Looking at the life of the pro rider from the fan perspective, it's hard to imagine that there isn't a load of fun to be had to make up for the hardships of the peloton. After all, the bit where you bundle into a bus with a group of your peers and travelling the world sounds closer to Cliff Richards' 'Summer Holiday' than any kind of hard knock life.
But, as newly-retired Canadian pro Mike Woods points out in his latest blog entry, bike riders are far from immune to modern loneliness – even if they are rarely alone on the road. Bluetooth headphones connected to the usual devices are de rigeur, he says, resulting in the riders cocooning themselves in a one-person electro-shell. It's a far cry, says Woods, from days of old – or, as they are otherwise known, the pre-internet age.
"Cycling, in the modern era, can often be a lonely sport," he wrote. "If you go on the team bus of most WorldTour teams during a transfer, most riders, directors, and staff aren’t chatting. They have their Bose over-the-ear headphones on, their iPads, iPhones, or computers out, and Netflix is in abundance.
"I remember talking to Juan Manuel Garate, my first WorldTour director… telling me that in the 90s, pre-smartphones, when he did his first Grand Tour, guys would come back to the hotel, throw their bags in the room, and then go check out what was going on in the town.
He adds: "Everybody involved in the sport felt far more connected to the region that they were racing in."
Woods was writing in a blog entry titled 'No Team Bus', in which he described how the discipline of Skimo (ski mountaineering) that is among numerous ultra and adventure sports he is pursuing this year, feels very like that older iteration of pro cycling. It is, in many ways, decades behind cycling, he says, but adds: "I"m finding that's what I'm loving most about it."
He was in the town of Arreches in the French Alps to take part in the multi-stage Pierra Menta Skimo race. It's a sport, says Woods, has a level of "authenticity" and a "purity" that he has not seen before, and is often more about conquering the mountain in front of you rather than beating the other guy. "Therefore, unlike a bike race, where often you feel as though every competitor is staring you down and looking for some type of weakness, ski mountaineers are just stoked to see somebody else who has been bitten by the bug."
Woods's blog is documenting his 2026 post-cycling adventures, which he hopes will include more Skimo, an Ironman triathlon and the Unbound gravel bike race among others.
