SAN FRANCISCO -- It was a good day to go sailing in the San Francisco Bay. It was also a great day to fly a kite. Wind surfing was also a possible way to spend the start of the Fourth of July holiday weekend on Friday.

But jumping a bike into the teeth of a 40 mph wind? Even that was too extreme for the X Games.

The preliminary round of bicycle dirt jumping was postponed until Saturday morning due to San Francisco's notorious high winds. The contest was scheduled to go off at 7 p.m., but by 7:30 it was clear that the winds weren't going to calm any time soon.

	The dirt riders got in a few practice jumps before a 40-mph wind forced the prelims to be pushed back to Saturday morning.

So event organizers decided to reschedule the prelims and finals hopefully before the wind starts blowing their hardest Saturday. The prelims will start at 11 a.m., with the finals scheduled to follow sometime after 2 p.m.

The finals were originally scheduled for 8 p.m. Saturday night, but Friday's early-evening practice session was the second in a row called off because of high winds. The winds normally tend to pick up after 3 p.m. in the City by the Bay.

"I wish we would have been able to jump tonight, but I don't want to die," said Jay Miron, a silver medalist in both street and vert already in X Games V.

Miron's sentiments were shared by all riders. A short practice was held earlier in the day and riders were able to get in a few jumps. But once the headwinds kicked up, nobody was even attempting the easiest of tricks.

Most of the riders just sat on the top of the ramp like Ryan Nyquist and got "wind burn."

As for the thousands of fans lining the course? They were determined to see dirt jumping and stuck around in what became a major dust bowl until the official announcement that the event had been postponed.

"It's pretty windy and I'm not sure if it's too wise for us to ride in these conditions," Nyquist said. "It's probably not the best idea to ride today.

"This wind is directly in our face, so it hinders our speed and carrying speed into the rhythm section. If it was at our back it would be awesome. It would help us. But because it's in our face, it's almost impossible to make it through the second set.

"It's just unfortunate it had to happen the last couple of days."

Wind has been a factor all week at X Games V, but the past two nights have produed some of the harshest weather of the 10 days of competition.

During an early-afternoon practice session Friday, however, it was calm enough for riders to get used to the new course. Unlike last year, this year's course will be heavy on speed with a 30-foot drop off a ramp into the first of three possible dirt jumps.

""I wish we would have been able to jump tonight, but I don't want to die." -- Jay Miron bike dirt jumper

Like last year's event in San Diego, the course offers riders a choice of three different lines of attack. Defending gold medalist Brian Foster liked the feel of the course until the winds arrived.

"It was decent this morning, just a little breezy. I found a few lines that I liked," Foster said. "It seems everyone is sticking to one side (of the course), so I'm going to try to do some things on the other side just to be different.

"When it's not windy, these jumps are good, they have potential. (But) if we were at home and these where our local trails, no one would be here."

Foster said postponing the contest was in the best interest of the event and riders' safety.

"The jumps are rideable (in this wind), but it would be the worst display of bike riding you've ever seen," Foster said. "I think half of us would make it, but these fans would be like, 'These are the best riders you've got?' It would be horrible."

"The jumps are good. If we can get no wind, we'll have a good show."

T.J. Lavin, the 1997 X Games gold medalist in dirt jumping, was also dissappointed about holding the event a day later -- not just for his own personal reasons, but also for the fans who showed up to watch the competition.

"I'm pretty bummed about the whole situation," Lavin said. "Everyone shows up and now we can't bust big for them. I'm just bummed.

"At least if the jumps were facing the other way we might be able to salvage something. (If) the only way we are going to be able to run this thing is at 2 a.m., I'm down to ride. Just turn the lights on and let's do this.

"I'm just really bummed that these fans aren't going to get to watch us do what we do (tonight). It's the first time in San Francisco, the most fans ever at an X Games, hopefully we'll be able to salvage this thing and pull it through."