Indoor Cycling News 10.2002 What is Indoor Cycling? The past and present of indoor cycling The first unofficial world championships were held in 1888, put on by German-American Nicholas Edward Kaufmann, in artistic cycling. It is unclear how many nations sent competitors to this event. A few years later, in 1893, again in the USA, cycleball was played in public for the first time. The inspiration for this discipline is said to have been the act of Kaufmann, a professional trick cyclist, and his dog 'Mops,' whom he used to bat playfully with his front wheel. The sport has now all but disappeared from the USA, but has long been popular in Germany, the acknowledged world leader in indoor cycling. In fact, in Germany, indoor cycling is more popular in the junior ranks than the outdoor versions of the sport. Today, ten thousand indoor cyclists hold competitive licences in Germany. Official world championships in cycleball have taken place since 1930. Artistic cycling began held its first official world championships in 1956 for men, and in 1970 for women. At the Böblingen World Championships - 2000, 21 nations sent a total of 172 athletes, and the press corps numbered 102, including 22 working for television companies. So what happens? The sport is divided into two disciplines: cycleball and artistic cycling. All competition takes place on a wooden court with an area of 14m x 12m. For cycleball edge barriers 30cm high are put in place to prevent the ball going out of play. Most competitors specialise in either cycleball or artistic cycling, with very few crossing over. Cycle Ball Cycle Ball is played by men only. A team consists of two players who may act as goalkeeper or field player. At international competitions the field uses exactly the same dimensions (11x14 metres) as Artistic Cycling. A wall 30cm high surrounds the sidelines to keep the ball inside the field. A game consists of two halves of seven minutes. The teams change ends at half time (two minutes). If a team is obviously delaying the match, the referee may first of all add extra time and if that behavior continues give a warning or even reprimand the whole team. The ball itself is usually filled with horsehair and has a diameter of 17 or 18 cm. It can travel at up to 60 km/h. The ball is moved with either the front wheel or the back wheel. The feet may not kick the ball. Within the goal area the goalkeeper is allowed to use his hands in order to catch the ball and "defend" his goal, which has a size of 2x2 metres. Asian Championships: 2001, Macau The goal area surrounds the goal with a semi-circle with a radius of two metres. Only one player of the defending team is allowed inside this area. One member of the attacking team is allowed to move his bike inside the goal area as soon as the ball is inside. Offences outside the goal area result in a free "kick" for the opposing team. During a free kick the other team must be a minimum of 4 metres from the ball. Rule offences or offences inside the goal area are punished with a 4 metre-penalty. Should the ball leave the field along the side-lines or base-line the same rules as other ball games apply. If a player touches the ground he is not allowed to continue. He must cross the base-line (next to his own goal) with the front or back wheel of his bike and then continue with the game. Often the teams avoid this situation with a free kick giving the opposite team no chance to move towards the empty goal. Artistic Cycling Artistic Cycling is similar to Ice-skating or Gymnastics, developing skills such as balance, concentration and courage. During a six minute programme, audience and judges are presented with a wide range of different figures upon a bike. A worldwide regulation describes the rules of the sport and builds the guidelines for competitions. The high point of the season is the annual World Championships. How to judge Artistic Cycling? The worldwide Artistic Cycling Regulations show and explain between 150 and 200 different figures for each discipline; Single, Dual and Team Artistic Cycling for four and six athletes. From this range of figures the athletes and coaches compile the performance. They also choose the music that accompanies the program. Asian Championships: 2001, Macau The maximum numbers of figures are: 28 figures in a single Artistic Cycling 22 figures in pair Artistic Cycling 25 figures in team Artistic Cycling for 4 or 6 athletes Each figure has a points value depending on the difficulty. Adding up the value points of each figure leads to the total difficulty points. The performance starts with the lowest level of difficulty and finishes with the highest level of difficulty. The judges subtract points depending on the number and kind of mistakes they see during the performance. The judging is divided into performance and difficulty (content).