Do you know anything about cycling?

“Do you know anything about cycling?" 

It’s a good question. Mark Cavendish threw it back at a reporter after the Olympic road race. That it was rhetorical was shown the following day when tabloids branded him a “nowhere man” and suggested that Alexandre Vinokourov was an “unknown”. But that’s tabloid journalists for you.

“Do you know anything about cycling?”

Nigel Wynn suggested in his blog for Cycling Weekly that now is a great time for experienced cyclists to share their knowledge and enthusiasm for the sport with ‘new fans’. I’m all for that. What I’m not so sure about is the idea that we should try and make analogies with football to do so. Quite apart from the fact that I chose cycling (or that it chose me) as a teenager precisely because it wasn’t football, I’m not even sure that the comparisons make much sense. Certainly the one Nigel makes in his blog went right over my head. Of course I’m prepared to admit that’s down to my (peculiar?) vacuum of knowledge about football, but still....

I always assumed that all the people I heard talking about football, rugby or whatever actually knew what they were on about. I thought it was just my determination to disengage from those parts of mainstream sporting culture that led to my ignorance. In recent years though, as those same people have talked in a similar way about cycling, it has dawned on me that the chances are they don’t really have anything more than a rudimentary knowledge of any of those other sports either. In other words, they are not really fans of sport at all; merely fans of watching sport and of pontificating blandly about it in the pub. And I’m not knocking that, because I realise that it’s pointless to insist that people should love something in the same way you do yourself. I realised that years ago with music: for many people it’s simply not that important. And why should it be?

For many people the sport itself isn’t really that important at all: every four years the notion of success for their nation trumps everything. For many people the ‘failure’ of Team GB and Cavendish to bring home an Olympic gold medal was a personal affront. These kind of people deserve no respect. No amount of explanation of the subtleties and complexities of road cycling would change their minds. Why waste the energy?

“My national pride is a personal pride” sang Kevin Rowland back in 1985, and I wonder to what extent athletes, as opposed to fans, identify with that sentiment. I know I always have. And pride is a powerful emotion. I thought David Millar was spot on when he exhaustedly expressed pride at the way the team rode on Saturday. Because for all the hype about Cavendish being nailed on for the win, anyone with any knowledge of cycling always knew what a monumental task it actually was.

And really, this is what it comes down to: knowledge of cycling as a sport carried out by others is all but impossible without knowledge of some vaguely-serious cycling yourself. I’m sure it’s the same with swimming, gymnastics, rowing, athletics. Football, even. If you want to truly understand something, you’ve got to try and do it yourself.

So let’s not dumb down a beautifully complex sport to sound-bite banalities for the tabloids. Let’s not ignore the long, rich and colourful history of road cycling simply because our country chose to all but ignore it for the best part of a century. And above all, let’s get out on our bikes (Police permission pending, of course).

Comments

[Dave]

Fantastic article. Having tried in vain to argue with some non-cyclists on Sunday evening that Cav was right to snap at the reporter and how GB "lost the gold" was not as simple as they didn't ride fast enough it can be very frustrating explaining a sport to someone who has only become aware of it in recent months following the success of Team Sky in the tour.

I follow football to a similar degree that I do cycling, the analysis of football can be as technical as cycling but the man on the street (or in the pub) does not have the time for that. They want facts, fast and easy to understand. Sky Sports led this, and my worry is cycling coverage will attempt to head in a similar direction to appeal more to the man on the street. He won't need to understand that the gap needs a certain amount of KM to be bridged, or that being a good sprinter does not make for an outstanding climber - let's hope that Sky don't get the tour coverage.

[alistair]

Thanks Dave, glad you enjoyed the article. As a long term F1 fan (despite the fact that I don't drive!), I sometimes fret that cycling may go down a similar route regarding commercialisation. However I always console myself that as long as cycling remains on freely open roads it probably won't... and you can't see how you could do otherwise, can you? despite the corporate VIP efforts at the last part of the Tour Of Flanders this year. On a connected note though, the dedicated Sky F1 channel IS quite a successful venture in that it gives some very informed, technical analysis. So if there was a similarly dedicated cycling channel... Or is that just Eurosport?!