Mad Track Arena — Local services in Detroit

If I could have made this review without giving any stars I would have. Just had an absolutely horrific experience here. The staff was incredibly rude and disrespectful to my two young children, ages 4 and 7. There are no other participants on site today - it is literally empty - because school is out for the long holiday weekend I decided to bring the two young ones here so they could ride and walk while I attempted to get a little bit of work done. Keep in mind- they are 4 and 7 - so are they always mindful about every single action? Usually not. But again, they are young kids, so consistent reminders and lots of patience are two key elements for any adult working with children. If you can’t exercise that, then you should not be in a position where you work with young children. My 7-year-old took off on the bike at one point, leaving his helmet on the table. He knows better, but was probably excited. The woman here yelled at him. I instructed him to come back and put his helmet back on. The final straw was the man berating him for stopping too quickly once which makes a squeaking sound and (for those of us who ride - we understand that this isn’t good for the bike so I understand the concern - it is the inappropriate manner and tone of his reproach that struck an uncomfortable chord with me) that he would have to be responsible for paying for repairs and going on and on - to a 7-year-old! I quickly stepped in and directed him to speak to me, not my son - that as the adults we should communicate with each other if he does not know how to communicate respectfully to my child. He told me to just leave then because he’s the coach. To which I replied, he’s not my son’s coach and if he can’t approach children with kindness and patience then he should not approach them at all. I am quite certain that had we been white these individuals would never have spoken in such a hateful, demeaning and belittling manner! I am disgusted and disappointed that this facility, which could serve a lot of good in the community, chooses to employ staff with temperaments not designed to work with diverse people....

Drove 4 hours to take the 101 and 201 class. For the 101 only expect about 10 minutes of on track time and in general a 30 minute lesson even though the class is scheduled to be an hour… I spoke to another father son who were very disappointed after finishing their handful of laps on track saying “that was it?”. If you stay for the 201 like I did (an extra $40) that is when you will get significantly more time on track doing exercises and training drills. These drills do progress very quickly! So it’s best to be mentally prepared that you’ll be pushing beyond your comfort level. These drill’s primarily focus on safe maneuvering/passing skills and range from cone obstacle courses, to stoping at the top of the track, to by the end doing a 30 lap rotating pace line with your classmates. Most of my classmates were more experienced riders just doing the class to work on basic techniques which was a very nice mix to have. As a k12 educator I could see there’s room for improvement in how these classes can be thought but, as just a road cycling novice I did still get lots of value out of the experience. The teacher was knowledgeable and all the staff I interacted with were friendly. The other more experienced riders were very friendly and helpful and gave positive encouragement. I will be coming back in the future for more group classes and open track.

I hope this helps to accurately paint a picture for what you can expect on your visit....

The most popular hours to ride are not official operating hours. You need to know the right people and be in the right social group to access the velodrome early on Fridays, Saturdays , and Sunday.

As a morning person, late operating hours on the weekends provide little value.

This sentiment is shared among most I've discussed the topic with. Operation of the facility should be the responsibility of the staff and not fall on its patrons to provide access.

Edit in response to the owner: The response implies that Dale has not been spoken to directly, through email and in person. This is false. Concerns about the hours of operation and responsibilities of the running of the facility falling on the staff and not your customers have been expressed in those private channels. This review is an attempt to elevate such a discussion to a more open channel, limited as it may be. The hours are lacking compared to any gym, fitness club where one would seek to get an early workout done. If you would like to discuss this further, you may...