Pushing Their Pedals to the Medals

By J. D. Reed

Spunky, savvy and high tech, U.S. cyclists go into top gear

In 1980, Connie Carpenter, 27, a former U.S. amateur speed skater and the 13-time national women's cycling champion, retired from cycling in a country that paid little attention to and even fewer dollars for training. Then in 1981, hearing that for the first time a women's road race was scheduled for the Olympics, Carpenter returned to training for what she called "the one last race of my life." Last week, exhausted and just meters from the end, she lunged her bike, like a kid jumping a curb, to victory only inches ahead of Teammate Rebecca Twigg. With that, Carpenter entered the record books as the first woman in history to win an Olympic cycling event and the first American to be awarded gold in the sport (the single previous U.S. medal: a bronze in 1912).

Americans winning bicycle races? That's a little like saying "movie deal" and "sincerity" in the same sentence. Not only did Carpenter-Phinney (she married ten months ago) and Silver Medalist Twigg, 21, triumph in their 79.2-km (49.2-mile) road race, but an iconoclastic team of 20 U.S. men coasted off with three golds, two silvers and a bronze in other events. Along the way, some of the favorites had trouble, and a handful of brash newcomers gained prominence. Said Carpenter-Phinney: "It will take a while to put it all into perspective."

U.S. cyclists have made a dizzying climb. The U.S. finished 23rd in world-championship medals in 1977, far behind the Europeans. A pre-boycott U.S. Cycling Federation Olympics guide predicted that the Soviet Union, East and West Germany would ride away with virtually everything in the Games but the women's event. However, under the direction of a dynamic former Polish national coach, Edward Borysewicz, 44, better known as "Eddie B.," U.S. amateurs have risen to rank near the top in international competition. Professional Road Racer Greg LeMond, 23, came in third in the Tour de France last month, the highest place ever for a U.S. rider, while fellow American Marianne Martin, 26, won the women's version of the event.

Spurred by the energy crunch, perhaps by the movie Breaking Away, the story of a youth intent on becoming a world-class racer, the country is developing a passion for pedaling. In 1983 the U.S. Cycling Federation issued 16,000 racing permits (9,000 in 1970); 10 million bikes will be shipped to stores for the country's 100 million riders. So it should have come as no surprise that 200,000 flag-waving aficionados gathered by the tile-roofed, half-a-million-dollar ranch homes in Mission Viejo, 50 miles south of Los Angeles, for one of the Games' few admission-free events. After the thrill of Carpenter-Phinney's performance, the crowd was treated to another last-meter dazzler by Alexi Grewal, 23, of Aspen, Colo. The 6-ft. 2-in., 150-lb. Grewal almost missed the Games: he was suspended by the U.S. Cycling Federation three weeks ago when a doping test revealed the presence of an illegal substance, phenylethylamine, an amphetamine-like stimulant. But the U.S. Olympic Committee gave Grewal permission to use a related asthma drug, which tests the same way, and he won reinstatement for him a week before the Games.

His job in the 190.2-km (118.2-mi.) race: run interference for Davis Phinney, 25, Carpenter's husband and the U.S.'s best hope in the event. The Americans traded the lead with Norway's Dag Otto Lauritzen and Morten Saether, Colombia's Nestor Mora and Canada's powerhouse, Steve Bauer. With ten miles left, Grewal pumped off on a premature breakaway. He gained 24 sec., but Bauer was soon riding in his slips stream. In the last 200 meters, the fatigued American downgeared slightly and blasted up the final grade, rising on his pedals and throwing up his arms as he crossed the line, barely a cycle length ahead of Bauer. Of the temperamental Grewal, Eddie B. shrugged: "Sometimes he's good, sometimes he's bad and sometimes he's crazy."

In the sleek, elliptical velodrome on California State University's Dominguez Hills campus, it was the equipment that seemed a bit crazy. An overflow crowd of 8,000 gaped at competitors wearing aerodynamic early-Darth Vader helmets and rubberized skinsuits that were banned in international cycling until 1981. The special U.S. bikes, developed at a cost of $1 million, feature relatively small front wheels and spokeless, solid rear ones made of Kevlar, the material used in bulletproof vests, which reduces air turbulence. The result: a 1-to 3-sec. saving per km. Said Chester Kyle, a professor of mechanical engineering who headed the bike-design team: "Cycling is the most technically sophisticated sport at the Games."

Steve Hegg, 20, a world-class skier and relative newcomer to cycling, hopped on his Kevlar-cycle for the 4,000-meter individual pursuit race. In this two-man event, a competitor chases an opponent who starts on the opposite side of the banked track. If he catches him, it's over; otherwise, the fastest time wins. Hegg took Rolf Golz, an experienced racer from West Germany by 4 sec. for the gold. After squeaking through quarterfinals in the team pursuit, where four-man squads shift leads to rest in the slipstream, the U.S. cyclists confronted the highly favored West Germans in the semis. The Germans, however, started too fast and lost a fatigued rider; the U.S. lapped the hapless survivors to win. The final, against a blistering Australian squad, saw the tables turned. The U.S.'s Dave Grylls' pedal strap came loose and he dropped out. The remaining Americans, pumping pure adrenaline, could not overcome the Aussies, and settled for silver. The sprint final, though, was all American.

The luck of the draw and the absence of awesome East German Lutz Hesslich, who is the world's fastest in the event, pitted two Americans against each other. The object in this highly strategic race is to hang behind one's opponent, who may come to a complete and balanced halt, until the final 200 meters, then slingshot past him and sprint for glory. The contenders were Mark Gorski, 24, ranked fifth in the world, and the stylish Nelson ("Cheetah") Vails, 24. Vails learned his moves sprinting through gridlock as a New York City bicycle messenger. Gorski took the gold, taking both heats, Vails the silver, and Japan's Tsutomu Sakamoto the bronze. As they racked up the wins with their funny bikes and star-spangled skinsuits, the reasons for U.S. success became evident: Eddie B.'s tight pre-Games team tactics and rigorous Rocky Mountain regimes. As Vails put it last week, "In today's cycling world, you are what you train." They were just fine in Los Angeles. --By J.D. Reed. Reported by William Blaylock and Lee Griggs/Los Angeles

With reporting by William Blaylock, Lee Griggs