BEAT LOCKDOWN ON YOUR BIKE
HOW TO BOOST YOUR FITNESS AND MENTAL WELLBEING ON TWO WHEELS
The most important thing about sport is that it is not important,” reflects Steven Connor, Professor of English at the University of Cambridge and author of A Philosophy of Sport. “It is only a game. But the paradoxical thing about circumstances like now is that they show that things that are not important – artistic, cultural and sporting activities – are the most important things of all.”
Many cyclists have spent the last few months wrestling with this strange paradox. With people dying of coronavirus, whole nations in lockdown, endless job losses and financial chaos, does sport now seem irrelevant or more beautiful than ever? Certainly the disruption to the professional cycling calendar and the ban on group rides with friends has left many cyclists feeling disorientated by the end of their familiar racing rituals and exercise routines.
“Sport is important because it gives us the sense of the rhythmical and the cyclical,” continues Professor Connor. “Sport takes you up into a rhythm of depletion and recovery, stress and ease, that is elemental and echoed in the rhythms of the natural world. For many people cut o! from other cycles of customary experience, like the cycles of the working day, a regular bout of exercise gives the sense of recurrence that may otherwise be lacking.”
British cyclists have fared better than most. The French and Italian governments moved quickly to ban recreational cycling whereas UK riders have been able to enjoy their daily ration of exercise. It has led many riders to cherish what they once took for granted.
“Personally, I would describe sport as more essential now than ever before,” explains Yanto Barker, a former pro cyclist and the founder of Le Col clothing. “The prospect of being stuck indoors means the chance for some fresh air and exercise to help me think clearly in an extremely di"cult time has been something I’ve counted on more than ever. On April Fools’ Day my wife said the government had cancelled outdoor exercise and I got really grumpy. Lots of people would su!er if they didn’t have the ability to exercise so they can get ready to face the challenges of the day. The definition of essential is a delicate one. You could say only food is essential but for anyone who uses exercise to support their mental health, to perform better at work, to stay healthy or for social reasons, this is essential.”
Pursuit of happiness
Veteran SundayTimes chief sports writer David Walsh has undergone an unexpected change of perspective. “I’ve worked in sport for 42 years
and I know this is going to sound like heresy but if you ask me how I feel about not being able to watch sport on TV I would say it is the least of our problems. But if you said to me that coronavirus meant I couldn’t get out for a run or a walk, that to me would be a much more damaging imposition. Anybody who rides a bike experiences something that costs nothing but that money can’t buy.”
For Dr Emily Ryall, a reader in Applied Philosophy at the University of Gloucester and the author of PhilosophyofSport:KeyQuestions, the fact that sport exists within its own space – separate to, yet still a part of, the ‘real’ world – is exactly what makes it so special. “Trying to win a race or score a goal can look completely trivial and pointless yet, when you’re in it, it means everything. Sport allows us to enter a di erent space where we are trying to achieve goals – like crossing a line before somebody else or beating a previous time – which have no value from the outside but which have real meaning to us. Even though it is trivial, it means everything because we have given it that meaning.”
The pursuit of pleasure, enjoyment and satisfaction also has an intrinsic value. “We have to have more to our lives than just work,” adds Dr Ryall. “We gain pleasure through leisure activities. Whether art, music or sport, these are all intrinsically valuable.”
She references a classic philosophy book called The Grasshopper: Games, Life and Utopia, by the late Canadian philosopher Bernard Suits. This fable about a playful grasshopper and hard-working ants argues that playing games is a central part of the ideal of human existence. “The whole book is about trying to understand what the meaning of life is, and Suits comes to the conclusion that the perfect life is one that we do for intrinsic good. So we don’t do things because we’re trying to get something else – to earn money, or to go on holiday – but for their own sake. And sport is a form of gameplay that has its own intrinsic value.”
Exercise also o ers a host of more immediate physical and psychological benefits, as Bradley Busch, a chartered psychologist for the Inner Drive mind coaching company, explains: “There are lots of physical benefits that sport can o er us in times like these, for example increased strength, energy and a heightened sense of arousal. The psychological benefits include an increase in positivity, a release of emotion and a heightened sense of self. Sport can also give us a sense of familiarity and control in these unpredictable times. And there is an element of catharsis by taking part in physical activity. It can act as a bu er against stress and uncertainty and gives us a single, less complicated focus.”
Many riders have missed the social side of cycling – whether it’s the tribalism of following particular teams or the camaraderie of riding with friends. “It helps provide identity to people and prompts them to interact with wider society,” explains Busch. “Sporting tribalism and patriotism gives us a sense of belonging, which is invaluable during times of isolation, and is a source of pride and self-worth. Research even suggests that suicides go down during major sporting events, as everyone feels more connected to each other.”
Until professional and group sport is resumed, we may find our focus becomes intensely personal, so we fixate on our goals more passionately than ever. “This may be a period in which our approach to recreational sport starts to become more individualised,” explains Professor Connor. “In a way, all of those people out running – some of them, one suspects, for the first time – or cycling or, in the case of my wife, using a punchbag in the garden, are being put in the solitary condition of the boxer or other athlete training for some event.”
Adventure capitalists
Cycling is many things to many people. It’s a way to travel around town. It’s a source of pleasure.
“We gain pleasure through leisure activities. Whether art, music or sport, these are all intrinsically valuable” DR EMILY RYALL
It’s a means of adventure. It’s a way to keep fit. And it’s an opportunity for mental escape. But for many road cyclists, self-improvement is a big part of its appeal. “Sport gives people a sense of wellbeing and confidence because we are forced to understand our bodies in relation to what we think they can or can’t do,” explains Dr Ryall. “If you haven’t trained for a week, you can often think your body is falling apart. But it’s more a psychological belief caused by the meaning that you attach to your exercise.”
Dr Ryall believes the connection between cycling and the natural world is also an essential part of its value. “It’s so important for us as humans to experience the outside world. It’s one thing sitting on a static bike in your living room for half an hour, but it’s completely di!erent to getting out into the fresh air. In terms of the phenomenological experience – your whole bodily experience – it’s not just about moving your body, it’s the smells, the sounds and the whole feeling of being outside that is important for our mental health.”
The coronavirus pandemic has already inspired many recreational cyclists to reflect on what cycling means to them, as a source of pleasure and fulfilment, as a comforting routine, and as an opportunity to connect with nature. But what might the consequences be for the world of professional cycling? The historian
Peter Hennessy believes that future historians will divide our age into eras known as BC and AC: before coronavirus and after coronavirus. Will professional sport experience a similar rift? And will we appreciate pro sport more or less?
“I think it is highly likely there will be a legacy of this for decades to come,” reflects Yanto Barker. “I think that’s inevitable but whether those changes will be net positive or net negative it is di"cult to tell. Certainly as soon as racing resumes everyone is going be so grateful that we’ll see phenomenal support, from a commercial point of view and from a spectator point of view.”
Professor Connor believes that the ingrained tribalism and patriotism of professional sport will survive this temporary curtailment. “Such forms of a"liation will probably allow sport to continue in a sort of shadow existence without the need for actual competition,” he explains. But he doesn’t think we should be afraid of organising events without spectators if necessary – though he admits it will feel strange. “Sport is a much more recent phenomenon than we think and as such continues to change its form and function. It is striking that sport without spectators should be so unthinkable. It really does appear that modern sport requires more than just watching from afar: the spectator is part of the spectacle.”
How the pro riders themselves react to what is happening to the world will also be interesting. “I have been talking to the Bahrain McLaren team and some have been under lockdown and only training on a turbo and that is a serious issue,” warns Barker. “For pros, if you don’t know what you’re training for or why you should do this exercise, that’s a problem. Training without an objective can feel really dislocating psychologically, and it can be very hard to do with conviction. If you can picture your objective – like the Nationals or the Tour de France – you can stay invigorated for each step of the process. If you don’t know even if it’s going to be on, that changes things significantly.”
All change here?
Some observers remain sceptical about whether sport will change at all. “I’d like to think that it has a good e!ect but I doubt it,” says Dr Ryall. “It’s the same arguments around the hosting of the Olympics. Everybody says people will get into participating in new sports but it only lasts two weeks...” Dr Connor agrees that not much will change – but he doesn’t think that is a bad thing: “I think that sport will smooth out this
“Sport will smooth out this apocalyptic ‘before and after’, just as it did during the suspensions of the two World Wars. The point of sport is to build longrange continuity...” PROFESSOR STEVEN CONNOR
apocalyptic ‘before and after’, just as it did during the suspensions of the two World Wars. The point of sport is to build long-range continuity.”
David Walsh hopes the traumatic events could have a positive e ect on professional sport. “I would love it if this made people think more about society in general,” he says. “We’ve watched this escalation of sports salaries, which has mirrored society at large in that the people at the top get paid inordinately well and the people at the bottom get paid inordinately badly. When we clap for health workers, of course, it is a nice idea. But wouldn’t it be better if everybody who earned a salary over £70,000 would pay 10 per cent to the health service?”
Above all else, Walsh hopes that this period of enforced reflection will encourage the sports industry to take more responsibility for the health of the nation’s sports fans. If more spectators are converted from armchair followers to active riders and racers, something good will have emerged from the wreckage. “What we’re hearing now is that we fight any virus with our immune systems but the sports industry doesn’t care if people spend eight hours a day on the couch watching sports. That works for them in the commercial sense. At the Tour de France people turn up on their bikes and that’s always reassuring. But we could do more. If that kind of realignment takes place where we all get a little bit more concerned about our fellow man, that will be a good thing for sure.”