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WorldNet Service Installation Disk - Cybercathlon Games and Interactive Tour of Olympic Museum (1996).ISO
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00824_Field_st28.txt.txt
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1996-06-03
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The prototype of the bicycle was
first designed by Leonardo da
Vinci in the 15th century. The first
machine to resemble the modern
bicycle, the velocifere, was made
in Paris in 1791, but it wasn't until
the late 1800s that the paradigm for
the modern bicycle was in use.
The sport quickly gained popularity
in Europe and America and men's
cycling was included in the first
modern Olympics in 1896. It took
until 1984 to begin adding women's
cycling events to the Olympics.
Cycling in the Olympics consists of
two types of races - road races
and track races. Road races take
place outdoors and cover long
distances. A massed start is used
and the winner is determined on
the basis of the fastest time. Both
individual and team events are
held.
Track races take place on an
oval-shaped velodrome, where the
track is banked all around, has
two straight sections and is very
steep on the curves. The track
races include sprints, where riders
compete against each other, time
trials, where a lone cyclist
competes against the clock,
individual pursuit, where two
cyclists start at opposite sides of
the track and attempt to overtake
each other, and team pursuit,
where each team is made of four
riders overtaking their opponents.
Recent innovations in racing bike
designs are helping to reduce wind
resistance, which accounts for
90% of the forces that slow riders
down when traveling at speeds in
excess of 30 mph.
Ultrastreamlined Superbikes,
aluminum-framed with no
protruding bolts or cables and
custom-designed handlebars,
weigh less than 17 lbs.
Bell-shaped helmets and one-piece
drag resistant racing suits have
also been developed to help gain
that extra hundredth-of-a-second
edge.
Back in the 1920s, when bikes
were made of wood and steel and
had only one speed, top speeds
were less than 45 kilometers an
hour. Even after modern racing
bikes were developed, it wasn't
until the 1980s that cyclists
achieved speeds of 50 kilometers
an hour. By 1994, speeds of 55
kilometers an hour were being
clocked.
Western Europeans dominated the
cycling events at the Olympics until
the past 20 years, when the
Eastern Europeans began having
great success. But in the first year
of women's competition, 1984,
American Connie
Carpenter-Phinney, who had
competed as a speed skater in
Sapporo at the Winter Games in
1972, captured the first Gold in the
road race.