BEIJING -- Adam Craig didn't really finish his first Olympics mountain bike race, being pulled off the course as he was completing his next-to-last lap.

Then again, he really didn't start it too well either.

Craig's misstep at the start of the mountain bike cross-country finals at Laoshan Mountain Bike Course cost him a lot of time and real estate that he could never make up. Then again, he's not too sure it would have mattered.

"You give what you have to give," he said. "And I didn't have a whole lot to give today."

Craig, the 27-year-old Exeter native, officially finished 29th. Julien Absalon of France, the top-rated mountain biker in the world, won the eight-lap race in 1 hour, 55 minutes, 59 seconds, breezing past the field. Countryman Jean-Christophe Peraud was second, at 1:57:06, and Switzerland's Nino Schurter was third at 1:57:52.

Craig, who had finished fourth and third in his last two World Cup races in July, said he was more disappointed in the missed opportunity to promote his sport to a U.S. audience than he was with his performance.

"It's unfortunate," he said. "It would have been a good opportunity to get some people psyched about mountain bike racing in the U.S. We kind of blew that."

Under the sport's "80-percent rule," Craig was pulled off the course just as his seventh lap was to be completed. U.S. teammate Todd Wells was pulled off after his fifth lap, placing 43rd officially.

According to Marc Gullickson, the U.S. mountain bike coach, a rider must complete his lap within 80 percent of the time the leader completes his. If this doesn't happen, there is the possibility that the leader will lap the rider and race officials want a clear path for the leaders. They don't want the course clogged with slower riders. "If you run slow," said Craig, "they put you out of your misery, basically."

And it was misery on the course for Craig, who opened and sucked on packets of honey and ginseng while riding, to maintain his energy. "I know it was my last lap and I would have loved to finish," he said. "But I was pretty psyched they did it because I don't know if I could have physically ridden around the course again."

His pain began at the start. Situated in the second row on the right, Craig's foot slipped off his pedal, not just once, but several times. "Pilot error," said Craig. "All you've got to do is stick your foot in the pedal. It's not hard. John Q. Bike Rider does it every day."

But on this day, Craig had a problem getting his foot in the pedal, something, he said, happens to him about once in every 10 races. As he tried to get his bike under him, the rest of the pack flew by him and he was quickly last among the 50 starters.

"This was especially bad for me," he said. "Slip your pedal three times in a row and you're last, everyone sprinting while you're coasting at two miles an hour. "That was very less than ideal. But without that having happened I didn't have a whole lot today anyway. I'm sure I could have been 10th to 15th."

Gullickson said the bad start simply started Craig down a bad path.

"He probably went in a little deep trying to make up ground and that tends to come back and hurt you," said Gullickson. "Especially on a day like this."

The temperature was well into the high 80s when the race started. Fans that lined the course sought shelter in the shade of trees or carried open umbrellas.

Craig made up a little time in the second and third laps, but then began to fade again. And while his race ended a lap early, he still officially is credited with finishing the race, though it will be noted that he was down a lap. Another twist of the rules.

Gullickson wore his disappointment on his face. He expected both Craig and Wells to compete with the leaders.

"They looked like they were going to have good days," he said. "They had good training, they looked relaxed.

"It disappointing for sure. But also it's mountain biking. There are good days and bad days."

And Craig is confident his next day will be a good one when he races in a World Cup race in Australia.

"It's the week-after syndrome," he said. "I do it all the time in the fall."