Cycling

Road races are held outdoors between towns or around
a course for a number of laps. Thousands of cyclists
may races

 Cycling, or bicycle racing, is one of the most popular sports in the world. Cycling is especially popular in Eu­rope where millions of fans follow the feats of great cy­clists. Cycling has been an event in the Olympic Games since the modern games originated in 1896. There are three chief kinds of cycling—track races, road races, and motocross races. Each kind requires a distinct type of bicycle.

Track races are held on oval tracks called velo­dromes. On most cycling tracks, both ends of the track slope inward at a steep angle. Velodromes may be lo­cated indoors or outside. Most championship events take place outdoors on tracks ranging from 250 to 500 metres. Indoor tracks range from 185 to 200 metres.

Cycling, or bicycle racing, is one
of the most popular sports in the world.

Championship events are held for individuals and for teams of two or four cyclists. These races can be individ­ual sprints (short races) as short as 800 metres or team races 100 kilometres long. Some races are time trials, in which racers are timed over a set distance. A pursuit is a special kind of time trial that starts with two individuals or teams at opposite sides of the track. The winner is the individual or team that finishes the course first or passes an opponent before the race ends.

Bicycle Road Racing 

A track bicycle has no brakes and only one gear. The cyclist slows down or stops the bike by pushing back on the pedals. The cyclist may also press a gloved hand against the front tyre to stop.

Road races are the original, and most popular, forms of cycling. Hundreds of cyclists may start a race. They cycle over a course between two towns, or around a specific route for a set number of laps.

Cycling is especially popular in Eu­rope
where millions of fans follow the
feats of great cy­clists. 

The most popular road race is the annual Tour de France in which more than 100 contestants race through Europe. The Tour lasts about 24 days and covers about 4,000 kilometres. The distance is divided into sections called stages. Cyclists are timed in each stage. The cy­clist who completes all the stages in the lowest total time is the winner.

Get Out And Get Cycling

The bicycles used in road races have frames made of special lightweight alloy tubing. They have brakes and handmade narrow tyres. These bicycles have a gear sys­tem that includes a derailleur, a mechanism that shifts the bicycle chain from one gear to another.

Bicycle motocross races became popular in the 1970s, especially among young people. The races are often called BMXbicycle moXo-cross). They are held on dirt tracks less than 400 metres long. The tracks have many bumps and sharp turns. The cyclists ride bicycles that have small wheels and wide tyres to help prevent them from slipping in the turns. Bicycle motocross rac­ers wear hard helmets and padded clothing for protec­tion against falls, which occur frequently. See also Bicycle; Olympic Games (table: Cycling).