The Slyvan Adams Velodrome hopes to turn Tel Aviv into a cycling paradise

When you think of great countries for cycling, what do you picture? Do you think of the quaint European towns like Copenhagen or Amsterdam where bicycling is a daily way of life? Or maybe you think of long distance races like the Tour De France or the Athens-Savannah marathon through Georgia, where athleticism and stamina are key. 

One man, Sylvan Adams, wants to bring both ideas to Tel Aviv and make it the premier bicycling capital of the world. This might surprise anyone who has been to Tel Aviv and knows it as a city of automobiles and crowded, hot streets - but the change is already underway.

Adams, a real estate mogul from Montreal who immigrated to Israel in 2016, takes cycling seriously. As a two time world outdoor cycling champion who has been cycling competitively for more than 20 years, it is a subject near and dear to his heart. But his passion for the sport is only one reason he wants to bring a cycling revolution to Tel Aviv. The main reason is cultural. Adams wants to see a transformed Tel Aviv that is free from the congestion and exhausting commutes the city has become known for.

Tel Aviv has a traffic problem. With large neighbourhoods and satellite communities separated by an overtaxed network of highways, even relatively short commutes can stretch to hours of driving each day depending on conditions. When they finally reach their destination, drivers need to fight over the increasingly scarce (and expensive) parking options in the city. While all of this is frustrating for commuters who just want to make it into work on time, it is also ruinous to the environment. Each and every vehicle stuck in a traffic jam or circling the block looking for a parking spot is just another exhaust pipe pumping out smog and creating fumes that threatens to choke the skyline.

But, Adams is betting a developed cycling network could alleviate many of these problems. He envisions a modern Tel Aviv that embraces both cars and bicycles, taking the burden off the motorways, reducing pollution in the city, and putting more people on the street to browse the city's amazing street kiosks and shops. A greener, friendlier Tel Aviv if you will.

"Amsterdam was a congested, car-centred city until the 1960s, when a deliberate plan was made by visionaries to transform it into a bike paradise,” Adams told the Canadian Jewish News in 2016, explaining how a city can't just leave the development of a bike culture to chance, it has to build it. This is the logic behind both the Israeli Cycling Academy, an organization dedicated to developing the sport of cycling in Israel. While working to develop cycling teams and events, the Academy's most ambitious project is far and away the Sylvan Adams Velodrome.

Massive in scale, the velodrome, under construction right now, will be the most sophisticated indoor cycling arena in the Middle East. Built to Olympic specifications, the arena features a track over 250 meters in circumference. The wooden track has steeply sloped sides that go up to a dizzying 45 degrees. When professional cyclists hit these sloped turns at speed, they look more like they are flying than riding! The facility will also include robust training facilities and publicly accessible resources. The idea is to both build up the Israeli Cycling Academy and team, as well as promote interest in the sport among the public. 

Just last month, professionals put the new track through its paces when veteran cyclists peddled their way across it during an official ceremony commemorating the arena. Built to hold hundreds of spectators, Adams hopes that the Veledrome will be fully constructed and ready to host the 2021 World Junior Championships for track cycling. After that, he, along with the ICA, hope to make the arena the number one location in the area for cycling enthusiasts. 

It might be easy to write the Velodrome off as a purely symbolic gesture towards a cycling Tel Aviv, but Adams thinks otherwise. Citing the success Britain achieved in 2002, when the country invested in a number of velodromes to support the Commonwealth Games. Those facilities and the major press surrounding the events inspired an entire generation of cyclists in the UK, helping to shape future city policy and design to encourage cycling. To Adams and his fellows in the ICA, the velodrome is just the start of Tel Aviv's future on two wheels.