Quantcast

Stay Classy NYT! (Olympics BMX content)

Jim Mac

Jim Mac

MAKE ENDURO GREAT AGAIN
May 21, 2004
6,352
282
the middle east of NY
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/10/sports/olympics/at-bmx-races-little-camaraderie-but-plenty-of-crashes.html?hp

LONDON — Given the carnage on display Thursday, it is safe to assume that whoever designed the BMX racetrack really dislikes BMX racers. Or has no regard for their safety. Or kind of enjoys watching them crash.

Because crash they did, sometimes in solo flame-outs but more often in group pileups that left bikes and bodies strewed all over the course. The worst of these wrecks occurred in the first run of the third heat, in the men’s quarterfinals, when seven of the eight riders were suddenly splayed on the tarmac.

The downed riders scurried back on their bikes and pedaled hard. The top finishers in each heat moved on to the semifinals.

“I went into the first turn really aggressive, leaning hard to my left, slightly ahead of Joris Daudet, the French rider,” said David Herman, a member of the United States team. “And either his pedal or his foot went into my front wheel, ripping out all my spokes. So that put me over the bars and made him crash as well.”

Herman recovered from this disastrous start and went on to qualify for the semis, as did the American Connor Fields.

The event unfolded under the kind of broiling sun that is rare in England and with a soundtrack that seemed curated by a middle-aged guy trying to wow his children — plenty of Beastie Boys and Guns N’ Roses, with a bit of Kings of Leon thrown in. A D.J. entertained the crowd between heats, and a shaggy-haired M.C. urged everyone to “Make some noise” a couple of dozen times.

This, in other words, is the Olympics’ stab at the highly coveted youth market, the X Games lovers who would not recognize a javelin if it landed on their PlayStations. But hipness is not easy to fake, and there is something a little awkward about the Olympics’ attempt to drag teen cool onto the premises. It’s akin to watching your parents try to break dance.

The event hardly needs hyperbolic ambience, but someone might want to rethink the mechanics and dimensions of the race itself. The riders start high up a man-made hill, then traverse a series of jumps before arriving at a sharp left turn. Generally, the person who gets to that left turn first wins; it is incredibly difficult to pass the leader.

So BMX — or BMX at the Olympics, at least — lacks some of the basic elements that make a sport exciting. Like lead changes. It is hard to picture someone who is out ahead, suddenly falling behind, then regaining the lead. On Thursday, the rider who led after that first turn was all but assured a win.

Much of the suspense comes down to wrecks — who will wreck and how badly. BMX has its own taxonomy when it comes to crashes.

“You can slide out, which is when your tires wash out from underneath you,” Herman said after his final race of the day. “You can flip over the handle bars. You can loop out. That’d be when you’re on your back wheel and go straight on your back. You don’t see that happening too much out here because we have really good balance and bike skills. And there’s casing. That’s when you land a little short on a jump. You can lose a lot of momentum that way.”

As Herman spoke, another American BMX racer, Nic Long, sat on his bike with his head hung low, staring at the ground. He had failed to qualify for the semifinals, and he seemed inconsolable. Which was understandable once you got a sense of his personal ethos. On his left hand he has a tattoo that reads, “No hope for the weak.”

“Every man for himself” would work in this context, too. In some Olympic events, athletes help each other, even though they are ostensibly competitors. (Like the triathlon, held Wednesday, when a British athlete acknowledged that his primary goal was helping teammates.) BMX at the Olympics is not that kind of sport.

“There are no friends,” Herman said. “We have a lot of respect for each other, but this is definitely a different event.”

Would Herman even speak to fellow American riders this evening?

“Small talk,” he said. “I’ll get together with my coach, and we’ll figure out a game plan.”

He took a deep breath and repeated himself.

“No friends out there.”

That sounded ominous. As crash-intensive as the quarterfinals were, you get the sense that the semifinals will only be crashier.

“If you’re inspired by this,” shouted the shaggy M.C. during a break in the proceedings, “buy yourself a BMX bike!”

If there were thought bubbles over the heads of parents in this crowd, most of them, one imagines, would have been variations of “Over my dead body.”
Click to expand...
 
kickstand

kickstand

Turbo Monkey
Sep 18, 2009
3,441
393
Fenton, MI
Both my kids race. They were in awe of the skills on display. They never mentioned anything about the poor track design causing riders to crash. Though mom was a little more attentive to all the crashes...that article sounds like it was written by a huge wuss
 
$tinkle

$tinkle

Expert on blowing
Feb 12, 2003
14,591
6
rhythm section was impressive, especially if you can carry the speed you get from the hard left just before it
 
sanjuro

sanjuro

Tube Smuggler
Sep 13, 2004
17,373
0
SF
C'mon. It sensationalized bmx a little, but so what? Why do they build up jumps if there is some risk involved?
 
ICEBALL585

ICEBALL585

Bacontard
Sep 8, 2009
6,817
2,078
.:585:.
The danger in sports like BMX is what seperates that men from the pussies.

Although I will admit this does look like it hurt a lot :eek:

 
canadmos

canadmos

Cake Tease
May 29, 2011
21,771
21,271
Canaderp
Bikers are on another level of sport. All of us are. Downhillers, cross country riders, roadies, bmx peoples etc. How many of us, or our friends, or random people on rides, have injured themselves on the ride but make the decision to just ride it off or ride out of the trail under your own power?

I've seen almost every single one of my friends get injured while riding, only to either finish the ride or to grind it out back to the car/house. Myself, I broke my hand and bruised my hip, but did two more hours of riding after that.

We have an awesome sport going and an awesome bunch of people participating in it. Crashes happen, its part of the sport.

Ride on.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom