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 The first-ever Olympic silver medalist in BMX, Beijing 2008 — the sport’s Olympic debut; 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, at the sport’s Olympic debut — and he came home as the first-ever Olympic silver medalist in BMX. 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.
After School, at Bill Ryan’s Shop
Years before Beijing, a teenage Mike Day — around 16 — would drive over to Bill Ryan’s shop after school. He’d play Donkey Kong and help Bill pack a few boxes. Then Lincoln Ryan, Bill’s oldest son, would get home from school, and Mikey would say, "Hey Linc, beat ya" — meaning he’d topped Lincoln’s high score again. Lincoln would ask if he could play, and Bill told him homework came first. So Lincoln would run in the house, do his homework, and by the time he was done, Mikey would already be gone. Lincoln would sit down and play Donkey Kong until he beat Mikey’s score, then call him on the phone just to say it back: "Mikey, beat ya." That went on between them for six months. Per Bill Ryan, firsthand, 2026.
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. That team had a fourth member, Jill Kintner, who had taken the women's place on June 2 with a sixth at the UCI World Championships in Taiyuan and who went on to win bronze in Beijing — and the National BMX Hall of Fame inducted all four of them together in 2012. 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 first-ever Olympic silver medalist in BMX, and the second American to medal in the sport that day. 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.
After Racing, and Daylight Cycle Co.
Day was involved with Daylight Cycle Co. at the company’s formation, but left roughly a month in, per Bill Ryan, firsthand, 2026. His activity in the years since is not well documented in the sources checked for this page.
Where Mike Day fits in the bigger story
Connected by the 2008 Beijing final: Māris Štrombergs, who won gold in the same race. The rest of the first US Olympic BMX team: Donny Robinson, Kyle Bennett and Jill Kintner. 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. USA BMX, "National BMX Hall of Fame 2012 Inductees Announced," May 10, 2012 — the first US Olympic BMX team named as four riders, Mike Day, Donny Robinson, Kyle Bennett and Jill Kintner, all inducted together under Special Recognition. 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.