Bringing the BMX

Ah, morning at the Communication University of China: uniform-clad Purdue volunteers scrambling to make the bus, our Chinese neighbors clamoring in Mandarin in the hallway, the shriek of a woman practicing opera in the soccer field blaring through my window. In one week I will miss all these things.

As usual, life has moved at a hare's pace these last few days. I've accustomed myself to working from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. and actually find myself missing the Velodrome during my time off. Today I start my shift at 3 p.m. and I have found myself sitting in my room, whipping my head in circles, looking for cyclists circling above me. I've found none. Alas, I must wait until the afternoon to get back in my element.

The Velodrome has become almost "home" here. Though work yesterday stretched from the early morning until the late evening, I enjoyed almost every second of it. In the morning, Megan, Leroy and I worked with Krystyna, Ernst and Amy (our supervisors) at the BMX course. The BMX atmosphere stood in complete contrast to the track cycling atmosphere. The riders and their crews welcomed the media and chatted with the ease of close friends. Cruising around the warm up area in baggy shorts, tank tops and bandanas, they gave off the vibe of college students relaxing on a sunny day off.

Check out the first few minutes:

That's about how the BMX area here feels.

Kamakazi

I gathered quotes from a biker from Australia named Kamakazi (yep, that's his full name and that's how he spells it), one of the favorites to medal. I wrote a story about the goofy character that I can hopefully post once the BMX event begins. For now, I believe it must remain in the INFO 2008 database for publications to use. 

At 4:30 p.m. track cycling started up again and one crazy event after another kept us all on the edge of our figurative seats. First, the biggest cycling crash of the Beijing Games happened about 20 feet from my face in the Women's Points Race. In the Points Race, 16 women circle the track 100 times, sprinting every 10 laps in an effort to be one of the first five to finish the sprint. Finishing a sprint in the top five earns riders points, as does lapping the field. Falling back a lap costs points, and each cyclist hopes to earn as many points as possible. In the crash, one cyclist clipped the wheel of another cyclist, causing the second woman to fall and take out two cyclists behind her.

Women's Points Race

A crash similar to last night's

Through the thin Plexiglas barrier separating me and all others in the broadcast zone from the crash, I saw the USA's Sarah Hammer collapse onto the track and grab her shoulder in agony. A mass of medical personnel swarmed instantly. Her injury proved manageable, and she rose after a few minutes and walked off the track with the aid of two men. But we could all see her emotional distress outweighed her physical pain--years of dedication and preparation flushed down the drain because of one competitor's poor decision. A Japanese cyclist also left the track in tears, unable to finish after the crash cost her many laps.

In the another momentous event of the night, members of the British team broke the world record in Men's Team Pursuit. The crowd, of course, exploded, and I had to restrain myself from joining in the revelry.

I can only imagine what the next few days, especially with the start of BMX, may bring!