Early History

Known for the first 20 years of its existence as the Lehigh County Velodrome – or simply T-Town, as it is affectionately referred to by the national and international racers who make it their home here each summer – the concrete crater in a corn field was the idea of publisher Bob Rodale. Rodale fell in love with track cycling while competing as a skeet shooter in the 1967 Pan American Games. The president of Rodale Press, and later publisher of Bicycling and Mountain Bike magazines, knew in his heart that he needed to bring the excitement and colorful action of this healthful sport back home to his beloved Lehigh Valley.

Rodale was a visionary but he was also a practical businessman. He made sure his dream was built to last by consulting with numerous national and international cycling organizations, racers and knowledgeable contractors. Construction began in 1974 on a plot of land in Trexlertown, PA, owned by Bob Rodale and his wife, Ardath. As the work progressed and the track took shape, Rodale worked with community leaders to create programs such as the Air Products Developmental Cycling Program that would spark a local interest in bicycle racing. He also donated his land and the partially completed facility to Lehigh County in return for a pledge that the county would continue to support development of the track and its programs.

Rodale reached out to two of the most celebrated cyclists of the 1960s and 1970s – Jack Simes III and David Chauner – to bring his dream to life. Working with the late Artie Greenburg and announcer Brian Drebber, Simes and Chauner launched an immediate effort to attract top international cyclists and events, creating a foundation that has made Valley Preferred Cycling Center the most active and successful velodrome in the United States.

The first race was held on October 12, 1975. In the early years of Lehigh County Velodrome, there were no locker rooms, rest rooms, or bleachers, there wasn’t even a railing at the top of the track. From those early days when Jerry “The Gentle Giant” Ash and Leigh “The Tree” Barczewski and his brother Les, along with cycling greats such as Gil “Gibby” Hatton and women riders such as Sheila Young and Connie Paraskevin reignited the sport of track racing in the United States, Rodale’s dream did catch the imagination of the American cycling public.

Simes and Chauner were followed by equally imaginative and talented leaders, from Leigh and Karen Barczewski to Pat McDonough, and the concrete crater continues to produce world-class competitors and events.

Since the mid-1970s, Valley Preferred Cycling Center has hosted World Cups, Olympic Trials, the Junior World Championships (twice), National Championships and countless major international competitions, creating stars and producing top international competitors, such as former Junior World Sprint Champion Sarah Uhl, who won her title in a dramatic finish during last race of the event before a cheering hometown crowd.

In 1995 the facilities were rebuilt to add new grandstands that hold 2,000 fans, new shower and locker facilities for the athletes, top-notch restroom facilities for the fans, and a world-class concession stands that offer value-priced food and beverages for the cycling enthusiasts who trek to the track several nights a week during the racing season.

Renamed the Lehigh Valley Velodrome when those renovations were completed, it hosted former Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge, who took a Friday night lap around the track in front of the fans during one of his annual cycling excursions around the commonwealth, and cycling legends such as Greg LeMond and Bobby Julich have been known to show up at the bi-annual bicycle swap meets that draw thousands of cyclists from all over the East Coast.

Though Bob Rodale’s life was tragically cut short in a 1990 automobile accident in Russia, his dream lives on through the support of the Rodale family, along with the community support that has continued because of Bob Rodale’s early efforts to build a cycling facility that would become a prized icon of the Lehigh Valley.

Over the years T-Town has endeared itself to the racers as much as the racers have endeared themselves to the crowds. Riders such as Uhl and the late Nicole Reinhart hold special places in track memory along with past luminaries Shaun Wallace of England and Paul “The Animal” Pearson of Allentown. The list goes on, including World Championship Silver Medalist Ashley Kimmet of Allentown, three-time Olympian Bobby Lea of Mertztown, Olympian Matt Baranoski of Perkasie, and Current World Champion Kimberly Geist of Emmaus, PA.

Today
The velodrome is now managed by a 501(c)(3) non-profit foundation that continues to promote track cycling – just the way Bob wanted it. Thanks to the generosity of Valley Preferred, a community partnership of doctors and hospitals, the renamed Valley Preferred Cycling Center continues to lead the nation in quality competition, championship racer development and community programs that offer the opportunity for racers and non-racers to enjoy the thrill of bicycle track racing in the nation’s most-loved and most-successful velodromes in modern American cycling.