Our View: Cycling decision excellent

I may have been riding a bike for the better part of four decades but I'm no better a cyclist now than I was as a cocky 10-year-old.
That said, I am a much safer cyclist on the road these days, seeing as I now prefer to leave my hands on the handlebars when speeding down hills and around corners.
As we gain maturity we seem to lose invincibility.
Though neither are in evidence when I take my bike off-road and on to Rotorua's awesome mountainbiking tracks.
As my ever-patient riding partners will attest, if there was a skill level somewhere just below "barely managing" it would apply to me.
But still I give it a go - because not to make the most of this facility would be criminal.
This week's announcement that Rotorua will become the national home of mountainbiking as part of a successful Waikato/Bay of Plenty bid for the New Zealand's cycling centre of excellence is fantastic news.
The joint proposal includes building a world-class velodrome and BikeNZ headquarters near Cambridge while Rotorua will have the mountainbiking facilities.
Tracks in Taupo, which threw its support behind the bid after its own failed to make the shortlist, will be used, along with multiple cross country and downhill tracks across the region.
The Cambridge BMX Club is building a new track which will incorporate most of the features of the soon-to-be-built London Olympic track.
For Rotorua locals, the bid's success reinforces what we and a large proportion of the world's mountainbiking community already knew - that we offer the best mountainbiking in New Zealand.
Now it's up to everyone to make it work to ensure it benefits the whole community.
The Home of Cycling Trust which is involved in the bid is now seeking support from councils across the Waikato and Bay of Plenty for construction costs for the new centre in Cambridge. The trust is urging residents across the regions to urge their councils to contribute. Community trusts and businesses will also be asked to help out.
Home of Cycling says the new centre will be a catalyst for significant benefits to the region including, presumably, the ability to attract more top events, including national, Oceania and wider international events.
A strong cycling culture already exists in the greater Waikato/Bay of Plenty region so there will be plenty of support in principle for this new development.
That support now needs to be turned into something tangible that will help those who had the vision and confidence to put forward a winning proposal see the concept through.
And in the end hopefully some of that excellence will rub off on me.
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Excuse me this indulgence, but I'd like to thank the team at The Daily Post for their fine work in securing once again a place in the finals at New Zealand's most prestigious media awards - the Canon Media Awards. It's the third year in a row we've been finalists in the Best Newspaper category, which we won in 2009. We're also up for the Best Design award. We'll bring you the good news when we go one step further and claim the prize(s) on May 27.