The bike which Ulmer rode in the women's 3000m individual pursuit in Athens yesterday morning was the brainchild of Christchurch designer Milton Bloomfield, who was up early to see his creation's finest hour.
It's the sum total of all of the work," Bloomfield said. "Without the bike Sarah wouldn't win, and without Sarah the bike wouldn't perform, plus there's so many people involved behind the scenes as well.
"The bike was better than anything her competition had - I've got no doubt about that."
The racing cycle on which Ulmer has twice shattered the world record for the distance was the creation of Bloomfield's company Dynamic Composites and New Zealand cycle firm Avanti.
Ulmer wanted to ride a New Zealand bike in Athens and, with very few people here working in the field, ended up in Bloomfield's workshop a few months ago.
With the Olympics so close, building a bike fit for the occasion was a rushed job. Resources were also scarce and Bloomfield - a yacht designer who has recently turned his skills to cycle manufacture - said in those circumstances a gold medal result was deeply satisfying.
Ulmer's old bike was "a completely terrible design" Bloomfield said. "It was just so obvious ... and so I asked the question straight up, `why is it like this and not like any other way?'"
As a result _ and after a check of cycling's rules _ Bloomfield changed the position of the handlebars and made the frame considerably lighter, reducing the bike's weight from around 7.5kg to 6.8kg: the minimum weight.
The bike was refined through six months of testing at the University of Canterbury where mechanical engineers, bio-mechanics and representatives of the Academy of Sport put it through a series of wind tunnel tests.
University director of Sport Science and Research Services Paul Carpinter said many people were involved in finding the optimum set-up for Ulmer on her machine.
"We did a lot of work in terms of her posture on the bike so that she could minimise resistance but also impart the maximum amount of force on the pedals."
The university also helped develop other technology such as sensors for the pedals on Ulmer's training bike so data taken from a variety of training conditions could be downloaded and analysed.
Bloomfield's work has been closely watched, with the British team in particular having copied elements of his design for their Olympic bikes.
"It's nice that someone with so much money can reinforce my design," he said. With Bloomfield's bike a proven winner, he is now predicting a big future for the nascent cycle workshop.
"We're really excited about the potential we've got for future work, and we've got a bike in mind we're working on now for next year which will be superior to what's out there now."
That's the bike he wants Ulmer riding next year.
Bloomfield will also link up with BikeNZ and the New Zealand Academy of Sport for future projects. "The Academy has set up a technology programme to basically use New Zealand technology to help our athletes perform better across a range of sports," he said.
"We'll be involved with that quite heavily focusing on equipment sports like cycling, rowing, kayaking and yachting."
He said he was looking forward to "getting stuck in" with new sports after the debriefs had taken place from Athens.
Anyone wanting a 2004 model is welcome to contact him.