Paul Challen - Bicycle Racing

Published in 2015 by The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc.
29 East 21st Street, New York, NY 10010

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication-Data

Challen, Paul.

Bicycle racing / by Paul Challen.

p. cm. (The checkered ag)

Includes index.

ISBN 978-1-4994-0176-9 (pbk.)

ISBN 978-1-4994-0135-6 (6-pack)

ISBN 978-1-4994-0162-2 (library binding)
1. Bicycle racing Juvenile literature. I. Challen, Paul C. (Paul Clarence), 1967-. II. Title.
GV1049.C425 2015
796.6d23

Copyright 2015 by The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc.

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What Is Bicycle Racing?

Bicycle racing is a fast-paced, exciting sport. Racers need to be fit and smart. Successful cyclists train very hard for competition. Races are popular among both men and women, and racers from around the world compete in events, including in the Summer Olympic Games.

There are three main kinds of bicycle racing, depending on where the races are held. Road races take place on public roads and streets. Track races are held on tracks that have been specially built for cycling competition. Off-roadraces happen on trails in the woods, up and down mountains, and in other natural settings.

Off-road races challenge riders with boulders, streams, and other obstacles.

Race Organizers

Racing around the world is governed by the UCI, or Union Cycliste Internationale (French for International Cycling Union). The UCI sets the rules for competitive cycling, and holds world championships in the various cycling disciplines.

The UCI also built a World Cycling Center at its headquarters in Aigle, Switzerland. Riders from many countries train there with professional coaches. The center has an Olympic style BMX track and a 200m (1/8 mile) track.

FAST FACT

When the modern Olympic Games were first held in Athens, Greece, on April 6, 1896, cycling was one of the original nine sports that made up the multi-sport competition.

Road races are a test of speed and endurance.

Track races require speed and strategy to win.

History of Bicycle Racing

The first modern bicycles started to appear in the early 1800s. As soon as people started riding bikes, they started racing them as well!

The frames on early bikes were heavy, and early bike tires were quite primitive. The invention of the air-filled pneumatic tire helped cyclists go faster than ever before. The first race in which riders rode bikes with pneumatic tires happened in 1889.

The popularity of the high-wheeler helped create cycling as a sport.

This poster printed in 1895 shows an early bicycle race.

Popular Beginnings

At the start of the twentieth century, Americans turned out to watch track cycling races in great numbers. At the time it was the most popular sport in America. In Europe, however, road cycling was more popular, and there was a long tradition of races between cities. Even today, races like the Paris-Roubaix in France and the Liege-Bastogne-Liege race in Belgium are still held. The greatest of all road races, the Tour de France, began in 1903.

Much later on, in the 1970s, riders in northern California began racing on mountain trails, and mountain biking was born. Another California-born form of bike racing, bicycle motocross, better known as BMX, also started around this time.

GROUNDBREAKER

One of the great early stars of American track cycling was Marshall Major Taylor. He won the world 1-mile (1.6 km) track championship in 1899, becoming the second African American in any sport to be a world champion. Taylor is also known today for his fight against racial discrimination.

Marshall Taylor set several world records during his 16 years of cycling competition.

On the Road

Road cycling is bicycle racing on any kind of paved road. Roads can include at city streets, steep and dangerous mountains, or rolling roads through the countryside.

Examples of road races include stage races, time trials, omniums, and criteriums. In the Summer Olympic Games, there are two road race events, a long road race and a time trial.

Road racers must be able to race in bad conditions.The womens road race at the 2012 Summer Olympics was held under heavy rain.