Biking Bis - Bicycle Touring and More

France and Germany sizzle, US fizzles, in Olympic mountain biking

Gene Bisbee — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 13:20:33 -0700

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 ...

Three medals for US at Olympic BMX finals

Gene Bisbee — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 20:05:50 -0700

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...

US advances 3 men and 1 woman to BMX semifinals

Gene Bisbee — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 19:08:00 -0700

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

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 ...

Great Britain wins 7 golds in track cycling; 3 for Chris Hoy

Gene Bisbee — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 11:32:17 -0700

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 ....

Netherland's Marianne Vos wins women's points gold; Sarah Hammer crashes out

Gene Bisbee — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 07:18:57 -0700

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...

Great Britain wins men's team pursuit; Jennie Reed not in finals

Gene Bisbee — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 06:37:00 -0700

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 ...

Great Britain retains stranglehold on Olympic track cycling events

Gene Bisbee — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 08:45:15 -0700

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 ...

Great Britain dominates track cycling in first two days

Gene Bisbee — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 07:30:29 -0700

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. ...

Taylor Phinney and Sarah Hammer miss finals in Beijing Olympics

Gene Bisbee — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 06:45:56 -0700

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 ...

Taylor Phinney and Sarah Hammer qualify for individual pursuit

Gene Bisbee — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 07:33:45 -0700

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. ...