What's going on here?

2008-08-26T17:15:00.000-07:00

Basically, I was so whipped up by the Olympic BMX race, that I was posting messages non-stop about it on the websites that I frequent. But frankly, I found that the actual reporting on the race was lacking. I got a little excited about that, and decided that I could do better when the next Olympic BMX race rolls around...so I grabbed domain name and started a blog.

Seems a little rash, as I realize that I've had a blog for like a year and have hardly managed to post to it once a month. Oh well, at least I only paid for the domain name for 1 year... we'll see if it makes it that far.

Meanwhile, my plan is to uncover some of the behind-the-scenes stories about the Beijing race - stuff that should have been reported by others. We'll see where it goes. Thanks for looking.

Beijing 2008 Recap

2008-08-24T07:43:00.000-07:00

BMX is in the Olympics!

Honestly, I was sooooo pessimistic about BMX at Beijing. I just felt something was going to mess things up. Either the track would suck, the racers would crack under the pressure, there would be massive crashes, or the heat or the smog would affect the racers, or Olympic officials would screw things up, something.

But after getting to watch the Quarterfinal action on NBC, I realized, it was happening! And it was awesome! An awesome starting hill straight out of RAD - who would have thunk that Hell Track was actually so far ahead of its time?

Thank you to Rob Jones at http://canadiancyclist.com/ for his excellent coverage and photography. All photos here are from CA Cyclist.

The track was outstanding. I thought it required skill, power and complete mental focus to negotiate without disintegrating into a yardsale crash-n-burn. It seemed that there were too many wrecks in Turn 1, but maybe that would happen no matter what the track. The racers were incredible - they were just going ballz out, without a doubt. It didn't appear to me that anyone was racing for silver. Gold or nothing, baby. The format was working: I thought that the way they had things set up was fair, (time trial for seeding into the preliminary races, and then transfer to the semifinals based on results of 3 prelims) and the best racers were bubbling to the top. To me, it appeared that everything was coming together for an awesome Wednesday night of Semis and Finals on NBC.

And my crew was gathering at sports bar in Minneapolis to watch it on the Big Screen! This was going to be an evening to remember!

As I turned out, I was right about my apprehension: it rained. Little did we know - the rules for a cancellation were that the medals would go to the top 3 riders in the time trial. Luckily, the heads at the UCI/IOC wised up, and just postponed the race for 1 day. This wreaked havoc on the TV schedule....NBC shoehorned the BMX coverage into their already-packed Thursday schedule. It was disappointing to all BMX fans in America who had been eagerly anticipating this moment for years - there was even one guy I read about who literally just walked his dog around the block and missed it. But, for me, that was probably the best 5 minutes of TV I have seen at these Olympics. Both the men's and the women's final had great racing action, spills and thrills, and none of the weirdness that can happen in BMX racing.

Here's Team USA flyin' in formation in the semis. What a courageous effort by Kyle Bennett (#88). To race any moto at the elite level takes power, fearlessness and immense skill. To do it with a shoulder that you separated barely 24 hours prior takes, well, something else. Here we also have Mike Day (#365) in a familiar spot, out front, and Donnie Robinson (#10), taking the high line.

I thought the actual racing action could not have gone off any better. Just look at the speed and technique of these racers, and look at the crowd on its feet in this photo, and tell me it could get any better.

Maybe I should not have ever doubted BMX's legitimacy in the spectacle that is the Olympics, but I did. After this stellar debut, it seems to me that BMX belongs. It seems to me that it will have staying power. And for that, I am excited.

I've never thought too much about the different eras of BMX...we have names for these eras, but not precise definitions. Prehistoric or Pre-School, Old School, Middle School, New School. I think we have entered a new one: the Olympic Era.

I can't wait to see what this new Era looks like.

LondonBMX 2012

What's going on here?

Beijing 2008 Recap