It is said that the Chinese began to use cartwheels 2 during the Shang Dynasty or even earlier, about 6,000 years ago. People living in Mesopotamian area 3 began to utilize cartwheels with spokes 4 as a mode of transportation over 4,000 years ago.
The original bicycle is said to have been developed in the late 1700s by a French aristocrat 5. It had no pedals or steering wheel. The wheel was pushed forward with the rider’s legs against the ground. It is said that in 1817, a German baron 6 invented a “running machine” by adding a steerable front wheel 7 to help him to move more quickly around his forests. Later it became a fashionable toy for the upper classes in Paris and London. It was not until the 1860s, Ernest Michaux 8, a Frenchman, added pedals to the front wheel, creating a new means of propelling the rider forward. This prototype of bicycle has remained even today.
Wang: I assume that there were no cycling events at the ancient Olympic Games. Do you know when cycling was first included in the modern Olympics?
John: Well, even though bicycle racing in the late 1800s became quite popular in England and France, it wasn誸 until 1896 that cycling became an official Olympic sport.
Wang: You mean the first modern Olympics in Athens in 1896?
John: Yes.
Wang: How many cycling events were there?
John: Not many. Only road racing 9 and track cycling 10 were included in early days. Nowadays, there are three different kinds of cycling in the Olympics.
Wang: What is the third one? Mountain biking 11 ?
John: Hey, how did you know?
Wang: I have been watching TV on sports about mountain biking lately. It looks so fun and so challenging!
John: Well, mountain biking first started in California in the 1970s as a form of recreation 12 . People like to ride their mountain bikes through some rugged mountain terrain 13 and have some fun. Some say that’s the best way to get some exercise too.
Wang: It looks fun too. When did mountain biking become an Olympic event? How far are the race courses? Do you know?
John: Mountain biking debuted at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996. Normally men will race between 40 and 50 kilometers and the women will race between 30 to 40 kilometers. But, Wang, did you know that the actual race distance is not determined beforehand until the night before the race?
Wang: Does it have something to do with the weather?
John: Yes, you know the race course is pretty rough. It includes some mountainous areas, some very narrow dirt roads with up hills, down hills, and even some wooded areas.
Wang: It sounds really tough. How about track cycling? I’ve heard that it is more complicated than the other events.
John: Track cycling has short, medium and long distance events, and it is not just speed that is important in track cycling. All competition takes place in a velodrome 14 , which is banked at an angle of 42 degrees on the ends and 12.4 degrees on the straightaway. Some of the events, such as the sprint 15 , can involve some pretty elaborate tactics 16 .
Wang: I heard the TV sport announcer 17 constantly use the word pursuit 18 during the track cycling. I am not quite sure what it means. How long is the course? It seems very long.
John: Well, the men’s pursuit is raced over 4 km and the women’s race is 3 km. The competitors begin the race on opposite sides of the track, and the rider can win by either catching up to his or her opponent or recording the fastest time.
Wang: I know that road cycling is the most popular cycling competition worldwide. Is the Tour de France 19 a road race?
John: Yes, in the first modern Olympics which took place in 1896, the competitors raced 87 kilometers over two laps of the marathon course.
Wang: Did women compete? I thought the women’s competition was part of the road cycling race.
John: Yes, but women did not compete in cycling events at the Olympics until 1984 in Los Angeles, and it was not until 1996 that women competed in the time trial 20.
Wang: So now women can participate in the road race and time trial as well?
John: Yes, now there are four events in the Olympic road-racing program: men’s and women’s road race and men’s and women’s time trials.
Wang: What are the differences as far as distances are concerned between the men’s and women’s race?
John: Well, the men’s road race covers 230-250 km and the women’s distance is much shorter. It is 100-140 km. The winner is the one who finishes first.
Wang: How about the time trials?
John: For time trials, the distance is 40-50 km for men and 20-30 km for women. The competitors or the riders, who start at 90-second intervals, race against the clock 21 not each other.
Wang: Cycling sounds so interesting. It may take me a while to learn all about it.
John: Cycling must be very popular in China. After all, China is a country with over 400 millions bicycles.
Wang: Cycling has been a major form of transportation for decades in China. But as a competitive sport, it has developed rather late. Have you heard the term Tour de Qinghai Lake 22 ?
John: No, what about it?
Wang: That’s China’s version of Tour de France, and it is the biggest cycling race in China. As cycling is developing at such an unprecedented speed in China, this race has already entered its third year in Qinghai Province this year.
John: I read an article in the newspaper just yesterday that the Executive Board 23 of the International Olympic Committee has recently stipulated 24 that the men’s and women’s BMX 25 cycling events will be added to the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. What is BMX anyway?
Wang: BMX refers to “bikemoto-cross.” It’s one of the most popular sports among young athletes in China nowadays.
1. cycling: 自行车运动，这里指的是自行车运动比赛。
2. cartwheel: 车轮。
3. Mesopotamian area: 美索不达米亚地区，专指西南亚底格里斯河和幼发拉底河之间的平原流域。
4. spoke: 车轮之间的辐条。
5. aristocrat: 贵族阶层，贵族。
6. baron: 男爵。
7. a steerable front wheel: 可以操纵的前轮。
8. Ernest Michaux: 法国人称他为“自行车之父”（Father of the Bicycle）。
9. road racing: 公路自行车赛。
10. track cycling: 场地自行车赛。
11. mountain biking: 山地自行车赛。
12. a form of recreation: 休闲活动的一种。
13. rugged mountain terrain: 崎岖不平的山区。
14. velodrome: 一种特殊设计的椭圆形自行车赛车场。
15. sprint: （自行车的）追逐赛。
16. some pretty elaborate tactics: 一些相当复杂的技巧。
17. TV sport announcer: 电视体育节目主持人。
18. pursuit: （自行车的）争先赛。
19. Tour de France: 环法自行车赛，每年7月底在法国举行，是当今世界上最负盛名的公路自行车赛。
20. time trial: 计时赛。
21. race against the clock: 此处指选手们参加的是计时赛而不是追逐赛。
22. Tour de Qinghai Lake: “环青海湖国际公路自行车赛”，简称“环湖赛”。2002年7月27日至8月2日首次举行，现每年7月到8月间在青海省举行，是中国目前级别最高的国际自行车比赛，也是世界上海拔最高、最具挑战性的国际公路自行车赛。
23. Executive Board: （国际奥林匹克委员会的）执行委员会。
24. stipulate: 规定，限定。
25. BMX: “bikemoto-cross” 或“bicycle moto-cross”的缩写，是小轮车运动的简称。上个世纪60年代在美国的加州兴起，骑法按场地的不同分为5类，其中“原始泥地竞速”已列为2008年北京奥运的项目。
* undulating: 表面呈波浪形的。
Did You Know?
The Olympic cycling competition features three disciplines road racing, track racing and mountain biking.
Road cycling is the original and the most popular Olympic cycling competition. Track cycling is racing in a velodrome, or a smooth oval track; and the bikes have no brakes. Mountain biking is held on race courses comprising undulating* and very narrow dirt trails over various obstacles. Unlike road and track cycling, the mountain bike riders receive no outside assistance during the race. They have to make all repairs to their bikes themselves.
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