The Wide World of Cycling

Cycling
Written By Alex Frank

Cross Country Mountain Bike Race (Image by NW Multisport)

I’ve always been a fan of ESPN The Ocho and the world of obscure “sports”. This blog post dives into all of the whacky competitive events that people do on bicycles. See the table below for the compiled list. It’s very possible that I’ve missed some obscure cycling event so if you have feedback please contact us. Here is a very brief introduction to each discipline:

Road: Probably the most well known in popular culture are road cycling events. The Tour de France has a huge following and is broadcast on Internet/TV for a wide audience. People enjoy the tactics of drafting and teamwork as well as varied terrain of mountain climbs and finish sprints. Road cycling is included in the summer Olympics as a stand-alone event as well as in the triathlon which was first introduced in 2000.

Mountain:

  • Cross Country: A battle of endurance over technical off-road terrain usually with significant sections of narrow singletrack. XC debuted in the summer Olympics in Atlanta in 1996. Wide variety of distances for races including 24hr events and 100milers and many shorter events. With the advent of E-bikes, there are now MTB competitions with E-bikes.

  • Downhill: Typically conducted on race courses at ski resorts. Competitors race down a very technical course from top to bottom. Downhill bikes are designed with large suspension travel and strong components to withstand the extreme racing conditions.

  • Dual Slalom: Similar to downhill but with more cornering. As the name implies, this event is head-to-head racing between two people down similar courses side-by-side. A great spectator event.

  • Enduro: These events have gained in popularity among the average population with many participants taking part. The enduro is similar to downhill racing but competitions involve several timed downhill segments connected by off-the-clock uphill riding in-between those timed segments.

  • Super D: Very similar to enduro but this format usually includes some small uphill sections on a primarily downhill course. Combines a bit of XC and enduro into one race.

  • Trials: Extreme bike handling skills and tricks on various natural and man-made features. One of my favorite trials riders is Danny Macaskill

  • Freeride: Search up Red Bull Rampage if you don’t know.

  • Fourcross: Similar to Dual Slalom but a mass start down the same course with four riders battling for first to the bottom.

Gravel: People have been riding bikes on gravel roads for many many years (i.e. prior to the invention of paved roads). The bike industry and racing scene has recently designed and promoted bikes specifically built for gravel. Bikes and tires are similar in design to cyclocross.

Cyclocross: Typically a multi-lap high intensity race that is held on grass/dirt/mud with some possible minimal sections of pavement. Traditional aspects of CX also include barriers where most athletes dismount and run over barriers. Additionally, “run-ups” where there is a very steep hill that riders must dismount and run-up while carrying the bike. These events are a good mashup of roadies and mountain bikers and the season is in the fall/winter in the northern hemisphere when race courses get extra muddy!

A Cyclocross “Run-up”

BMX:

  • BMX Racing: BMX is short for bicycle motocross and is held on short dirt tracks similar to motocross tracks. The event came to the summer Olympics in 2008. The bike is single-speed but with a freewheel.

  • BMX Freestyle: Similar to trials riding above and includes several different sub-disciplines (see table below). Riders perform tricks on various surfaces. This discipline of BMX was introduced into the summer Olympics in 2020.

  • Pump Track: Pump tracks have a lot of similarities to BMX tracks but are typically paved tracks at the competitive level. Riders are not allowed to pedal, but must “pump” the bike through the course as fast as possible. Pump track competitions often times have riders on either MTBs or BMX bikes with no chain connected to the rear wheel.

Cycle Speedway: A pretty obscure cycling event where racers race around a short dirt oval track on single-speed bikes with no brakes. Somewhat similar to track racing.

Track Cycling: Racers compete on a banked velodrome track on unique track bikes (fixed gear with no brakes). There are several different formats of racing (see table below) and it is included in the summer Olympics.

Artistic Cycling: Somewhat similar to trials, but is performed on flat court like a basketball court. The riders use very specialized fixed gear bikes to perform a routine similar to a dance or gymnastics.

Cycle Ball: A game closely related to artistic cycling or bicycle polo where teams use fixed gear bikes to score a ball in a goal.

Bicycle Polo: A game similar to horse polo but much more affordable to participate in. Riders use mallets to dribble, pass, and shoot the ball into the opposing team’s goal. The sport is played both on “hard-courts” such as tennis courts and on grass.

Bike Polo (Image: Dennis M. - Tri-Cities Bike Polo)

Cycle Messenger: Competitions where cyclists compete to make deliveries in a city as quickly as possible. Based on the everyday job of bicycle messengers that make deliveries via bike in large cities.

Mountain Bike Orienteering: A navigation race where competitors use a map and compass mounted on the handlebars to navigate to various controls (i.e. checkpoints) as quickly as possible. The sport is similar to foot and ski orienteering but on a cross-country MTB. Courses are usually a combination of singletrack and dirt roads in a non-urban area. The sport of Adventure Racing typically includes navigation while on mountain bikes but also includes other aspects such as paddling and traveling on foot.

Cycling E-sports: Electronic online sports with smart bicycle trainers (stationary bikes). One of the most popular cycling e-sports platforms is Zwift.

Para-Cycling: Cycling events for the para community including hand-cycles.

Bikepacking Races: Typically long multi-day endurance events where riders are required to be self-sufficient and carry all supplies. Riders may resupply in towns along the way and stay in hotels when available, but are not allowed support that is not available to the entire field. Racers often carry camping gear and other supplies (clothing, food, repair gear, etc.) for the race. One of the premier events in the US is the Tour Divide. For a write-up on my experience in the Cross-Washington (XWA) bikepacking race see previous blog posts on this site.

Snow Bikes: Fatbike racing on groomed trails on snow.

Pedal Boats: There is not a lot out there on competitive pedal boat racing. I did find reference to a World Championships in Brussels, but it seems like it emphasizes the party more than the racing. Closer to the PNW we have two boat races that involve pedaling. The Race to Alaska typically involves sailing vessels and motors are not allowed so crews often rely on pedal drives when there is no wind. The Seventy48 race is a strictly human powered 70mi boat race on Puget Sound that has included custom pedal-drive boats racing amongst other watercraft. It seems like this is a category ripe for discovery to pit some of the best engineers and cycling athletes against each other on teams to compete on the water.

Bikerafting: I didn’t include this in the list as I’m not aware of any competitive events that are strictly bikerafting races. The sport of Adventure Racing mentioned under MTB-orienteering above often includes bikerafting as part of the overall race. Maybe there is some potential here? It kind-of has the flavor of ski-mo racing.

Cycling Events
Road Mass Start^
Individual Time Trial
Team Time Trial
Gran Fondo*
Tandem Road^
Mountain Cross Country^
Downhill
Dual Slalom
Enduro
Trials
Super D^
Freeride
Fourcross (4x)
Tandem MTB
Gravel Gravel^
Tandem Gravel
Cyclocross (CX) Cyclocross^
Tandem CX
BMX BMX racing^
Pump Track^
BMX Freestyle Park
Street
Vert
Trails (Dirt Jumping)
Flatland
Cycle Speedway Cycle Speedway
Indoor Track Time Trial
Keirin
Individual Pursuit
Team Pursuit
Points Race
Scratch Race
Team Sprint
Omnium
Madison
Elimination Race
Indoor Cycling Artistic Cycling
Cycle Ball
Bicycle Polo Bicycle Polo^
Bike Messenger Cycle Messenger
Bike Orienteering MTBO^
Cycling E-sports Cycling E-sports^
Para-Cycling Para-Cycling
Bikepacking Racing Bikepacking Racing^
Snow Bike Fatbike Snow Racing^
Pedal Boat Races Pedal Boat World Champs (Brussels)
Race to Alaska**
Seventy48**^
UCI Sanctioned
^Sports that I've participated in
*While not technically different than road or gravel events the categroy is given distinction with UCI
**A boat race with cycling element
Alex Frank
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