All About Olympic Cycling

BMX racing is a short, pedal-powered sprint against as many as seven other riders around a dirt track, over a number of challenging jumps and around berms (corners). Riders begin on a hill with wheels pressed against a gate and leave at the call of the starting sound or the signal of lights. They then power their bikes around the track to the finish line. The lights are similar to a drag racing style of a red-yellow-green combination.

Track cycling is a discipline included in the cycling event at the international competitions. The sport has been contested at the competitions for a long time since the nineteenth century. However, with the advent of the modern cycling machines, the event has become more and more popular.

Track cycling is contested at the banked tracks, which are specially built for the event. The tracks built for track cycling is known as "velodromes". At some places the races are also held on grass tracks. The bicycles used for the track cycling contest are different from the cycles used for daily transport.

The Union Cyclist Internationale or the UCI is the governing body of the sport at international level. Repechage: A round (usually in sprint competitions) in which losers of previous heats race against each other to gain re-entry into the competition.

Rules of Road Cycling: The Union Cyclist Internationale or the UCI has set rules for the road cycling event. Some of the rules followed at the international road cycling competitions are-

 The number of participants in a race cannot exceed 200.

  The distance of the cycling course for each category of the event is specified by the UCI.

 The course has to be appropriately marked for the convenience of the participants.

  In the uphill course, every kilometer should be properly marked during the race.

  The starting order of the cyclists during the race should be determined by the UCI. Generally, the riders start at regular time intervals.

  A certain gap must be maintained between two riders.

 Helping one another during the race is prohibited. # In the team events, riders of the same team can exchange food, drinks and small equipments.

  During the cycling races, cyclists should bear two numbers on their bodies. Only in the case of time trial, one number has to be bore.

 A rider dropping out of the race before reaching the finishing line is not allowed to cross the finishing line.

Chainsuck: The chain getting caught between the chainstay and the rear wheel.

Through rough terrain, uneven roads and steep hills, mountain bikers need to be well-conditioned and aware of their fellow racers. Simply put, this race is a marathon, not a sprint, and racers must plan accordingly.

Men race between 40 and 50 kilometres, and women cover 30 to 40km. 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. Bunny-hop: To jump the bike, without dismounting, over an obstacle.

Road racing pre-dates the modern Olympics of 1896. The sport had enough of a following to stage a world championship in 1893. Three years later, bicycle racing made its way into the first Olympic Games, where competition took place on the marathon course.

The sport of track blossomed with the advent of the pneumatic tire in 1888. Long distance riding became popular, as well as long-distance races like the gruelling six-day events held on a velodrome in New York's Madison Square Garden during the 1920s and 1930s.

The genesis of the mountain bike remains unclear, but most agree that the beginning of competitive racing originated in a small town in northern California back in the mid 1970s. Many credit bicycle enthusiasts Gary Fisher, Joe Breeze, Tom Ritchey and Charles Kelly, who met in Marin County, Calif., and started organizing races on the Cascade Fire Trail.

BMX (Bicycle Motocross) racing will make its debut at the Beijing Olympics and enters as the youngest sport in the history of the Games. With only 40 years of historical credit, the sport was selected as an official Olympic medal event for its appeal to younger "action-sport" minded youth.

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