The San Diego Velodrome Association has dropped plans to host bike races sanctioned by USA Cycling (USAC), following a deadlocked vote of the nonprofit's board of directors.
The vote on Sunday followed months of debate in San Diego's bike racing community over USAC's policy prohibiting trans women from competing in women's races.
In a town-hall meeting of velodrome members last month, and in interviews with KPBS, trans racers and their allies have said they cherish the velodrome's culture of inclusivity and have argued that collaborating with USAC made the velodrome complicit in transphobia.
Other racers said they supported USAC racing at the velodrome because it creates opportunities to participate in the national competitive circuit.
"If we choose not to run USA Cycling races, we would be denying them the opportunity to gain upgrade points, race in bigger races across the country, and compete at the National Championships," velodrome association president Roger Ainslie told members in an email on May 8. "We would confine their growth to our local racing alone."
The San Diego Velodrome is a 333-meter racetrack in Balboa Park that's owned by the city but operated by the nonprofit San Diego Velodrome Association.
The track hosted its first USAC-sanctioned race in years on April 4. The event took place without incident, and no trans women were turned away from the race.
As of last month, velodrome officials were planning four additional USAC-sanctioned races in 2026. Ainslie told members the races would be administered under USAC's gender-neutral "open" category, ensuring that no trans woman would be excluded from any race.
Still, some velodrome members were unsatisfied. Apart from USAC's policy on trans athletes, they said, working with the national organization had unnecessarily divided the community and would spoil the informal, fun-loving atmosphere at the velodrome. USAC is more focused on competition than recreation, they said.
At the velodrome association's June 14 board meeting, Ainslie proposed a final compromise: USAC-sanctioned races would move from Tuesday nights, when the racetrack sees the biggest crowds, to the weekends. His motion failed in a 3-3 tie, with one board member absent.
"What this means: the board will not consider USAC-sanctioned racing for the remainder of this year," velodrome officials told members in an email on Monday. "Future boards may choose to consider it again at their discretion."
Ainslie did not respond to an interview request from KPBS.
Cole Hanson, a cyclist who has been attending races at the velodrome since 2015, said he was glad that USAC racing would not be continuing.
"We can't grow the sport if it's at the expense of those who are already marginalized in our community," Hanson said. "What I like most about the velodrome is just it being such a great crossroads and cross-section of various pockets of cycling communities that are all able to intermingle and learn from each other and make friends."
But while the controversy around USAC appears to have settled down for now, Hanson said he feared it would come back in the future.
"I think there's a lot of work to do to make sure that everyone understands why this was so important to a lot of the community, and not to leave a schism in the community," Hanson added. "My grandest hope would be that everyone could have a more open heart and an open mind, and that we could be a stronger community at the end of all of this."
