2020 / 2021 Olympic Cycling Racing Discussion

But then how should the slots be decided?
Seems pretty straight forward now. Strongest nations get spot. The nations decide who is their strongest Athlete. Strongest TTers get an extra spot from the worlds.

Yeah, I found it interesting how many of the media outlets had to build the “story” up of Pidcock gaining qualification.

He has enough of a story being such an incredible talent, but he very much lucked into the spot. Imagine if the GB hadn’t been given a spot. I wonder if he’d have raced the road race :man_shrugging:.

Olympic qualifying always has been and will be a mess. I don’t think there is a right system, but there have certainly been many wrong ones…

Agreed. At least they’ve moved away from the model that had rowers zig zagging up the course, or swimmers not being able to complete their event properly.

There’s always going to be someone advantaged/disadvantaged.

This sucked to watch:

Hope Connor heals up quickly.

Not much love for BMX’ing here?

brutal crash…any update on his condition?

Nothing broken, concussion very likely was last I read. He was knocked out for a bit.

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Wow. If he didn’t break anything, he sure is lucky. You could see him ragdoll almost as soon as he hit the dirt. What a scary crash. Surprised it didn’t take out more of the field.

That and BMX guys are pretty muscular… which also helps when crashing. It’s as much armor sometimes as it is strength. I know Connor has a 2300w+ sprint

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:flushed:

I can’t even break 4 digits yet…

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Anyone got any insight into how bmx riders train? Just can’t see them getting on a road bike for endurance for some reason! It’s great to watch. If I wasn’t 40 I would fancy one!

I have always wondered this. BMX fascinates me although I don’t know anything about it!

My guess is that there would be a pretty big weight training/plyometrics component to it. The accelerations needed must be insane.
Might be similar to track sprinters- I know a couple of 50 & 100m girls and I don’t think I’ve ever seen them run more than a couple of kilometers at once, which makes me realize how outside of my own understanding that kind of thing is.

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Anyone got any insight into how bmx riders train? Just can’t see them getting on a road bike for endurance for some reason! It’s great to watch. If I wasn’t 40 I would fancy one!

I think I remember Coach Jonathan did a podcast with a professional female BMXer, but I can’t find it and I forget the athlete’s name. If you search, you might have better luck uncovering it than I did.

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Weight training, explosive plyometrics, sprint training (watt bikes and the like), pump tracks, and honestly just a lot of laps. Really the best way to train for BMX is to just do it.

Connor is a big guy… like 6’ , 200lbs.

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This doesn’t necessarily answer your question, but fresh Olympic champions Niek Kimmann is also the (inofficial) Garden hour world record holder. So… train by digging?

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Before the track cycling gets underway tomorrow - just seen a piece on the new Team GB track bike here - A closer look at the Lotus x Hope HB.T: Team GB's radical track bike at the Tokyo Olympics | Cyclingnews

Really interesting concept of the hugely flared forks and seatstays to guide air-flow…

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Track Cycling :ok_hand:.

How massive do the chainrings look on the girls bikes. I wonder if they are running huge front rings, or if it’s that their bikes are small.

Not super familiar with track, but I think it’s a size thing at least to some extent- I ride a XS ladies frame, so a lot of larger bikes look oddly proportioned to me. :joy:

Both.

Geez the Aussie guy’s bike just fell apart!

Danes look good though, it will be interesting when the Brits get onto the track.

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