Olympic cycling begins on Saturday; live streaming of cycing events

For cycling fans, couch and Internet surfing the London Olympics should be a medal sport. It will take Olympic-sized proportions of skill and stamina to keep up with events over the next two weeks.

There are 13 days of cycling events in road cycling, track cycling, BMX and cross-country, and 16 gold medals will be awarded to men and women.

NBC and NBCSports is airing many of these events, but you can be assured that many will be delayed until later in the day. For those who want to see the action live, NBC is providing a live video feed.

Broadcast and live streaming

Check NBC Olympics schedule for broadcast times in your area.

NBC is providing live streaming of most events (except opening ceremonies) by following this link to Live Extra. NBC says you will need to verify that you subscribe to a cable, satellite or telco video tier that includes CNBC and MSNBC. There is no additional charge.

Be ready to provide login/password information to verify your account.

Road race

First up is the Men’s road cycling event, which begins at 10 a.m. London time on Saturday; that’s 5 a.m. Eastern and 2 a.m. Pacific. This will be the first medal event of the 2012 Olympics.

The 250km road race around London and environs will feature Tour de France winner Bradley Wiggins and World Champion Mark Cavendish as the hometown favorites. The entire event, including medal presentation, is expected to take 6 hours.

NBC is airing the race from 5 to 11 a.m. on Saturday on the East Coast, as well as from 5 to 11 a.m. in the Pacific Time Zone, which means we’ll be seeing a tape delayed broadcast out here. The video stream will be live, however, so I plan on rising early enough Saturday to see the finish

Also Olympic Cycling Road Race website should have the results as they happen.

Olympic cycling event schedule

As best as I can reconstruct it, here’s a schedule of the days that cycling events are scheduled. Follow the links at the top of the subheads for schedule times in London (click on the bar at the Olympic site for times of that event). To convert to your time zone:

Eastern — subtract 5 hours

Central — subtract 6 hours

Mountain — subtract 7 hours

Pacific — subtract 8 hours

Road cycling

Saturday, July 28 — Men’s road race

Sunday, July 29 — Women’s road race

Wednesday, Aug. 1 –Women’s time trial

Wednesday, Aug. 1 — Men’s time trial

Track

Thursday, Aug. 2 — Women’s Team Sprint Finals Gold; Men’s Team Sprint Finals Gold

Friday, Aug. 3 — Men’s Team Pursuit Finals Gold; Women Keirin Gold

Saturday, Aug. 4 — Women’s Team Pursuit Finals Gold

Sunday, Aug. 5 —  Men’s Omnium Gold

Monday, Aug. 6 — Men’s Sprint Bronze; Men’s Sprint Gold

Tuesday, Aug. 7 — Women’s Sprint Bronze; Women’s Sprint Gold

BMX

Wednesday, Aug. 8 — Men’s and women’s BMX preliminary rounds

Thursday, Aug. 9 — Men’s and women’s BMX preliminary rounds

Friday, Aug. 10 — Men’s and women’s BMX medal rounds

Mountain bike

Saturday, Aug. 11 — Women’s mountain bike cross-country

Sunday, Aug. 12 — Men’s mountain bike cross-country

Link to all Olympics sports

Roster

Here’s the roster of US cycling nominees released by USA Cycling

MEN’S ROAD CYCLING
Timmy Duggan (Boulder, Colo./Liquigas-Cannondale)
Tyler Farrar (Wentachee, Wash./Garmin-Barracuda)
Chris Horner (Bend, Ore./RadioShack-Nissan-Trek)
Taylor Phinney (Boulder, Colo./BMC Racing) – road race & time trial
Tejay van Garderen (Tacoma, Wash./BMC Racing)

WOMEN’S ROAD CYCLING
Kristin Armstrong (Boise, Idaho/Exergy TWENTY12) – road race & time trial
Amber Neben (Irvine, Calif./Specialized-lululemon) – road race & time trial
Shelley Olds (Gilroy, Calif./AA Drink-Leontien.nl)
*Evelyn Stevens (Acton, Mass./Specialized-lululemon)

TRACK CYCLING
Dotsie Bausch (Irvine, Calif./OUCH Pro Cycling)  – women’s team pursuit
*Sarah Hammer (Temecula, Calif./OUCH Pro Cycling)  – women’s omnium & team pursuit
Bobby Lea (Topton, Pa./Pure Energy Cycling-ProAirHFA) – men’s omnium
Jennie Reed (Seattle, Wash./OUCH Pro Cycling) – women’s team pursuit
Lauren Tamayo (Asheville, N.C./Exergy Twenty12) – women’s team pursuit
Jimmy Watkins (Bakersfield, Calif./Project London 2012) – men’s sprint

MEN’S BMX
* David Herman (Wheat Ridge, Colo./Free Agent-Rockstar)
Connor Fields (Henderson, Nev./Chase BMX) — Olympic Trials winner
Nic Long (Lakeside, Calif./Haro Bikes) — named on June 16

WOMEN’S BMX
* Arielle Martin (Spanaway Wash./Intense BMX)
Alise Post (Saint Cloud, Minn./Redline) — named on June 16

MEN’S MOUNTAIN BIKE
Samuel Schultz (Missoula, Mont./Subaru-Trek)
Todd Wells (Durango, Colo./Specialized Racing)

WOMEN’S MOUNTAIN BIKE
Lea Davison (Jericho, Vt./Specialized Racing)
*Georgia Gould (Fort Collins, Colo./Luna Pro Team)