About Cycling
Bicycles were first developed in the mid 18th century and have long since been used as a form of transport. Originally, the front wheel was much larger than the rear wheel, and the rider was elevated a great deal, making them difficult to control and very dangerous. In 1885, J.K. Starley of England devised the more modern bike with a chain and gearing to allow the wheels to be of equal size. Although bicycle races had been held on the old "penny farthings", the new bikes stimulated the growth of bicycle racing as a sport.
Cycling at the Olympics features three exciting disciplines; road, track and mountain biking.
Road Cycling Basics
Scottish blacksmith Kirkpatrick McMillan gave bicycle racing its first big boost back in 1839 when he devised a pedal-and-crank mechanism to power the two-wheeled machines. Until then, bicycles were pushed along by the feet. It rather limited their racing potential.
In the 1880s, cycling took another leap forward with the development of the chain-and-gearing system. With that, bikes evolved from the awkward penny-farthing style to the sleeker shape so familiar today. Since then, the sport's evolution has been a steady climb as athletes and engineers experiment with anything that might shave a few seconds off their times.
The sport's boom in the late 19th century made it a natural for the first modern Olympic Games in 1896. That inaugural Olympic road race was held on the marathon course, with riders completing two laps covering a total of 87 kilometres. Almost a century passed before women got their chance to race in 1984, and, 12 years later, at the 1996 Atlanta Games, time trials were introduced.
Competition: The men's and women's road races and time trials now comprise the four events that make up the Olympic road- racing program. The road races begin with mass starts. The men race over 239km and the women over 120. The time trials are
raced against the clock, with riders starting at 90-second intervals. In those, the men race over 46.8km, the women over 31.2.
Track Cycling Basics
Road racing and mountain biking relate easily to the average rider's view of cycling. Track cycling does not. In track cycling, the riders go nowhere, just around and around an oval track banked at 42 degrees. The track's name - the velodrome - sounds space-age, and the helmets, suits and bikes bearing no resemblance to a common two-wheeler more closely resemble something out of Star Wars.
Those idiosyncrasies grew out of years of refinement, though. All were aimed at helping man push bicycles faster and faster. The aerodynamic "funny bikes" of today offer greater speed than ever, despite their poorer maneuverability that leaves them ill-suited to pack racing.
The 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games, in particular, fielded a wave of futuristic machines, including the debut of the spokeless, carbon-fiber disc wheel.
Another revolution occured in the 1992 Barcelona Games, where Great Britain's Chris Boardman won his country’s first cycling gold medal since 1920. Boardman broke world records and lapped the world champion in the final with a bike fully utilizing carbon-fiber technology and aerodynamic cross-sections, weighing less than nine kilograms.
Track cycling evolved again during the Sydney 2000 Games, with a new range of races. Women competed in a 500 meter time trial, and men added the keirin, Madison and Olympic sprint races.
Competition: The full program includes individual and team events, sprint and endurance races, pursuits, time trials and first-over-the-line finishes. The time trial, sprint, individual pursuit and points race include events for men and women. The 4000m team pursuit, Madison, keirin and Olympic sprint involve only men.
The Madison is a mass start event comprising teams of two riders per team. It is similar to a team points race, as points are awarded to the top finishers at the intermediate sprints and for the finishing sprint. Only one of the two team riders is on the track at any one time, riding for a number of laps, and then exchanging with his partner, who is propelled onto the track by a hand sling from the cyclist leaving the track.
The keirin is one of the most exciting events in cycling because of the speeds. The event is a 2000 meters paced event in which the riders ride behind a motorized derny, which increases the potential speeds. The derny paces the riders for 1400 meters and then pulls off the track, at which time the cyclists begin a furious spring to the finish. Keirin racing has traditionally been practiced in Japan, where it has been a professional sport for over 20 years, and in which pari-mutual betting on the riders is permitted.
The Olympic sprint is a team sprint event, with each team consisting of three riders. Two teams compete against each other, starting on opposite sides of the track, with the goal being to catch the other team, or finish three laps of the track first. Each of the three riders leads their team for a single lap. The time for the final rider to finish the third lap is the time for the team.
Mountain Bike Basics
First came the road race. It became the rage of the late 1800s, after the invention of the bicycle and before the invention of the car. Then came track racing. It was part of the first modern Olympic Games in 1896, even though it looks space-age in its truly modern form. Then came mountain biking.
Mountain biking debuted in the Games in 1996 at Atlanta. The sport was about 40 years old then, if you date it back to the university student who first stripped down his bicycle, converted it and headed for the hills in 1953. The sport was just 20 years old, though, if you date it back to the first organized competition outside San Francisco.
The members of the Velo Club Mount Tamalpais generally receive the credit for establishing mountain biking as a sport. They invented the Repack Downhill race, held regularly between 1976 and 1979 just across the famed Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco. The races attracted riders from near and far, and the media soon followed.
It was a cool sport, a fringe sport. by 1990, it had turned into a truly professional sport, complete with World Championships. Now, it came back at the Atlanta 1996 Games.
Competition: Cross-country sees the riders riding over what is usually a very hilly, sometimes mountainous course, usually on natural terrain. They may need to maneuver over trees, branches, rocks and streams. Men race between 40 and 50 kilometers, and women cover 30 to 40 kilometers. The exact distances are decided the night before the race, when officials ponder the weather conditions and aim for an optimum finishing time of two hours and 15 minutes for the top man, two hours for the top woman. The course is set so men complete six to seven laps and women race five to six.