RockShox SID with 2008 Olympic Games Decals
Originally posted on August 20, 2008 at 9:21 am
On August 22nd, 2008 at 3:00 p.m. the women’s cross country mountain bike race in the XXIX Olympic Games will take place in Laoshan of the Shijingshan District in Beijing. The men’s competition is the following day, August 23rd on the same course and time. Thirty women and fifty men will compete for the three medals in each category, but only about thirteen individual athletes that are sponsored by RockShox will be riding on a RockShox SID with special decals commemorating the 2008 Olympic Games.
The SID’s white fork lowers and red decals look a lot like the Team SID, but looking a little closer you’ll notice the Chinese script and dragon intertwined on the right lower. The left lower simply reads Beijing 2008, which I was also told is what the Chinese script reads.
The 4.6-kilometer (2.85 mile) course was created for the games and includes two competition service buildings with room for 15,000 spectators. 2000 temporary seats were also installed. The course’s construction is said to have maintained and included the original landscape and vegetation of the hilly, forested countryside, without the use of concrete or steel. Woven bags with soil in them were used instead.
The course was purposefully built short and more difficult to increase the competitiveness of the riders. If a rider is lapped he/she will be pulled from the course upon completing the lap.
How can the non-Olympiad rider get their hands on a sweet commemorative RockShox SID? You can’t. I was told at a SRAM press camp that only enough were made for the thirteen sponsored riders plus a few extra for other important folks. –Shannon Mominee
