Are you fit for cycling?

London 2012 Olympic Cycling, July 28 – August 12, 2012

Cycling for the 2012 Summer Olympics is scheduled to take place at five different venues: London Velopark for track cycling; Hadleigh Park in Essex for Mountain bike; Olympic Park BMX track; Road Racing will take place over a course starting and ending in the Mall and heading into Surrey and the Time Trial will be held at Hampton Court Palace. Five hundred athletes are expected to participate in eighteen events.

Track cycling was held indoors at the Olympic Games for the first time in Montreal 1976. Cycling has a long history in the UK – as early as 1870, large crowds were drawn to races held in England on indoor wooden tracks, which closely resemble the velodromes of today. The London 2012 Track Cycling Competition will take place at the Velodrome, built especially for London 2012 in the Olympic Park. The track in the Velodrome has been laid with 5 metre lengths of Siberian pine, and is banked to an angle of 42 degrees at its steepest point

Team GB will be looking to add to its dominance on the track of the Beijing 2008 Games, when British cyclists won seven of the ten gold medals.

In 2009, the International Olympic Committee ratified the International Cycling Union’s proposed changes to the Olympic track cycling programme, in a bid to achieve gender parity. They agreed a programme, to begin in London 2012, which features five men’s and five women’s events – boosting Victoria Pendleton’s hopes of emulating Sir Chris Hoy’s achievement of winning three gold medals at one Games (There were seven events for men and three for women at the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008). These changes in the track cycling programme bring the number of women cyclists at the Games to 84, up from 35 in Beijing.

In 2009, the International Olympic Committee ratified the International Cycling Union’s proposed changes to the Olympic track cycling programme, in a bid to achieve gender parity. They agreed a programme, to begin in London 2012, which features five men’s and five women’s events – boosting Victoria Pendleton’s hopes of emulating Sir Chris Hoy’s achievement of winning three gold medals at one Games (There were seven events for men and three for women at the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008). These changes in the track cycling programme bring the number of women cyclists at the Games to 84, up from 35 in Beijing.

Cycling and Health

In 2009, England’s chief medical officer called physical activity a potential ‘wonder drug’, and promoting physical activity has been called a ‘best buy’ in public health. In our sedentary societies, population levels of physical activity are low, and it is a challenge to find methods of making this wonder drug more palatable to more people more often. The London 2012 Olympics will actively promote competitive sport in the UK. It will also encourage people in the UK and worldwide to get involved with their chosen sport – thereby encouraging people to live a fit and healthy lifestyle.

Reviews of physical activity promotion (BMJ, 2010) suggest that an increase in everyday walking and cycling could generate a considerable public health gain. Cycling is a relatively simple and effective way for people to gain an adequate ‘dose’ of regular health enhancing physical activity - many people have access to a bike.

The British Medical Association’s report ‘Cycling: Towards Health and Safety’ concludes:

• Cycling regularly will improve fitness and can help you live a long and healthy life.
• Riding a bike can help can help you maintain a healthy weight
• Three quarters of all personal journeys are less than five miles long – that’s half an hour on a bike.

Switching these short journeys from car to bicycle will benefit your health and your community. You’ll be helping to reduce noise and air pollution as well as traffic congestion.

Cycling in Cambridge

Cambridge has the highest level of cycling in the country, with one in four residents cycling to work. Being a compact and flat city, cycling and walking are quick, cheap and pollution-free methods of travel.

On the 24 July 2011, there is the 14th London to Cambridge fundraising cycle ride, supporting Breakthrough Breast Cancer. The 60 mile cycle rout passes through stunning countryside from Lea Valley’s Pickets Lock in North East London to Midsummer Common in Cambridge, for a celebration with refreshments and live music. A range of exercises that can be done reglarly before the cycle ride - to ensure maximum personal fitness, enjoyment of the cycle ride, and to minimise the risk of premature fatigue or muscle strain /personal injury.