Cycling
STUDENT BACKGROUND
Have you ever ridden a bike? Maybe you own one. While the bicycle is used by millions of people around the world as a means of transport, it is also used for recreation, or in sports such as triathlons, track cycling, BMX or mountain bike competitions. Cycling is one of the fastest growing sports in the world and one of the toughest events at the Olympic Games. Cyclists must have incredible levels of fitness and stamina.
There are three types of competition for cycling at the Olympic Games - track (in an arena or velodrome), road and mountain bike.
Races include pursuits, time trials, and sprints.
Womens' Road Race - Olympic Games Atlanta 1996 (Allsport)
DID YOU KNOW?
Cycling has featured at the Olympics since the first modern Games in 1896. A famous early Olympic cyclist was the Australian Edgar 'Dunc' Gray who won gold at the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics. The Olympic velodrome in Sydney was named after him.
Cycling is a sport that attracts as much interest in the state-of-the-art bikes as the athletes. Spectators are sometimes kept waiting until the last minute to know what sort of high-tech bike the riders will use.
The following information will help you find out more about bikes in general and racing bikes such as those that will be used in the Beijing 2008 Olympics.
Minerals and metals are essential to the making of a bike, especially a really fast one. Most of the materials used in the bike first started out as rocks in the ground. These rocks contain minerals that can be mined, then processed into metals. Bikes are made up mostly of metals and carbon fibre as you will soon find out!
Information Sheets
Interesting facts and pictures about cycling and Australian cyclists
www.cycling.org.auStudent Activities
Bike Bits (Looks at the use of minerals and metals in everyday bikes)
Balancing Act (Looks at the relationship between properties and uses of materials)
Lean, Mean Cycling Machine (Looks at the special metals in an Olympic racing bike)