One of the Games’ most popular cycling races has a surprisingly complex history rooted in gambling and postwar Japan
“Whatever you do, don’t stop pedalling or you’ll be thrown off the bike.”
That was the final piece of advice Ryo Okuhara gave me as, with a gentle push, he sent me on a gingerly paced lap of a velodrome on a steel-framed bicycle with no brakes, my feet strapped into pedals that never stopped turning.