I'm going to tell you about why I love watching pro road cycling. No, hang on, I'm not even sure I know why, but I do love it so!
I've become a sportsperson over the last ten years of my life, and the parallel evolution of a sports fan makes me wonder - could one exist without the other?
I know quite a few fans of our 'national' sport (oh do excuse me whilst I laugh like a drain) who don't so much as pull on a shinpad more than once a year, never mind compete at any other sport. In cynical moments I loathe the lads and lasses swigging beer and getting all worked up about a group of people doing a thing which they couldn't even begin to fathom out. I mean they don't really appreciate how the professionals get to where they are, the years of hard work, pain, shunning family, friends and fun. They just see them as stadium-ready celebs. They do sport vicariously through 22 overpaid men. The media let footballers get away with all sorts of bad and unsporting behaviour and fuel the culture which forgets what sporting brilliance is even about.
Back to cycling. One reason I love it is illustrated well by my experience watching the Tour de France this week in the UK. Thousands of people do the 'thing' - cycling - which the pros do, in order to arrive at the roadside and cheer. After the mayhem of the peloton passed, it was a joyous sight to see the roads claimed entirely for bikes, all kinds of bikes, all happily riding back to their homes. Buses had to patiently wait for bikes to pass and a vision of a greener world fleetingly swam into view. So many polite, overwhelmed and smiling cyclists all revelling on 'their day'. You wouldn't get that at a football stadium, as football doesn't also happen to be a neat mode of transport.
I love pro cycling because it speaks to my experience of me versus the miles. I run for sport, I also happen to ride for transport and sometimes for japes. It's an attainable type of thing to be enthused about. I can understand how good those lean lycra wearers are, because I see their mph, at least twice my top effort. I am in awe of them, every woman and man with their grazed elbows, enormously wonderful machines, clear eyes and smiling faces.
I love road races for the tactics, for the game within the race, it's not just fastest to the line, and luck plays a big part. We all have seen the champion falling in the final battle and slink off with no hope of completing, likewise we've seen the unlucky rider pick themself up and grit the hell out of a few hundred kilometers in order to finish the race, to rapturous receptions and melting hearts.
I'm still not sure exactly how I became such a fan girl but wow, I love it. I love attending races, I love chatting about the probable winners and losers, I love yelling their names from dreary wet roadsides and losing my shit when the Grand Tours roll by. Allez allez allez!
