Take The Lane

Day 15, the men's and women's mountain bike

No North Americans on the podium for today's mountain bike events at the Laoshan Cycling Complex in Bejing, but one Canadian placed fourth in the women's event.

At a national or international cycling event, where you figure in the top five or top 10 matters, but at the Olympics, there are just three spots, and there are a lot of competitors fighting for those three.

In the women's events, a rapturously happy Sabine Spitz took the gold, completing the six laps of the 4.5 K course in one hour, 45 minutes, 11 seconds.  Poland's Maja Wloszczowski claimed silver; Irina Kalentyeva  of Russia took the bronze.  Catharine Pendrel of Canada was fourth.

Julien Absalon of France claimed gold in the men's event, with teammate Jean-Christophe Peraud taking the silver, and Nino Schurter of Switzerland claiming bronze. Canada's top finisher was Geoff Kabush, in 20th.

And the photo? Well, mountain bike fans can be, ah, different, although, truth be known, this fan would look perfectly at home on the mountain stages of the Tour de France. In this Associated Press photo by Ivan Sekretarev, we see a Norwegian fan at the women's event today.

You can go here for a written report or see an album of the day here.

Day 10, Women's points race

Here are some photos from the women's points race on Monday. Out of order with the rest of the postings, but at least they are here. View and enjoy.

In this photo from Canadian Press photog Paul Chiasson, Canada's Gina Grain is right on the tail of Marianne Vos of the Netherlands, who went on to win the gold medal. Grain finished ninth. in a statement to the media, Grain said, "It was really fast right from the start.  I am happy with my strategy.  I was definitely in there mixing it up.”

There are more photos of Grain, and of American Sarah Hammer's crash, here.

Day 14, the men's and women's BMX finals

Lot of thrills, spills and heartache today at the Laoshan Cycling Complex in Beijing as the final qualifying races and the finals were run in men's and women's BMX. (Start of the women's race, photographed by Ricardo Mazalan, The Associated Press)

Although rain had delayed the racing a day, the track had been covered by plastic and treated with soil tack to absorb moisture and improve grip. Nonetheless, the 390-metre layout (370 metres for the women) was marked by wet spots. There were several crashes, some involving multiple riders, but the crashes may have been due to aggressive riding, rather than the track conditions.

France cleaned up for the women, with Anne-Caroline Chausson taking gold and Laetita Le Corguille winning silver. Jill Kintner took bronze for the U.S. of A. Sam Cools of Airdrie, Alta. just squeaked into the final, but crashed and was a DNF (did not finish). For a gallery of her racing, click here.

In the men's races, the world champ, Maris Strombergs of Latvia, added a gold to his hardware collection, with Mike Day of the U.S. winning silver and Donny Robinson of the U.S. taking the bronze.

See a gallery of today's events here.

Day 14, Sam Cools at the BMX

Sam Cools' hopes for an Olympic medal went crashing to earth in the BMX women's final today at the Laoshan cycling centre in Beijing, when she crashed just a few seconds into the race.

The 22-year-old Cools, from Airdrie, Alta., came into the Olympics as the top North American and was ranked seventh in the world by the International Cycling Union.

Pictured here, she stands with her bike after the crash. Photo by Adrian Wyld, The Canadian Press

For a gallery of Cools' Olympic experience, click here.

Day 10, Team pursuit

Still out of sync, but slowly getting those promised pictures to you. Great Britain claimed the gold in the men's team pursuit on Monday at the Laoshan Velodrome in Beijing, part of their golden romp through the cycling events.

Pictured here, Bradley Wiggins leads Ed Clancy, Paul Manning and Geraint Thomas (top) during the final. Photo by Christophe Ena, The Associated Press.

You can tell the photographers were not in love with the men's team pursuit, because there aren't many photos from the event. But you can see some more here.

Day 11, Women's and men's sprints

Yeah, this seems pretty retrograde, but it is harder than I thought to catch up once I missed two days of posting photos from the Olympic cycling events. I hope to have the points race photos posted before London 2012...

So click here to see some shots from the men's and women's sprints Tuesday at the Laoshan Velodrome in Beijing. This was the last race to decide a gold medal at the velodrome. The action then moved outside for BMX and mountain bike.

Tuesday's events left Great Britain with seven of the 10 cycling gold medals on the track. Truly awesome.
Sprint winners Tuesday were: Chris Hoy, Great Britain, gold; Jason Kenny, Great Britain, silver; and Mickael Bourgain, France, bronze, for the men's, and Victoria Pendleton, Great Britain, gold; Anna Meares, Australia, silver; and Guo Shuang, China, bronze.

And this photo is not a sprint pic. No one gets three gold medals for one race. Hoy had to ride in three races to get three gold medals, and don't they look nice and shiny? Associated Press photo by Christophe Ena.

Day 13: BMX delayed by rain

Today's BMX races were rained out and put over to Friday. The delay might give Kyle Bennett of the U.S. time to rest his dislocated shoulder.

Rain is forecast for much of the day today, so there is a chance that Friday will be a no-go, too.

Much of the course is covered by tarps, except the asphalt corners, and crews are working to get the water off the course. Photo by Ivan Sekretarev, The Associated Press.

Officials also moved Friday's women's mountain bike race to Saturday morning because of the rain on the course. The men's mountain bike event is still scheduled for Saturday afternoon.

Day 12, it's BMX time!

BMX cycling made Olympic history today, by becoming an official event with the opening heats and quarter-finals at the 4,000 seat BMX park in Beijing.

A little bit beach volleyball (cheerleaders, stands, music) and a little bit freestyle skiing, BMX is intended to draw the younger audience. The stands were about three-quarters full, according to the Los Angeles Times report, which isn't bad for heats.

Mike Day of the United States (shown here in an Associated Press photo by Ivan Sekretarev that gives you a bit of a view of the BMX park) was the man to beat after the heats and quarter-finals in the men's division; Anne-Caroline Chausson of France was the top female rider.

Canadian Scott Erwood of Surrey, B.C., survived the heats but lost in the quarter-finals, finishing eighth of eight. In the women's division, Sammy Cools of Airdrie went on to the semifinals, finishing 13th of 16 riders.

There's a BMX gallery here.

Day 11, Canadian content in the men's madison

Think of the madison as a tag-team cycling. Two riders from each participating country. Spelling each other off as they tear around the track -- in this case, 200 times around the track in the Laoshan Velodrome in Beijing on Tuesday. The teams collect points for winning sprints held every 20 laps.

Tuesday, the Argentine team of Juan Esteban Curuchet and Walter Fernando Perez collected enough sprint wins to claim the gold, and what a joyous pair they were. Spain claimed the silver and Russia, the bronze.

Britain, which has been collecting medals like a homeless man collects empties, finished ninth.

And not too far behind them, placing 12th, was the Canadian team of Zachary Bell of Watson Lake, Yukon Territory and Martin Gilbert of Chateaguay, Que.

I like this overall shot of the track, taken by Paul Chiasson of The Canadian Press. You can see photos of the Canadians, and the other madison participants here.

Day 8 and Day 9, women's individual pursuit

Some of the fastest women in the world were chasing each other around the track at the Laoshan Velodrome on Saturday and Sunday, in the 3,000 metre women's individual pursuit.

And the British, proving themselves to be a cycling powerhouse in both men's and women's events, went one-two.

Going gold on Sunday was Rebecca Romero, who switched from rowing in the 2004 Athens Games, where she won a silver, to cycling following a back injury. She was Britain's first female Olympian to score medals in two different disciplines.

Her teammate, Wendy Houvenaghel took silver. Houvenaghel herself is a story: now 33, she didn't begin her cycling career until she was 27. Here's a shot of her starting out on Saturday, taken by Associated Press photo Ricardo Mazalan.

And Ukraine's Lesya Kalitovska took bronze, the Ukraine's first cycling medal at the Games.

For photos, go here.