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They're going on about riders losing their spleens all the time.

Don't they have body armour to protect their abdomens?
 
gabi said:
Why the roll-eyes? If they want to progress the sport surely they should embrace sport science like every single other sport in the olympics.
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its got a long standing culture/identity thing forged outside of mainstream recognition and the olympics.
 
Apparently one of the Australians was cranking hard. No wonder there's been so many crashes.
 
Just caught up.

Amazing rides from Phillips and Fields. Highlight for me, Strombergs winning moto 3.

The hosepipe I assume is to keep the track from being too dusty and loose. One of the problems with tracks like this is there's so much tarmac so riders tends to go for very slick tyres, pick up too much dust and they slip out in the turns.

Semis and finals tomorrow should be mint.
 
gabi said:
they wear shit clothes dont they. why not lycra?
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The short answer is there's no point. In BMX there are no prizes for doing the fastest time. The individual time trials are just seeding runs. There are no time trial medals and no speed records to aim for. And there are no endurance events in which you might want an aero advantage to conserve your energy.

The long answer is nerdy...

Clothing rules are set by the UCI whose main interest in all things is commercial, i.e. feathering their own nest. They say that lycra is banned. Shirts must be long sleeved and sufficiently baggy for the judge to be able to pinch 3cm of spare fabric without stretching it. Trousers must be made of tear proof fabric, with 6 cm of spare fabric. Shorts can be worn if you wear knee protectors.

As other posters have said, people involved in BMX approve because they say that kids think lycra is uncool. A dorky look would supposedly discourage them from taking up the sport. Plus the BMX clothing companies will have leaned on the UCI because they want to carry on selling baggies and not lose market share to the cheapo lycra stuff from Lidl.

There's also a safety argument. Body armour is optional (unless you're wearing shorts.) Baggies have room for armour underneath and you can't tell which of the Olympic competitors are wearing it. Some don't, presumably because they don't want the inertia of the armour taking the edge off their acceleration. If lycra was allowed everyone would wear it in order to get to the first corner first, which is the best way to win. They wouldn't wear any armour because that would negate the aero advantage of the lycra. Injuries would increase, youngsters would start wearing lycra without armour...then you'd get pressure to have a compulsory armour rule.

It would be interesting to see what would happen if everyone wore lycra - maybe more pile-ups at turn 1? They're already doing 42 mph at the bottom of the ramp and carrying so much speed into the turn that they have to stick close to the outside. Two abreast seems to work, but three is pushing it. If they got an extra 3 or 4 mph from lycra maybe they'd have to go single file right on the edge.

Btw, don't believe that all these superduper Team GB bikes are the fastest and that the Olympics is the ultimate. All the really quick stuff has been banned for being "unsafe". The real reason is that the Tour de France is the industry's best marketing opportunity so they want the pros to use kit which is not so outlandish or expensive that it can't be flogged in Halfords. The bike which Boardman got gold on at Barcelona in 92 was banned afterwards just for looking different:

monocoque.jpg


The industry didn't want to try flogging the monocoque frame, so the UCI decreed that frames should be made of tubes, the way it's been done since 1876 when the new-fangled bicycle chain enabled the switch from the penny farthing to a diamond frame with two equal sized wheels, i.e. what we have now. More here http://owntheroad.cc/tag/funny-bikes/page/2/

Gears are another oddity. The pros are so fit that even in the mountains they haven't had any use for extra gears since the 6 or 7 speed bikes of the eighties. But the industry ensures that every few years an extra speed is added so that all the gear freaks can be sold a new bike. Now we have 11 speeds, requiring ultrathin chains which need replacing more often and snapped at the start of an Olympic event the other day ruining the rider's chances. He would have been better off with an 8 speed bike, as would the rest of us.

If it weren't for the UCI Olympic time trial bikes would look like this thing, which has done 83 mph on the flat.

varnatempest.jpg


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/
 
Great stuff in the afternoon's session too, Shanaze looking the business so far. As as spectator sport it really takes some beating.
 
I've never watched BMX racing before,
The wheels are so tiny and where do you fit your shopping basket?
But fuck me it's dangerous!!:D
 
There's a great shot from underneath as they all fly over a jump which is straight out of the BMX chase at the end of E.T.
 
Paisa Power!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Golllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllld!
 
Double wank. This shouldn't be in the Olympics. It's so random you might as well have stone, paper, scissors. Get rid of this rubbish and bring back the individual sprint and the Madison.
 
Frumious B. said:
Double wank. This shouldn't be in the Olympics. It's so random you might as well have stone, paper, scissors. Get rid of this rubbish and bring back the individual sprint and the Madison.
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Did you mean the individual wallpaper race, I mean pursuit?
Agree with the madison and we should have the elimination race as a medal.
Disappointed by the BMX. is better with engines.
 
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