The cycling with 4 people

Not sure what you mean about one person going out, but when they're cycling really close together the person at the front has to work harder as they have greater air resistance, whereas the ones behind are in the slipstream so they use less energy. So every now and then the person at the front nips off and joins on again at the back so each person takes their turn doing the really hard work. It's all about the team, man ?

The guy at the front gets the most ind resistance, the rest are in the slip-stream so essentialy are towed.... because its harder being at the front, they swap positions to keep going as fast as possible.

Apparently only 3 are needed to finish which is why one drops out....

This is all according to the gospel of H so I am hoping he is right!!!

Aha! Obviously I've never watched a cycling race to the end ? ?

MrSC was telling me about one of the team events where the person at the front at certain stages drops out, and it ends up with a sprint for the last person standing - which makes it a team effort as everyone has to be able to keep up the pace.

I like the event where they follow the man on the little motorised bike ?. There's certainly some funny events in the cycling.

Ah didn't realise about the slip stream. I did wonder why they didn't just start with 3 though. Maybe it's easier with 4? And if so then why don't all 4 finish (because it might be easier with 4) and they just time the 3rd?

We had to google to find out why it was acceptable for one of the team to drop out.

Apparently the outcome of the race is decided on the position of the 3rd rider. So it's normal for one rider to go hell-for-leather and stay at the front for ages, thus tiring themselves out more as they have to deal with the wind-resistance. the others stay in the slip-stream for longer, till the chap at the front drops back and out, then they push for the finish together a bit faster as they're fresher having spent longer in the slip-stream.

Very complicated.

All seems rather technical really...

Great thanks for that! ?

I'm glad you asked that grtfon, as I was pondering and didn't have a clue either!

Bah, I thought you meant there was an olympic event with four people on one bike, like the goodies. I'm disappointed now.

Slimstreaming gives you an energy advantage of about 30%, it`s the same for motor racing also..

I thought it was fantastic to watch - they were so close to each other it would only take a small error and they would have hit the bike in front or behind. The coordination was amazing.

On the same topic, what's the thing about there they seem to cycle round slowish and try to outwit the other one by going up and down the sides (sorry don't know what it's called) then go really fast at the end? And the one where they follow the person on a strange motorbike thing? If anyone can enlighten me I'd be grateful!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Track_cycling

That should explain the different races. I love the names Madison and Keirin, they sound like dances.

I want to know why the Kierin (where they follow the motorised bike) is an olympic event for the men but not for the women (as it's one of Victoria Pendleton's good ones, but she can't race it at the Olympics because it's not one of the women's disciplines). Also, on a totally unrelated sport, why did our gymnast score the same as the croatian in the pommel final, yet get bronze, whereas in the women's 100m two women scored the same time and therefore both got a silver?

Thanks for this!

The reason our guy got the bronze was because he had a lower execution score than the croatian.