Fascinating. The sport that once elicited giggles and derisive comments has become the fastest growing sport in South Africa, and is moving up the charts of the world’s most popular sports. Have a look:
1. Soccer
2. Basketball
3. Tennis
4. Gymnastics
5. Swimming
6. Cycling
7. Rugby
8. Cricket
9. Baseball
10. Field Hockey
Cycling Sensibility
It’s no accident that cycling makes sense. Of the above sports, it is the only one that combines an almost seamless synergy between man and machine. Machines play an integral part of the daily grind; most people in the western world spend most of their working week hunched over computers, then drive home in machines.
Metaphor
What is the metaphor then, that cycling has for life in the New World? Firstly, and most obviously, it is a sport based on effiency. It is the world's most efficient transport mechanism - BY FAR. Cycling is a complicated sport requiring consistency and strategy in order to excel. Co-operation is one of the highest virtues in cycle. In cycling, the strongest rider doesn’t always win. This is a sport where brawn has to be matched by brains.
Brawn remains important. You need a strong, light rider (power to weight ratio) and a bicycle made with cutting edge technology, light and strong materials (carbon fibre, titanium, aluminum etc). Brains are required to drive innovation behind the brawn - the aerodynamics of the frame, the heart rate/lactate and power thresholds, also the most suitable cadence, for the brawn.
In life, knowing about tech, being able to use it easily, efficiently and intelligently - being able to outmsart, but also to express (sometimes to decieve or conceal information) and market oneself in a particular way, and having the confidence and wit to be competitive – these are the vital ingredients for the ambitious performer.
Cyclists are typified as follows:
Perfectionists
Highly competitive
Intelligent
Disciplined
Integrated mindset
The last implies the ability to manage a number of things at once. When cycling, you are juggling road hazards with momentum, with slipstreaming, with strategy and ability, and factoring in the performances of those around you, the route and the weather.
It’s the holistic approach that wins, and a sound, cogent strategy allows for the most vital adaptation of the bike: the ability to be efficient. Teamwork is implicit.
Speed, Efficiency and Collaboration
In the New World, speed and efficiency are crucial keywords. The New Man will need to be a lightweight tightrope walker, able to adapt strategies, and quickly find and adjust to new alternatives (based on a co-operative/collabortive mindset). The winners will be able to maintain a consistent pace while things fall apart around them, whatever the weather. Here a last skill becomes important: anticipation. Cyclists, unlike many other athletes, can outwit their rivals by making accurate predictions not only while they are on the road, but beforehand.
It’s possible that if things pan out really badly, we’ll all be cyclists. Would that really be so bad?
More Cycling Articles written by NVDL:
Read The Psychology of Cycling here.
Read The Best Driver's Are Also Cyclists here.
Read The Cycling Conundrum here.
Read The Secret of Lance Armstrong's Success here.
Read Simon and the Cyclopede - A New Film For Pixar here.
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