NBCOlympics.com will broadcast Olympic coverage online in the United States with a 3 hour delay after the event. Cycling events will be broadcast at the times listed below. All times are USA Pacific Time.

Related items:

• Masked cyclists apologize.
• Bay Area Olympic cyclists

See also:

• Biking Bis streaming video and broadcast schedule listed by event.
• Steephill.TV Olympic cycling dashboard includes TV broadcast schedules for the UK, Canada and Australia.
• Pirate Olympics: 5 alternative ways to view the Olympics online.

Never mind that even the natives wear face masks to protect themselves from air pollution. When American Olympic track cyclists arrived in Beijing wearing face masks, it caused an uproar.

The masks were developed by the US Olympic Committee and issued to athletes specifically to protect their lungs. US Olympic officials in Beijing, however, criticized the public wearing of these masks. The track cyclists — Mike Friedman, Sarah Hammer, Bobby Lea and Jennie Reed — were just caught saying “Huh? We’re just here to race” and issued a public apology.

“This is really a surprise, because I didn’t think it was going to be such a big deal,” Friedman said. “Why we wore the masks is simple: pollution. When you train your whole life for something, dot all your i’s and cross all your t’s, why wouldn’t you be better safe than sorry?”

Olympic officials were unhappy with their carefulness and were worried that these masks might embarrass China.

“They told us that the Chinese were mad and that this is a politically charged issue, but we didn’t mean to offend anybody,” Friedman said. “When they handed us these masks, they never said, ‘Here they are, but don’t wear them.’ ”

Lea said, “It’s disappointing, because I was under the assumption that the mask was approved for use because it was issued by the U.S.O.C.”

See also Boulder Report: (Cough) Countdown to (cough) Olympics. Joe Lindsey obviously doesn’t seem too concerned about offending the Chinese.

Props to Lego Andy.

Everybody’s jumping on the bike bandwagon in this ad with corny lyrics.

Gas prices blowing up sky high
Ditched my use subcompact for a two wheel ride
Now I’m rollin eco-friendly
But I still look bad
When the bike store saw my credit
They said this was all they had.

I think the bike looks splendid, and part of the beauty of buying a bike is affordability. Via.

San Francisco Ciclovia criticism and activity.

More important news: Kate Hudson and Lance Armstrong are splitsville!

Shimano’s new electronic Dura Ace Di2. “The derailleurs … talk to each other and automatically adjust so the chain doesn’t rub. They also calibrate themselves, so you don’t have to play with cable tension to maintain shift quality as cables stretch and the chain and cogs wear.”

I was fooled by this headline: Lindsay Lohan hit by bike. It turns out it was a motorcycle.

Boing Boing talks about Monkey Electric.

Look pedal Recall: Look Cycle USA announced a recall of their KEO clipless pedals. The spindle can break. Look Cycle has received 14 reports of incidents with broken pedals, including 7 injuries which resulted in scrapes, cuts, contusions, elbow pain, and a knee injury. The recalled bicycle pedals are black and were sold separately from bicycles. Pedal models include KEO Classic, KEO Sprint, KEO HM and KEO Carbon. Recall details here.

The San Jose Mercury News highlighted Olympic athletes from the Bay Area today, including cyclists Christine Thorburn of Sunnyvale and Mary McConneloug of Fairfax.

Christine Thorburn

Christine Throburn practices medicine at the Palo Alto Medical Clinic as a rheumatologist, when she’s not racing for Webcor Builders women’s professional cycling team.

Christine won the National Time Trial Championship in 2004. She placed 4th in the individual time trial and 15th in the road race during the 2004 Olympics in Athens.

Christine has been racing on track and road for eleven years, with a three year break while she completed medical school at Stanford.

Mary McConneloug

Mary McCOnneloug is one of two women on the U.S. women’s mountain biking team. She hails from the birthplace of mountain biking, Fairfax, California in Marin County. Mary finished 9th in the 2004 Athens Olympics and hopes to podium in Beijing when she races on August 22.

Mary and her mountain biking husband Mike Broderick keep an online journal at Cyclingnews.com.