Wannabe Bike Girl

No, before you ask, I didn’t stay up until 5:30 am. But only because I have work today. Such a drag, that making money thing. Ahem, moving on.

I watched from about 11pm until 2:30am, eventually finding bed around 3 am. But from 11pm to 2:30am, I witness some of the slowest cycling I have ever seen. Yes, it was that bad. But like, at the same time it was hilarious and awesome. I think most of that was due to the fact that I’d been awake since 6:45am. Tiredness can make things a lot more fun than they really are.

I wish I could have watched the race, it sounds like the last 100k (after I’d gone to bed) were totally brilliant. But, man, there was no way I could swing that extra three hours, I mean, really. But that doesn’t matter, in fact I’m not even upset that I missed the end of the race. Not the least because a Spainard won, but also because for some reason I am totally okay with only watching what I can. Probably because it’s like 24hr sports (since we can watch stuff online, I get most of the NBC stations and the CBC likes to replay shit all the time) and we all know how I feel about that. Two weeks of waking up and going to bed to Olympic events.

Now, back to the cycling. I don’t know how the end of the race played out, and again, I’m fine with that. I’ll watch highlights or see if the four hours of CBC I recorded has the finale on it and then write it up later. But let me just say that it was so amazing to watch this race. Ignoring the heat, humidity and smog, China is just beautiful. But what really struck me is just how massive the Great Wall is — not, you know that I didn’t know, but to watch the cyclists go under it? Amazing. That and all the great tunnel shots! Those were brilliant, too.

One last thing: Spain rules the world. You heard it hear first!

So, here’s the deal. Several US cyclists arrived in Beijing wearing masks. Not the whole ‘I’m a masked criminal’ kind of thing, but instead to protect their lungs. Lots and lots of people are up in arms about this. Including the US Olympics Committee and apparently the Chinese. Now, okay, I get that the Chinese could possibly be offended. American athletes (or any country’s, maybe) come into the country and the first thing they do, before even leaving the airport, is don a mask. I also understand that it might back the USOC look bad. But, that being said, I think it’s a complete overreaction.

China is polluted. And this is a problem, just as the swimmers who found smog on the Water Cube. Even if it’s apparently been declared safe, that doesn’t mean it actually is. And to be honest, this isn’t something I’m overly worried for most athletes. Lots of athletes train in areas that have high pollution levels and some of the events are indoors (though a different sort as compared to the Water Cube). And, after all, two football (soccer) tournaments have been successfully held in China (Women’s World Cup and the u17s) within the past year. So, I’m not too concerned.

Except that cyclists (and track & field athletes) have a different sort of lung capacity. This is why it didn’t bother me that those four cyclists chose to wear masks. Sure, they stuck out, but sometimes that’s what you have to do. Okay, they embarrassed the USOC (who gave them the masks in the first place), fine. And hell, you pissed off the Chinese, what are they going to do? Kick you out of the games? It’s not like the cyclists did anything wrong. But, fine. Let’s move on.

Except no, apparently we can’t move on. And, instead, the four cyclists were force to apologize. I’m sorry, what? These cyclists, these guests were made to apologize to their host country because of the pollution. “Oh, I’m sorry for wearing masks because your air is bad.” Would have worked for me, of course they were apologizing to the IOC (wtf) as well. So, sorry China and the IOC for picking one of the most polluted countries in the world to hold the Olympics. In reality, the apology went something like this (from the above linked NYT article):

Their statement, sent through the U.S.O.C., said wearing the masks “was in no way meant to serve as an environmental or political statement.”

“We deeply regret the nature of our choices,” it said, adding that the choice to wear the masks was not meant to belittle the Olympic organizers “who have put forth a tremendous amount of effort to improve the air quality in Beijing.”

God, really. Though I suppose this is the world we live in. The victims have to apologize for the crime. At least it wasn’t doping! *snorts*

I’m not overly concerned about who will win in Beijing (in cycling, that is — I definitely care for other sports). I’m not too fond of the US’ cyclists and mostly I just want that darling Norwegian, Edvald Boasson Hagen, and possibly Mark Cavendish, to win things. What I am worried about is the smog. I’ve been worried about this since the games were announced.

But at the same time, there have been several football (soccer) tournaments in China, without any ill effects that we know of (or I just missed them). Of course, football doesn’t quite use the lungs the same way a lot of other sports do. Like cycling and swimming, for example. And those track and field folks? Either this is going to be great, or it’s going to end in disaster. And I’m worried it’s the latter.

Apparently, to some extent, so is cyclingnews.

Beijing Olympics – will poor air quality mean poor performance?

But what effect will the smog have on the athletes? One medical expert told Sky News Online that unless smog in the Olympic capital clears, athletes may find their times considerably reduced, and that we should not “expect any world records to be broken.”

“Athletes breathe in ten times as much air into their lungs as spectators,” Professor Frank Kelly, professor of environmental health at Kings College, London, told Sky News.

“The pollution will cause their lungs to decrease in diameter, so they will not be able to take as much air into their lungs, which will affect their performance. Some of the athletes will suffer severe reactions and all will see impacts on their health.

“They are pushing their bodies to their limits so pollution will have serious consequences,” he added. It has been reported, because of this fact alone, many athletes have applied to be allowed to use asthma medication during the Games.

SIGH