Mike Day

365 Day — Silver in the First Olympic BMX Final Ever Held

A Legend Bike Co. rider page · built from Mike Day's ABA, UCI, and Olympic record and period BMX and Olympic press

At a glance

Level AA Pro, Elite Men
Nationality American, born October 9, 1984, in Tarzana, California
Team Staats Bicycles (2002–2006) → GT Bicycles / Red Bull (2007–)
Known for Olympic silver medal, Beijing 2008 — the first Olympic BMX final ever held; member of the first US Olympic BMX team; UCI racing number 365

Mike Day was standing on the biggest stage BMX racing had ever been given — the very first Olympic BMX final — and he came home with a silver medal from it. He is also the answer to a small but well-loved piece of BMX trivia: how a rider ended up racing under the number "365 Day."

Valencia Raceway, Age Nine

Day started racing at Valencia Raceway in California on his ninth birthday, tagging along on his older brother's rides until his father decided to take him to an actual race. His first race bike was a GT Interceptor. He turned professional in April 2002, at 17, with his first pro result a second-place finish at the ABA Winter Nationals in Phoenix. His first professional win came the next month, at the NBL Golden State National in Prunedale, California — he won both days of the event. It took him three years to land his first Senior Pro win, which finally came at the 2005 ABA World Championship in Ontario, California.

365 Day

When Day turned pro, the ABA assigned him a racing number in the 300s, as it did with most new pros. His came out to 365 — the number of days in a year — and with his surname printed underneath it on the back of his jersey, it read "365 Day." "Everyone talked about it," he said at the time, "and I said, 'That's it. That's going to be my number.' I'll pretty much wear it till I'm done racing." The nickname outlived the explanation; most of the sport just knew him as 365.

GT Bicycles, and a Golden Crank

Day signed with GT Bicycles and Red Bull in 2007, debuting for the team at the ABA Silverdollar National in Reno that January. He'd already won the 2005 NORA Cup, and in 2008 he was named the ABA Golden Crank winner for Pro of the Year — the season that would carry him all the way to Beijing.

Making Olympic History

BMX racing debuted as an Olympic sport at the 2008 Beijing Games, and on June 14, 2008, Day won the Team Trials at the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, California, securing his place on the first US Olympic BMX team ever assembled, alongside Kyle Bennett and Donny Robinson. The team was selected under USA Cycling BMX program director Mike King. Day trained for six months on a duplicate of the Beijing track built specifically to prepare the team, and sat out the UCI BMX World Championships in Beijing two weeks before the Olympics to stay focused on the Games. In the crowd cheering him on at the Trials was his good friend Bubba Harris, who had broken his own ankle in practice two days earlier and was out of contention himself — a hard way to watch a friend make the team you couldn't.

Beijing — Silver in the First Olympic BMX Final

On August 20, 2008, Day swept his quarter-final runs and won the seeding time trial, qualifying comfortably for the semifinals. Two days later, on August 22, he won the silver medal in the men's BMX final — the first Olympic BMX final ever held — becoming the second American ever to win an Olympic BMX medal. Gold in that same final went to Latvia's Māris Štrombergs, who was winning the first Olympic BMX gold medal in history at the same moment Day was winning silver.

Where the Public Record Runs Thin

Day's activity in recent years is not well documented in the sources checked for this page. Earlier press coverage placed him working in product development and sales for Daylight Cycle Co. after his competitive racing career wound down, but nothing more recent than that was found. His current status, whereabouts, and any activity in BMX beyond that role are not confirmed here, and this page does not speculate beyond what is documented.

Where Mike Day fits in the bigger story

Connected by the 2008 Beijing final: Māris Štrombergs, who won gold in the same race. Friend and fellow Olympic Trials competitor: Bubba Harris. Team USA BMX program director who built the 2008 roster: Mike King. Sanctioning history: ABA, USA BMX. The bigger arc is in our History of BMX series.

Sources

Wikipedia, "Mike Day (cyclist)" — birth details, amateur and pro results record, sponsor timeline, and the June 14, 2008 Olympic Trials win. USA Today, "Mike Day wins spot on first-ever US Olympic BMX team" (June 14, 2008). Team USA and Olympics.com athlete profiles for Mike Day. Red Bull, "Mike Day Works His Way Back to BMX Racing," and fatbmx.com, "Mike Day and Corben Sharrah join Daylight Cycle Co." — post-competitive career reference.