March 12, 2026
As I age, my body slows but perspective grows. I can no longer follow the accelerations of my son Ashlin, who is a professional cyclist, and his friends, but I can still ride with them for hours at a tempo. On their wheels, I have an appreciation for every kilometre. I realize the window of time I have to ride with them is small, which gives those kilometres more value. But with age, I also realize this is how every moment should be lived.
For a bicycle racer, the goal is a finish line, whether a banner across the road or a rock at the roadside at the end of an effort in training. To sponsors who pay the salaries, or the countries who support their riders, it’s ultimately the end score that matters: who won and who lost. Most often, results sheets overshadow how the race was ridden. Those who rode with panache, animating the race and inciting fervence in the crowd, are often forgotten before the day’s end
In post-race analysis, the metrics are analyzed and the riders are not only judged by the media, coaches, fans and online pundits based on their results but on the watts they produced, the speeds they rode, and their body weight. For the racer, there are times the job is to help a teammate win and other times it is personal. The line, whether virtual or real, is always there, in the back of the racer’s mind: it affects what they eat, how they sleep, how they move through the day. Cycling is a sport where there is little reprieve from the goal, as the culmination of consistent disciplined work makes the difference in performance. And the level of discipline in the peloton is now more acute than ever
Judged externally by outsourced metrics, the athlete will quickly lose autonomy and joy. Chasing the wrong metrics, and defining themselves and obsessing over them, will shift focus from why an athlete pursues sport to how good they are at it—a window through which they will never find contentment. Chasing the wrong metrics can, and often will, be harmful, while finding and following purpose is nurturing. Each individual has their own purpose, whether it is the sense of freedom they feel as they pedal through the countryside, the drive to inspire others, the elation, calm and euphoria a rider might feel from the endorphin and endocannabinoid release after a long ride, or the camaraderie of a shared journey. These are the more profound self-imposed reasons that determine our success, contentment and happiness.
Read the rest of the article at Canadian Cycling Magazine here.