The local cycling community that made its voice heard at the most recent Colorado Springs Parks, Recreation and Cultural Services meeting is seeing changes coming. 

Bicycle Colorado announced that the US Olympic and Paralympic Training Center Velodrome will be re-opening on May 9 to the public. The news, sent via newsletter on Tuesday, comes after the group made a plea for access to the venue at the board meeting on April 13. 

Among the newly scheduled events are a reintroduction to the ‘Learn the Velo’ certificate sessions and the reinstatement of racing events on Fridays in June. 

Both will have an impact.

“The ‘Learn the Velo’ classes are what allows even more people to get involved and become a part of the community and grow it,” local cyclist and member of the group who spoke at the meeting, Steven Vela said. “I plan to be back there multiple times a week, I won’t miss many openings.” 

All activities will require online preregistration, which is a step that has been in place for years, even before the limitations of the facility arose according to Vela. 

The COVID-19 pandemic caused the venue to shut down before initially re-opening on a limited basis in recent months. Cyclists brought concerns over the now-limited availability on multiple occasions.