Cycling in the 2012 Olympics (spoilers allowed)

[BikeDutchess]

@lovelygamer - yes but NBC had been boasting about carrying the Olympic action "live" - if that had been true for all time zones, on-line news feeds etc wouldn't have mattered.

(I'll stop whining now! )

[colby]

I too love the back stories. I want to know what made this person into an athlete. It also inspired me to do even more in my pursuit of fitness.

I loved the USA story featured today in the road race. Not everyone is born an Olympic athlete! From wall street banker to Olympic cyclist. You go girl (Evelyn Stevens).

The womens road race was great. Hated the rain, and that Stevens didn't get up in that lead pack with Vos. Vos was SO strong for the whole 3.5 hours.

Great race.

I found it much more fun to watch than the mens race and I'm so glad my NBC feed showed the entire race! I was amazed there wasn't more crashing with how hard the rain was coming down. All of the repeated attacks and response from the peloton, the way the race thinned out the longer it went on, and finally the attack that broke away. I was sad to see the American drop from the pack, but what an awesome finish.

One of the announcers at one point said (I don't recall of which athlete, there are so many that were cross-discipline) "if she were a man, she would be famous." So true.

[Koronin]

+1 on redrhodie and koronin

I like the medal/anthem ceremonies, but if its focused on the US, not so much. The athlete profiles should be online, on demand features, not an interruption from live coverage. [But then, how would NBC justify sending so many people to London, including several talking heads that do not know about any sport?]

Watching the women's race now.

ETA: It seems Specialized "uniformed" its riders' bikes, both in the men's and the women's races -- anyone riding a Specialized bike has a bright red one.

Putting that stuff on line seems like a great idea to me. I'll change the channel when those things come and hope I change it back in time to watch an actual event. I turn the Olympics on to watch the events not the stupid stories. Personally I don't think they need to send so many people over in the first place. They need 3 to 4 anchor people to be the inbetween to go to and from different events and that's it. Then they need all the individual sport announcers.

[hebe]

I loved the womens race today, amazing riding and even more so given the dreadful weather. Such an inspiration.

I was watching the "live" coverage on my laptop, but still ended up getting spoilers as the video dropped and restarted a few times and I stupidly updated twitter on my phone a few minutes before the end. Of course everyone watching on the tv already knew the ending.

[malkin]

I liked seeing all the spectators who watched the road races "for free."

Then, I remember that for the LA Olympics I got to do the same thing!

[pll]

Just finished watching the women's road race. It took a lot of discipline to avoid looking at any cycling related web site (including this one)... loved the the outburst of emotion at the end. What crummy weather for a ride of any kind. Epic! Marianne Vos is a monster.

[Crankin]

What a finish! I wish Evie Stevens had been on the podium, but it was still exciting. I can't imagine racing in that rain.
Lovely Gamer, Stevens did just start racing, but she was a star player on a couple of HS sports teams and comes from a very athletic family. DS told me his whole HS Facebook group was abuzz w/ pride today when we spoke.

[ny biker]

In today's electronic age I find it impossible not to know ahead of time. London is five hours ahead of us in the east and all of my phone news apps, twitter and facebook always have the results immediately when they happen.

I set up lists in twitter, including one for bike-related people, one for Formula 1 and one for "no spoilers." If I want to avoid knowing the outcome of a bike or F1 race, I only check the no spoilers list. (Cyclists and F1 drivers tend to be fans of each others' sports, so I have to avoid both for either type of race.)

And I just don't check facebook until I've seen the race.

It's not foolproof, but it generally works for me.

I really don't understand why there is no audience for women's cycling -- there's really no difference from the men's racing, so I would think anyone interested in one would also follow the other.

One thing I noticed in both races was that teammates wore the same jersey and shorts but did not necessarily use the same helmet and bike brands. I wonder how that worked. Maybe they're allowed to choose, and they tend to choose their pro sponsors?

[pll]

I really don't understand why there is no audience for women's cycling -- there's really no difference from the men's racing, so I would think anyone interested in one would also follow the other.

One thing I noticed in both races was that teammates wore the same jersey and shorts but did not necessarily use the same helmet and bike brands. I wonder how that worked. Maybe they're allowed to choose, and they tend to choose their pro sponsors?

They tend to use the bike and helmet of their pro teams. I believe it might be a sponsoring requirement, but I'm not 100% sure.

The women's race was exciting. Since the races are less than 150km, they are more aggressive and keep attacking. That's why Sean Kelly advocates for 120km stages in the grand tours, as opposed to stages with over 200km.

[lovelygamer]

What a finish! I wish Evie Stevens had been on the podium, but it was still exciting. I can't imagine racing in that rain.
Lovely Gamer, Stevens did just start racing, but she was a star player on a couple of HS sports teams and comes from a very athletic family. DS told me his whole HS Facebook group was abuzz w/ pride today when we spoke.

Oh that's right, her sister races too right? I think the story said her first race was with her sister. She's just too cute.

I was a bit confused keeping up with who was who in the road race. They didn't show enough pointers with the names on them for me and the riders didn't seem to wear the same outfit or helmet as their partners from the same country, or did they? Vos was aggressive the entire race, just amazing. This is my first women's road race I have watched-ever. I loved it!

[Koronin]

I wonder if the biggest reason there weren't as many people for the women's road was was the weather.

[Koronin]

Well they finally showed someone else's anthem. The French anthem for the men's 4X100 freestyle relay.

[WindingRoad]

That women's road race was awesome! I don't understand why people wouldn't enjoy watching that either.

[lovelygamer]

I wonder if the biggest reason there weren't as many people for the women's road was was the weather.

I bet so. I know I am a 'no rain' kind of girl. I'll cancel most anything if it involves me being in the rain.

[pll]

I was a bit confused keeping up with who was who in the road race. They didn't show enough pointers with the names on them for me and the riders didn't seem to wear the same outfit or helmet as their partners from the same country, or did they? Vos was aggressive the entire race, just amazing. This is my first women's road race I have watched-ever. I loved it!

The coverage was bad. I posted a link to an article in The Guardian where the BBC blames a company affiliated to the IOC for it. That company was blaming Twitter for the lack of information yesterday...

The teams wear the same jersey and shorts, but the teams are smaller. In races and stage races, you would see teams of 9. In the Olympics, the format is more restrictive in the number and the criteria to qualify. Great Britain, the US, the Netherlands had 4 women each in their team. Other teams had 3 (e.g. Brazil), 2 and even just 1. Sometimes sponsors require the riders to use their team bikes (or a bike provided by the sponsor), and it seems the same goes for helmets. Most national cycling federations are probably poor, so this works well for most countries. In the worlds, you will see the same.

I was looking through the pictures from yesterday and it seems most of the riders of Lululemon Specialized were using red helmets and the bright red bike: Evie Stevens (US), Ina Teutenberg (Germany), Clara Hughes (Canada), Emilia Fahlin (Sweden)... Ellen Van Dijk (Netherlands) was not -- she had a black S-Worlks.