BMX

[ferret]

I've watched a few of the races now in between woodworm hunting, although it looks like fun and is obviously fast, why do they have to ride such small bikes, it's the one thing that puts me off, I just can't take it seriously because of that, but I doubt that will have any impact on the sport

[citoyen]

There is a "cruiser" class, in which they use bikes with 24" wheels, but they don't feature it in the limpics.

d.

[Biggsy]

The smaller the bike, the more you can chuck it around.

Riding any bike that's "too small" is a lot of fun... for a couple of minutes.

[David Martin]

The smaller the bike, the more you can chuck it around.

Riding any bike that's "too small" is a lot of fun... for a couple of minutes.

Is that why a race only lasts about 40 seconds?

[mattc]

That's about the same time our Sprint kayak dude took to win. I have to say, the BMXers packed a lot more into the 40 seconds!

[Arch]

That's about the same time our Sprint kayak dude took to win. I have to say, the BMXers packed a lot more into the 40 seconds!

I dunno, they seem to be freewheeling most of the time...

 

[Jaded]

From what I saw of it they could have saved all that effort by drawing straws.

[teethgrinder]

From what I saw of it they could have saved all that effort by drawing straws.

I agree. Reading this thread inspired me to watch it. I was thinking that Regulator was being a sourpuss. It does look like a lot of fun and very tough. But I agree with Regulator on this one. It's more of a lottery than test of fitness and even the commentators were saying the same. I don't think that luck should be the basis of an Olympic sport.
It would be good if it got people into BMXing though.

[Jakob]

From what I saw of it they could have saved all that effort by drawing straws.

Not really. One of the women favourite  took gold and the previous Olympic (and world?) champion took the mens gold,  after the commentators repeatedly said that he always came through when it counted.

[David Martin]

The early rounds being multiples of runs mean that the best riders will be in the final. Then it seems to be very close.

[bikenrrd]

If they ran the final like the heats, with 3 rounds, then it would remove a lot of the "lottery" feel to it.  It wouldn't be quite as exciting, though!