Cycling.

« gather to cheer the riders as they pedal by on each lap.

Unlike stage racing and time trialing, the emphasis in a criterium is on speed and bike handling rather thanendurance. Track racing is done in a stadium-like arena called a velodrome. A modern velodrome is an oval track with steeply banked corners that facilitate high speed.

Velodromes can be enclosed or open-air, and the tracks are constructed of wood or concrete.

Popular in Europe and the United States at the beginning of the 20th century, trackracing is the primary type of Olympic cycling competition.

Olympic track events include the match sprint, individual and team pursuit, kilometer time trial, and pointsrace. Six-day races were a type of track race in which teams cycled around a velodrome nonstop for six days.

One rider from each team had to be on the track at all times,and the team covering the most cumulative distance won.

During the 1910s and 1920s, six-day track races drew thousands of spectators to New York City's MadisonSquare Garden. Mountain Bike RacerA mountain biker makes a sharp turn during a downhill race.

Competitive mountain biking, which became an Olympicsport in 1996, has grown rapidly in popularity.Courtesy of Solidfoto.com The newest, fastest-growing type of bicycle competition is off-road racing on mountain bikes.

The sport started in the early 1980s when cyclists in Marin County,California, biked down mountain trails.

Today, off-road races are usually held on backwoods trails and roads and on dirt paths.

Racing formats include cross-country,downhill, downhill slalom, and hillclimbs.

National and world championships are held annually.

Cross-country mountain bike racing was chosen to debut as an Olympicsport at the Summer Games in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1996. BMX racing, or bicycle motocross, was started in California in the late 1960s by children and teenagers imitating dirt bike motorcycle racing.

Bicycle motocross takesplace on indoor or outdoor dirt tracks typically between 213 and 396 m (700 and 1300 ft) long.

Packs of riders careen around tight turns and jump over ramps andhills.

BMX racing supported a professional circuit during its peak in the 1980s then became a training ground for increasingly lucrative mountain bike racing. III RACING EQUIPMENT Road BicycleBicycles come in many shapes and forms.

The road bicycle seen here can be used for racing, touring, and recreationalriding.

Most road bicycles have a lightweight frame, narrow rims and tires, and rounded handlebars so that the rider canlean forward in an aerodynamic position.© Microsoft Corporation.

All Rights Reserved. Each type of cycling requires a specific type of bicycle.

Road racing bikes have lightweight frames usually built of steel, aluminum, titanium, or carbon fiber.

They areequipped with downward curving handlebars, thin high-pressure tires, narrow saddles, brakes, and a front and rear derailleur that shifts the chain through as many as16 different gear combinations.

The bikes' overall lightness (8 to 10 kg/18 to 23 lbs) and short wheelbase encourage speed and quick handling. Track bikes are similar in appearance and construction to road racing bicycles, except that they lack brakes, have no variable gear mechanism, and weigh about 7 to 9kg (about 15 to 20 lbs).

Mountain bikes are built to withstand the rigorous conditions of off-road riding.

Although their frames are commonly constructed of the samematerials as other racing bikes, they have sturdier tubing.

Mountain bikes are equipped with straight handlebars; wide, low-pressure, knobby tires; powerful brakes;and bar-mounted shift levers controlling up to 24 gears.

Many mountain bikes also have some type of front or rear suspension (sometimes both) to cushion the rideragainst trail shock.. »