Taylor Phinney and Sarah Hammer are among the 19 cyclists named to the "long team" for track cycling at the 2012 Olympic Games in London.

The final list of racers who will represent the US at the track cycling events will be chosen from the pool of 11 women and 8 men by USA Cycling.

Two western Washington cyclists made the women's squad: Jennie Reed of Seattle and Tela Crane of Sammamish.

The track cycling events will be held in a new Velodrome...   more »

With the Yuletide still ahead of us, it might seem a little early to be naming names for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London that roll out July 27 to Aug. 12.

But USA Cycling already has announced the "long teams" for men's and women's mountain biking and women's road race.

The track and BMX will be announced in coming months, and the men's road race team will be decided by competitive results of US cyclists in the bicycle races leading up to the Olympics.

Congratulations to the bicyclists from the Pacific Northwest ...   more »

Until I look at the results, I'd assume that the US would dominate in mountain biking at the Olympics. Didn't a cast of characters racing down Mt. Tam in Marin County, California, on old bikes launch the modern sport of mountain biking just 30 years ago?

That may be true, but the sport caught fire and spread across the globe so quickly that cyclists from other countries routinely eat our lunch.

That's what happened at the Beijing Olympics on Saturday morning. Two Frenchmen and a Swiss cyclist took all three medals in the men's mountain bike competition; cyclists from Germany, Poland and Russia medaled in women's mountain biking ...   more »

All three US cyclists who raced in the men's and women's BMX finals won medals Friday morning at the Beijing Olympics.

Mike Day won silver and Donny Robinson took bronze in the men's finals. Jill Kintner of the Seattle area won the bronze medal in the women's finals.

As promised, the BMX finals produced rough and tumble action on the course. Three women went down in separate crashes as they went for broke in the race, and three men hit the dirt in one collision during the men's race.

This is the first Olympics to host BMX, and the sight of big people catching air as they race little bikes on the hilly course provides a lot of excitement...   more »

Update: BMX semifinals and finals delayed until 9 a.m. Friday Beijing time (9 p.m. Thursday EST) due to rainy weather.

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The entire US BMX team -- 3 men and 1 woman -- survived the early qualifying rounds and will compete in the upcoming semifinals for this event being seen at the Summer Olympics for the first time ever.

It was touch and go for one of the riders, Kyle Bennett, at left, who collided with a couple of other riders and dislocated his shoulder in last of 3 heats his group raced. He did not finish that heat, but scored well enough in the first 2 heats to advance. Doctors said he was good to go.

Mike Day won his quarterfinal to qualify for the semifinals, and Donny Robinson, like Bennett, finished in the top 4 of his quarterfinal run to qualify.

The lone woman on the US team, Jill Kintner of Seattle, raced in the seeding phase. She's ranked 7th for the upcoming semifinals ...   more »

Chris Hoy has been dubbed Scotland's greatest Olympian after his amazing exploits at the Laoshan Velodrome in the Beijing Olympics over the past five days.

The 32-year-old won three gold medals in track cycling, the only Scotsman to ever accomplish that in any Olympic sport and the first athlete from Great Britain to do so since 1908.

Overall, Great Britain totally dominated track cycling at this Olympics. Of 10 golds issued, the Brits won 7, as well as 3 silver and 2 bronze.

Add Great Britain's gold in the women's road race and silver in the women's time trial and that brings the total medal haul from cycling to 8 gold, 4 silver and 2 bronze. Not a bad result for 14 cycling contests so far ....   more »

Marianne Vos of The Netherlands won the Olympic gold medal in the 100-lap women's points race at the Laoshan Velodrome on Monday.

She took the first of 10 sprints and lapped the field in the 25-kilometer track cycling race.

Bad luck plagued Sarah Hammer of the US, though, as she was caught in a crash caused by another rider. She could not finish the event and later was diagnosed with a broken collar bone...   more »

Great Britain set the world and Olympic record in beating Denmark in the men's team pursuit at the Beijing Olympics on Monday.

Bradley Wiggins secured his second gold medal of this Olympics by his team's win. In setting the 3:53 record, the team beat the record it set in the qualifying round on Sunday and nearly caught the team from Denmark, which took gold. New Zealand beat Australia for the gold.

Meanwhile, Jennie Reed did not qualify for the finals in the women's sprint quarterfinals at the Laoshan Velodrome. Reed, who attended Issaquah High School and now lives in Kirkland, Washington, lost to Willy Kanis of the Netherlands ...   more »

Great Britain's Rebecca Romero captured the only gold medal offered in the third day of track cycling at the Laoshan Velodrome, left, on Sunday, as other Brits finished near the top in qualifying rounds for qualifiers or finals on Monday.

The men's pursuit team, in fact, set an Olympic and world record in the first round.

For the US, Jennie Reed was the only cyclist to advance on the day. The Kirkland, Washington, resident and Issaquah High School grad will race in the women's sprint quarterfinals on Monday ...   more »

The cycling team from Great Britain continues to blow away the competition at the Laoshan Velodome in the Beijing Olympics, following on the heels of successes in women's road cycling.

The Brits medalled in all three contests on Saturday, winning two of them outright. The British won the men's team sprint on Friday as well.

In the second day of competition at the track, Chris Hoy already has multiple gold medals. ...   more »

Dreams of Olympic gold medals died in the first rounds of their respective races for US cyclists Taylor Phinney and Sarah Hammer at the Beijing Olympics on Saturday.

Neither track cyclist advanced to the final round of the individual pursuit at the Laoshan Velodrome.

Bradley Wiggins of Great Britain won the gold medal in men's 4000 meter individual pursuit, setting an Olympic record along the way. Hayden Rouston of New Zealand and Steven Burke of Great Britain scored silver and bronze ...   more »

US track cyclist Taylor Phinney's dreams for an Olympic gold medal continue as he qualified for the men's individual pursuit and advances to the first round.

Another US cyclist, Sarah Hammer, qualified for the women's individual pursuit and also advances for next round to be held on Saturday.

Phinney, 18, is the son of Davis Phinney and Connie Carpenter-Phinney, both Olympic medal holders in cycling. He's been racing track for about a year. ...   more »

The Laoshan Velodrome showdown between Great Britain and France ended Friday with the Brits winning the Men's Team Sprint Olympic gold medal.

The German team beat Australia by a fraction of a second to take the bronze.

The US team qualified for the first round after the race jury dinged Poland for deliberately riding on the blue band during the ...   more »

Switzerland's Fabian Cancellara, right, proved it's possible to medal in both road cycling events at the Beijing Olympics by winning the gold medal in the individual time trial.

The 29-year-old made a dazzling dash to the finish in Saturday's road race to capture the bronze in that event.

Team USA's Levi Leipheimer held off Alberto Contador (his teammate during the regular season) to secure the bronze medal in the 29.4-mile race. Sweden's Gustav Larsson finished 2nd.

The other US cyclist, David Zabriskie, was in fourth place when he crossed the finish line earlier in the time trial, but his placement dropped to 12th as latter riders came in ...   more »

Kristin Armstrong won the gold medal in the women's individual time trial last night and became the first US woman ever to win the event at the Olympic Games.

It was the US team's first medal in cycling at the Beijing games.

The 35-year-old cyclist from Boise, Idaho, headed down the platform with a determined look and caught up with the two previous starters by the finish line. That's a four-minute margin.

"This is the most amazing day of my life," Armstrong said after the time trial. She mentioned several times that she credited her coaches for her accomplishment and being able to race with "very light equipment." She rides a Cervelo time trial bike ...   more »