Cycling: What it is

Cycling is a type of physical activity that involves moving around on a bicycle using the movement of human muscular strength. Also cycling is one of the parts of triathlon.

The main organization that oversees the sport is the International Cycling Union. It is based in Switzerland.

Cycling is also one of the outdoor activities.

History of cycling

The first version of the bicycle was invented in 1817 by Professor Carl von Drese. Since then, the look and design of the bicycle has changed.

In 1868, the world’s first 2,000-meter bicycle race was held in the suburbs of Paris. In 1885 – 1886 Thomas Stevenson was able to make the first circumnavigation of the globe by bicycle. In 1896 cycling was included in the program of the Olympic Games.

Main disciplines

There are a large number of disciplines in cycling.

Road cycling includes:

• Olympic types: team and individual racing;
• Non-Olympic types: team, doubles, multi-day race, Criterium and mountain tour.

Track cycling has the following disciplines:

• sprint (individual and team);
• Pursuit race (individual and team);
• points race;
• git;
• madison;
• keirin;
• scratch;
• omnium;
• elimination race.

There is also cyclocross, mountain biking and BMX.