systems, and more. Show me one person who has studied half of what I have studied in my 70+ years on this planet. I have not heard of one. Hey, number 5 ain't got nuttin' on me, baby (see the movie.)
Do I know everything?
No, I am still learning. Only a fool thinks he knows everything. It is just that I know a lot about a lot of things, which should now be obvious.
I believe God has had me do and learn all of this so I can help quickly rebuild our economy following this escalating war and then colonizing 9 planets. I have even kept up on weapons technologies in relation to my military and science training and experiences.
Hey, that's just me, baby, ADHD to the max and proud of it! Only God can keep me down. Satan is a punk.
John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
You better....