Cycling as escapism?

iain_j
iain_j Posts: 1,941
edited April 2010 in The bottom bracket
The more cycling biographies I read, the more I come across the theme of successful cyclists with a troubled background. Lance Armstrong, Marco Pantani, Graeme Obree, Fausto Coppi, Frank Vandenbroucke, Greg Lemond, Matt Seaton (author of The Escape Artist), the Colombians in "Kings Of The Mountains", my mate who went off and did months-long cycle tours, and myself to some extent. Most if not all saw cycling as an escape.

Cycling is the only sport I really follow so obviously I'm not seeing if this happens in other sports too, but does it? What do you reckon the appeal is?

Comments

  • guilliano
    guilliano Posts: 5,495
    The chance to be alone with your own thoughts, listening to the world as it goes about its daily business, the hypnotic nature of a steady cadence..... there are many reasons why cycling is a great form of escapism. It is what got me out of a horrible manic depressive spiral. If it wasn't for cycling I would still suffer severely with depression. If it wasn't for depression I wouldn't be a cyclist
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/guilliano/
  • crumbschief
    crumbschief Posts: 3,399
    For some and with an open mind alot can be learn't from pain,the negative and obstacles,cycling can show you all of those qualities,and those names listed like all of us are an example of what you do with them,i do find it hard to find a greater show of endurance and strength in cycling than the Tours,amazing stuff.
  • northernneil
    northernneil Posts: 1,549
    other 'solitary' sports can give that escapism, fishing & golf come to mind but few offer the physicality that cycling can bring to the table with it
  • shockedsoshocked
    shockedsoshocked Posts: 4,021
    Quite common in endurance, non-team based sports. You must have noticed most cyclists are wierd? :lol:
    "A cyclist has nothing to lose but his chain"

    PTP Runner Up 2015
  • markyboy2005
    markyboy2005 Posts: 465
    I think "troubled pasts" or a sensitive or fragile nature/behaviour can help create great sportsmen in many sports.

    Think of some of the great individual football players, Best, Gascoigne, Maradonna, even to a certain extent Zidane and you can see that part of their brilliance is part of their "quirky" nature.

    Got a hangover today so not able to think too hard about this one, but I have to imagine that they get lost in the sport, become obsessed with it almost and then really shine at it.

    Any other sports where you can see this.....? Let me clear out the brain and I'll get back to you...?
  • Flasheart
    Flasheart Posts: 1,278
    ShockedSoShocked wrote:
    You must have noticed most cyclists are wierd? :lol:

    I represent that remark :P
    The universal aptitude for ineptitude makes any human accomplishment an incredible miracle. ...Stapp’s Ironical Paradox Law
    FCN3
    http://img87.yfrog.com/img87/336/mycubeb.jpg
    http://lonelymiddlesomethingguy.blogspot.com/
  • markyboy2005
    markyboy2005 Posts: 465
    Flasheart wrote:
    ShockedSoShocked wrote:
    You must have noticed most cyclists are wierd? :lol:

    I represent that remark :P

    what's wierd about dressing up in Lycra and going out on my bike with pink tassles hanging off the handlebars????

    Some people..... :roll:
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 75,661
    Some pro once said that going out training on your own in the mountains was like doing crack.
    _
  • snailracer
    snailracer Posts: 968
    Rick Chasey wrote:
    Some pro once said that going out training on your own in the mountains was like doing crack.
    Endorphins - DIY opium.
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 75,661
    snailracer wrote:
    Rick Chasey wrote:
    Some pro once said that going out training on your own in the mountains was like doing crack.
    Endorphins - DIY opium.

    I think he also meant that it ruins you.
    _

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