Bicycles at the Canoe/Kayak Races?

Question

I was watching the Olympics today and was wondering who the people on the bicycles riding down the side of the river are. They look like the are riding between the edge of the river and the stands where the spectators are sitting. Who are they and do they have some sort of significance? What are they doing?

Answer 1

Those are actually the coaches of the various teams.  You can also see the same thing in the rowing events.  Apparently there have been some legendary crashes as the coaches tried to shout instructions or encouragement to their teams and lost track of where they were vis-a-vis the water or other cyclists!

Those are not spectators.

Answer 2

I believe that they are also spectators, riding bicycles so that they can best see what is happening in the race. So no significance really. :)