tag:theconversation.com,2011:/au/topics/new-year-2017-34358/articlesNew Year 2017 – The Conversation2018-01-03T10:43:53Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/892532018-01-03T10:43:53Z2018-01-03T10:43:53ZHow our minds construct the past, present and future depends on our relationship with time<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/199999/original/file-20171219-4980-s8o6mo.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.pexels.com/photo/art-city-clock-clock-face-277458/">Pexels</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>New Year has arrived, or have we arrived at New Year? While both statements convey the same idea, they are viewed from two different perspectives on time.</p>
<p>On the one hand, we may think of events as things that are on the move, heading towards us. “Holidays are coming” is a classic example of the “moving time” perspective. Time is seen as an unstoppable train, hurtling towards us from the future and into the past. </p>
<p>On the other hand, we might imagine ourselves as being on the move through time, as in: “We’ve arrived at the moment of truth” – the “moving ego” perspective. Here, time is seen as a path for us to move along, into the future. </p>
<p>While these perspectives differ, they both see the past lying behind us, the present as the place where we are, and the future as ahead of us. But does our perspective on time simply boil down to a matter of preference or are other factors also at play?</p>
<h2>Forwards or backwards?</h2>
<p>Although many languages across the globe picture the future as in front of us and the past as behind us, there are notable exceptions. The <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22542697">Yupno</a> community of Papua New Guinea, for instance, point downhill towards the mouth of the river when talking about the past, and up the mountain to the source of the river when discussing the future. An expression like “a few years ago” (omoropmo bilak) roughly translates as “down there other side year”.</p>
<p>In other languages, people’s perspectives on time differ radically from the way they speak about time. That is, there are “disassociations” between the two. A case in point is <a href="https://www.memrise.com/course/5425/beginners-darija/">Darija</a> – a Moroccan dialect of modern Arabic – where both the future and the past can be seen as something that lies ahead of us.</p>
<p>In one <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25052830">study</a>, speakers of Darija completed a number of time related tasks, such as matching objects to boxes representing the future and the past. Here, individuals were more likely to position the future as behind the speaker and the past as in front of them – opposite to the arrangement found in the Arabic language.</p>
<p>One suggested reason for this is that compared to many Europeans and Americans, Moroccans tend to be more past focused. They place more value on tradition, as well as more importance on older generations. In this way, people who focus on the past devote more attention to it – as though past events were objects that they could see with their eyes.</p>
<p>In other words, differences in perspectives on time can be rooted in what we focus on. But does our focus always remain the same or does it change from time to time?</p>
<h2>Temporal milestones</h2>
<p>Temporal milestones, such as landmark birthdays, the changing seasons, as well as new beginnings can affect people’s mindsets – particularly their perspectives on time.</p>
<p>For many, New Year provides an opportunity to start afresh, to reset the clock, or to make resolutions for the future. <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2204126">Google searches</a> for gym visits, as well as commitments to pursue goals – such as learning something new or helping others – all increase at the start of the year.</p>
<p>In this way, the arrival of New Year can interrupt our attention from our day-to-day activities. The effect is that people are more likely to psychologically distance their “current” self from their “past” self – as they take a big picture view of their lives and aspire towards their new, more positive self image.</p>
<h2>For better, for worse</h2>
<p>Another culprit that affects people’s perspectives on time is <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02699930701810335">how they feel</a> about an event in question. When asked to imagine a negative event in the future, like an examination, people are more likely to think of it as approaching them. By contrast, positive events in the future, like weddings, are seen as things that we actively move towards.</p>
<p>Of course, there are also <a href="https://www.degruyter.com/view/j/cogl.2014.25.issue-1/cog-2013-0030/cog-2013-0030.xml">personality related</a> differences in attitudes towards events in time. The anticipation of lengthy social gatherings – such as birthday parties or reunions – may sound <a href="https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/55983/quiet/">more appealing to extroverts than introverts</a>. In the words of the introverted author <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/310838/the-introverts-way-by-sophia-dembling/9780399537691/">Sophia Dembling</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>If parties were roller coasters, extroverts would be the riders with their arms in the air, and introverts would be the ones hanging on with a white-knuckled grip</p>
</blockquote>
<p>All in all, this paints a quite a complex picture of time. Differences in perspectives emerge on every level, from language and culture, to temporal milestones and personal attitudes. And in this way, how you see in the New Year might actually reveal more about your frame of mind than you had realised. </p>
<p>So whether you’ve arrived at New Year or New Year has arrived, whether it’s in front of you or behind, whether you doffed your hat to it quietly from the comforts of your own home or from a crowded room – whatever your view, one thing’s for sure, it happens regardless.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/89253/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sarah Duffy does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>What time looks like in different cultures.Sarah Duffy, Senior Lecturer in Languages and Linguistics, Northumbria University, NewcastleLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/866542017-12-29T10:48:19Z2017-12-29T10:48:19ZHow to tell your new year fortune the Edwardian way<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/199048/original/file-20171213-27575-x5khal.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/flicking-through-pages-170925866?src=SXT4rWwb7Umw0zDnTnmGWA-1-34">Leisha Kemp-Walker/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Whether snuggled up at home or out partying with family and friends, the dawn of the new year is something to toast to. But not so long ago, the people of Britain were commemorating the start of the forthcoming 12 months in a very different way – with books. </p>
<p>In the early 20th century, Edwardian Britain was gripped by a reading craze. On the playground at school, on a tea break down the mines, or in the drawing room of a mansion, men, women and children of all classes and ages were rarely without a book.</p>
<p>The idea of giving a book as a gift became popularised in the Victorian era. Books were bought for others to celebrate birthdays, weddings, anniversaries and, of course, Christmas. In fact, by the end of the 19th century, books had come to be so expected at Christmas that one Times reporter claimed that “<a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Victorian_Christmas_in_Print.html?id=PdDFAAAAQBAJ&redir_esc=y">Christmas would not be recognised without them</a>”.</p>
<p>Books at Christmas is not something unique to British culture. Icelanders have long given books to each other on Christmas Eve and stayed up all night reading them. The custom is so deeply ingrained in Icelandic culture that it causes an annual <em>jólabókaflóðið</em> (“Christmas book flood”), as countless copies of around 700 volumes are published in <a href="http://www.islit.is/en/news/nr/3658">just over four months</a>. But it is the way that Edwardian Britons used these books that is quite unusual.</p>
<p>As mass consumerism and the formation of a commodity culture grew, the Victorian practice gradually spread to the new year. By 1901, no Edwardian stepped into the new year without a book. But the reason of this was not down to a tradition of gift-giving, it was guided by superstition. The <a href="http://neovictorianparlour.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/happy-new-year-victorian-style.html">Edwardians believed</a> that bad luck would fall upon any family who did not have a book in hand when the clock struck midnight on December 31. </p>
<h2>Predicting the future</h2>
<p>Books were said to foretell a family’s fortune for the year. So, on New Year’s Day, families would gather around the fireplace and practice bibliomancy. This involved opening the new book on a random page and reading the passage to predict what would happen in the coming year.</p>
<p>Bibliomancy (from biblio meaning “books” and mancy, “divination by means of”) has a long spiritual tradition. Its origins lie in the Ancient Roman sortes, which involved using the texts of Homer and Virgil to predict the future (The Use of Sacred Books in the Ancient World, Leonard Victor Rutgers). Although the Bible <a href="https://www.bible.com/en-GB/bible/1/DEU.18.kjv">explicitly condemns divination</a>, it was widely adopted throughout the Middle Ages as a “magical medicine” that <a href="http://www.arcane-archive.org/occultism/divination/bibliomancy-2.php">removed negative forces</a>. In popular culture, bibliomancy occurs frequently throughout works of fiction, from Jules Verne’s <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1842/1842-h/1842-h.htm">Michael Strogoff</a> to Philip K. Dick’s <a href="https://www.newstatesman.com/books/2009/10/world-dick-human-japan-fiction">The Man in the High Castle</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/199052/original/file-20171213-27565-qk5xnz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/199052/original/file-20171213-27565-qk5xnz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199052/original/file-20171213-27565-qk5xnz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199052/original/file-20171213-27565-qk5xnz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199052/original/file-20171213-27565-qk5xnz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199052/original/file-20171213-27565-qk5xnz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199052/original/file-20171213-27565-qk5xnz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Telling the future.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/beautiful-women-book-photo-old-color-175969454?src=H9z22chrNXsEwsMXkrTLrg-1-23">Masson/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>If Edwardians had been unfortunate enough not to receive a new book on New Year’s Eve, the Bible was chosen. A family member (typically the father) would ask a question, open the Bible at random, close his eyes and circle the text with his finger. When the “spirit” told him to stop, he would open his eyes and read the “answer” wherever his finger landed.</p>
<p>Increased secularity meant that in the absence of a new book or the Bible, much-loved classics like Charles Kingsley’s novel Westward Ho!, Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe, and Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan could all be used to “predict” the future. </p>
<p>In Wilkie Collins’ The Moonstone, bibliomancy is routinely practised by the protagonist Gabriel Betteredge using the pages of Robinson Crusoe. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>When my spirits are bad – Robinson Crusoe. When I want advice – Robinson Crusoe. In past times when my wife plagued me; in present times when I have had a drop too much – Robinson Crusoe. I have worn out six stout Robinson Crusoes with hard work in my service.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Although Collins was sending up this popular fad, bibliomancy was an important part of Victorian and Edwardian book culture. It was used by eminent figures including poet Robert Browning, who took to bibliomancy to find out about <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/16182/16182-h/16182-h.htm">the fate of his attraction</a> to fellow poet, and his later wife, Elizabeth Barrett. Though he made the unusual choice of Cerutti’s Italian Grammar for the divination, upon randomly opening it his <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/16182/16182-h/16182-h.htm">eyes fell on the sentence</a>: “If we love in the other world as we do in this, I shall love thee to eternity.”</p>
<p>Sadly, bibliomancy did not always make for happy endings: some were led to commit crimes and others were even known to have killed themselves over the result of a reading. On April 2 1866 The Belfast Morning News reported the story of a man who <a href="https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000428/18660402/039/0004">stole a set of spoons</a> from a house because he believed that the Bible had told him to do so. He was, consequently, fined and sentenced to hard labour.</p>
<p>Toady bibliomancy is only practised by a few, but if you find yourself at a loss this New Year’s Eve, grab a book from the shelf. Whether it comes true or not, the text you find could inspire a positive outlook for the year ahead.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/86654/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lauren Alex O'Hagan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Your favourite tome could hold the secret to your year ahead.Lauren Alex O'Hagan, PhD Candidate in Language and Communication, Cardiff UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/708882017-01-12T02:11:23Z2017-01-12T02:11:23ZPlaying it safe: A brief history of lip-syncing<p>By now, you’ve probably heard about Mariah Carey’s <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2017/jan/08/mariah-carey-foilers-new-year">New Year’s Eve disaster</a>. After some technical malfunctions, Carey – who was supposed to lip-sync over a vocal track for “Emotions” and “We Belong Together” – ended up neither singing nor dancing much, and mostly talked about tech issues over the musical accompaniment track. </p>
<p>The reaction to the gaffe – which evoked <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RrLAgi_mBY">Ashlee Simpson’s Saturday Night Live jig</a> and Britney Spears’ <a href="https://vimeo.com/43436864">bumbling 2007 VMA performance</a> – was swift and harsh. Social media unleashed an avalanche of snark, while comedians like Stephen Colbert <a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/tv/news/watch-colbert-spoof-mariah-careys-new-years-nightmare-w458884">pounced</a>. </p>
<p>But is the “scandal” of lip-syncing really so scandalous? Whether it’s a necessary evil or an efficacious substitute for performing live is a matter of perspective. </p>
<h2>See no evil, hear no evil</h2>
<p><a href="http://somethingelsereviews.com/2013/02/26/read-my-lips-the-sing-along-history-of-lip-syncing-from-soundies-to-milli-vanilli-to-beyonce/">The history of lip-syncing begins in the 1940s</a> with “soundies,” short music videos produced for film jukeboxes. Baby boomers likely associate the practice with the television shows “American Bandstand” and “Soultrain,” where musical guests mimed their latest hits, often absent a live band.</p>
<p>But faking became controversial only when it was revealed in 1967 that the made-for-TV-band The Monkees didn’t always play their own instruments, relying heavily on studio musicians, especially on their early recordings. <a href="http://somethingelsereviews.com/2013/02/26/read-my-lips-the-sing-along-history-of-lip-syncing-from-soundies-to-milli-vanilli-to-beyonce/">Critics</a> derided the band, calling them the “Pre-Fab Four.” But they seemed more concerned than fans, many of whom cared little about whether or not The Monkees played their own instruments. The group rode out the storm, increasingly handling the playing (and also songwriting) duties.</p>
<p>Interestingly, while a number of popular bands like The Beach Boys, The Byrds and The Association would perform live in concert, behind the scenes – when recording their albums – they’d use a pool of Los Angeles studio musicians called the <a href="http://www.newsweek.com/2015/03/27/behind-scenes-wrecking-crew-musicians-behind-pop-biggest-hits-313713.html">Wrecking Crew</a> (who, in fact, also played on the early Monkees albums). </p>
<p>Meanwhile, in film musicals, it was a common (and uncontroversial) practice to use trained singers like <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/26/arts/music/marni-nixon-singer-soprano-dies-86.html?_r=0">Marni Nixon</a> to cover the vocals for actors, whether it was Audrey Hepburn in “My Fair Lady,” Deborah Kerr in “The King and I” or Natalie Wood in “West Side Story.”</p>
<h2>Better safe than sorry</h2>
<p>In the 1980s, <a href="http://mdp.artcenter.edu/%7Eacheng1/design_workshop/01.28.03/music_television.pdf">MTV emerged</a>. With it, the proliferation of a new form – the music video – heightened the importance of spectacle during live and televised performances. </p>
<p>The demands of choreography and acting – coupled with the acoustic and weather-related challenges of large outdoor venues – made live singing both more difficult and less of a priority. Covert lip-syncing in concert and on television became more common. </p>
<p>Many artists, especially those who perform in large, outdoor venues with complex, choreographed dance numbers, will lip-sync or sing along with prerecorded vocal tracks. These include Beyoncé, Madonna and Britney Spears. </p>
<p>For an aging virtuosa like Mariah Carey – known for her stunning upper register and vocal gymnastics – the risks of failed technology may outweigh the risk of veering off note. This is, of course, a different matter entirely from using digital devices to mask limited ability, a move more familiarly associated with <a href="https://www.upvenue.com/music-news/blog-headline/1091/tuym-auto-tune-or-how-anyone-can-sing.html">auto-tune</a>, a popular pitch-correcting device employed by artists ranging from Lady Gaga to Tim McGraw.</p>
<p>But the most infamous musical masquerade – and the incident most likely responsible for the intense scrutiny of lip-syncing – was the short-lived career of European R&B duo Milli Vanilli. After Milli Vanilli won the 1990 Grammy Award for Best New Artist, singer Charles Shaw, who actually performed on the group’s debut album, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Want-My-MTV-Uncensored-Revolution/dp/0452298563">revealed</a> that, on top of lip-syncing their way through all their live performances, <a href="http://www.popmatters.com/feature/181220-the-truth-of-milli-vanilli-a-generation-later/">they hadn’t sung any of the tracks recorded on their album</a>. The Recording Academy rescinded its Grammy and, despite efforts to remake themselves as real vocalists, the duo faded into obscurity.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/SEr8AY7nA44?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Milli Vanilli was caught in the act.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Yet the public and media can be inconsistent in their denunciations of musical fakery. While it was well-known that actresses Hepburn, Kerr and Wood lip-synced over Marni Nixon’s vocals, they appear not to have suffered any damage to their subsequent careers. (Kerr was even nominated for an Oscar for her role in “The King and I.”) </p>
<p>In contrast, Beyoncé came under fire for lip-syncing the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGDH18R7GfA">National Anthem</a> at President Barack Obama’s 2013 inauguration. This was, of course, a high-stakes event fraught with challenges for a live vocalist: winter weather, outdoor acoustics and an enormous audience (to say nothing of a <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/celebrities-flubbed-national-anthem-star-spangled-banner-hard/story?id=16756113">notoriously difficult song</a> with an exceptionally wide range). According to <a href="http://somethingelsereviews.com/2013/02/26/read-my-lips-the-sing-along-history-of-lip-syncing-from-soundies-to-milli-vanilli-to-beyonce/">Rickey Minor</a>, who has produced a number of Super Bowl halftime shows, the pitfalls of these situations make performing live not worth it. And despite some controversy immediately following her performance, Beyoncé’s career and reputation certainly didn’t suffer any lasting effects. </p>
<p>With the exception of Milli Vanilli, nearly every major act that has endured a lip-sync scandal has eventually recovered. Given Mariah Carey’s heretofore brilliant career, her reputation remains on firm ground.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/70888/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alex Lubet does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>From The Monkees to Mariah Carey, lip-syncers have been getting mocked for decades.Alex Lubet, Morse Alumni Distinguished Teaching Professor of Music, University of MinnesotaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/691352017-01-04T18:45:05Z2017-01-04T18:45:05ZThe lure of cycling: tips from a middle-aged man in Lycra<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/150408/original/image-20161216-26062-19lulev.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Cycling is a great form of exercise, but how much should you spend on equipment and active wear? </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/bramptoncyclist/2562219247/in/photolist-4Uq3vV-nRqpkv-nx9RYN-nx8DYK-nx96B1-nPsYyS-nRpUxa-7KEhL5-nx7ZnE-nx9GfM-nMApA7-nx8Q6S-nPjhAk-nx7Xb4-nPtGf7-nMA9EW-nx9mAN-nPjeot-7KAuBv-nRqtfe-nPD54x-nx8Ebj-nx8f54-nx9HXs-nPk1UP-9qPjSX-9uRvnQ-nxa5Gv-nPkAWB-nRpYRv-nx8aek-nMz8FJ-nxamMr-nx9kcV-nx7QTW-nRoZqt-nPt17m-nMALjb-nPBZj4-nPsPZN-9cRiL8-nMzawh-49jJs9-nx9mDq-neNw5k-nx8jJn-nPCv6Z-nMzQyA-nx825h-c8iB5C">bramptoncyclist//flickr </a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>I confess, I’m a MAMIL (Middle-Aged Male in Lycra). In fact, at my stage of life, I’m a SMILEY (Senior Male in Lycra/Elastane, Yo). </p>
<p>Like most forms of physical activity, cycling is good for you. Just two hours of easy cycling each week – or one hour flat out – will <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25344355">reduce your odds of dying by 10%</a>. </p>
<p>These stats may not be as good as <a href="https://theconversation.com/which-sports-are-best-for-health-and-long-life-67636">some other sports</a> such as tennis, but let’s face it, tennis clothes are really dorky. Lycra is cool, but more on that later.</p>
<p>Alert readers will object that road cycling must be dangerous. And they would be a little bit right. In the US, there are <a href="http://cyclingincities.spph.ubc.ca/injuries/">21 cycling deaths per 100,000,000 trips</a>. So you’re likely to be killed once in every five million rides you take. That’s two times higher than if you were driving a car, and 50 times higher than taking a bus. On the other hand, you’re 25 times more likely to be killed riding a motor bike.</p>
<p>Cycling has some other drawbacks. <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3043154/">One study</a> looking at IVF donors found men who cycled more than five hours a week had almost twice the odds of having a low sperm count. </p>
<p>While two famous Tour De France cyclists — Lance Armstrong and Ivan Basso — have both been diagnosed with testicular cancer, there is little evidence cycling itself causes it. After all, Armstrong and Basso shared something else — they were both banned for doping. An association between <a href="http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/pdf/10.1089/jomh.2014.0012">increased risk of prostate cancer</a> and cycling warrants further research. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22390173">Women who cycle</a> may experience lower genital sensation than runners, and the pressure of the perineum on the saddle can cause sustained loss of feeling. </p>
<p>But what’s the risk of ill health compared to the joy and glory of cycling? Nothing! </p>
<h2>I want to get fit and ride up a mountain</h2>
<p>Community cycling events pop up in our calenders during the Australian summer and autumn, and can be a great motivator to start a training program. So how should you prepare? </p>
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<span class="caption">For community cycling events, build your training program slowly.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/taimages/15905307224/in/photolist-qeuRGU-7ztUxx-c4grCy-rbwfZp-oTXfPo-nxpajT-dfnWQR-npxe6S-j5qQmi-cCmQx7-hcMxEU-r9cZqY-j5snPe-j5sC3V-j5vsbN-j5r99c-j5raWF-j5qRDt-j5vcEo-j5vovm-j5r78Z-j5rbTF-cHTN6s-679uSE-j5r5zZ-CZuaD2-DvBjvd-D6QaVE-CAsqKG-CZsiip-CAqwpw-CAqZLW-DopeJG-DxY9BR-j5sqfB-j5tgo7-j5tegw-j5qXeX-j5t81L-j5sFJx-j5ss8z-j5viu9-j5qWf2-j5syjc-j5vjx1-Dyf3Ei-D1y1cH-CBBGDk-D7TLmS-Dp2sby">taimages/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
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<p>A quick piece of advice first up: don’t start by riding up <a href="http://www.letour.com/le-tour/2016/us/stage-12.html">Mont Ventoux</a> – it’s been the end of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Simpson#Death">cyclists</a> way fitter than you. </p>
<p>Try this <a href="https://www.essa.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Screen-tool-version-v1.1.pdf">pre-exercise screening tool</a> to determine if you need to see a doctor before starting training.</p>
<p>Next, give it plenty of time. Start training at least a couple of months before the big event. Start with a fairly gentle 20km ride, and gradually build up the distance to 50km. If you can ride 50km, you can ride 100km. If you can ride 100km, you can ride anything. Mix up the longer rides with shorter, faster rides and lots of hill work. </p>
<p>Cycling clubs have training rides suitable for all levels, and you can pick up a lot of good tips. And some bad ones, of course. </p>
<p>What should you eat? The short answer is: a hell of a lot. A Tour de France rider consumes about 25,000 to 30,000 kilojoules a day — three times as much as the average person. <a href="https://theconversation.com/eat-me-drink-me-fuelling-riders-in-the-tour-de-france-14856">Frequent, high-carbohydrate meals and electrolyte drinks</a> are recommended. </p>
<p>But as with your training, don’t overdo it. Norwegian reporter Nicolay Ramm attempted to eat the amount a Tour de France rider might get through in a day - in one sitting. The <a href="http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/racing/tour-de-france/this-is-what-happens-if-you-try-to-eat-a-tour-de-france-riders-diet-in-one-sitting-181290">results</a> were not pleasant. </p>
<p>But if you’re wracked with with calorie guilt from Christmas festivities and a year of poor eating overall, cycling could be a good option for you. </p>
<h2>Frame, wheels, bars: the gear</h2>
<p>What will give you the most bang for your buck when you buy equipment? </p>
<p>A <a href="http://www.owascoveloclub.com/Education_files/12%20Aerodynamics%20and%20Cycling.pdf">useful simulation</a> by Jim Martin – one of the world’s leading aerodynamicists – allows us to make some quick estimates. These numbers are based on a recreational cyclist riding 40 kilometres in 76 minutes at baseline over a flat course. </p>
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<span class="caption">Hours spent perched on a bike will improve your fitness, but may create a few saddle-related problems.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/54817657@N00/14809407254/in/photolist-wC1v9m-wDBT4y-wnJwtf-wEQfNp-8khjTa-56U1ZU-uEEpSA-vznbUE-6DDvTp-vC3AHr-pvpMg3-uEEqrm-ogPyA1-ogPY27-omAJNy-wJD3Pd-vNpGW8-oyRSB7-ozjVZX-owiRUq-og5EHM-vNhdxj-vNkzFA-owDGBs-anRTfa-oyRePE-56U1BG-vi93hz-oyE5PQ-29u8SD-ox62D4-vi238u-ogQKq5-omAHNY-vBEQ5e-vzneHA-8khjZF-ofAnag-wnGAtb-oyRwdF-wnFmUS-vHsXkH-ohp45t-wEj3PZ-dh7cXy-vHsMD8-6JdJYJ-vHghHA-wnGp4E-ov4yR1">54817657@N00/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
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<p>Adopting an aerodynamic position will slice more than six minutes off that time. Aero bars cost A$100, so that’s just A$0.28 per second saved. If you then use aero wheels (about A$600 each on eBay), you will save another 2 minutes (at a cost of A$10 per second). Add an aero frame (A$1000) and you will cut more than a minute (A$15 per second saved). </p>
<p>If you choose a lightweight carbon-fibre frame (an extra A$1000), you gain a little less than a minute (A$18 per second). But beware: there’s a famous rule in cycling that says that all bikes weigh 15 kilograms: if you have a 5kg bike you need a 10kg chain; if you have a 10kg bike you need a 5kg chain; and if you have a 15kg bike, you don’t need a chain at all. </p>
<p>Finally, if you add aero clothing (A$250), you can arrive <a href="http://road.cc/content/news/120790-video-how-much-aero-difference-does-cycle-clothing-make">another 40 seconds earlier</a> (A$7 per second). </p>
<p>All up, you could reduce your 76 minute ride to less than 64 minutes – at a cost of around A$3,000. Incredibly good value from my perspective! </p>
<p>Alternatively, you could get out and ride slightly more and get the same gains for free. </p>
<h2>Doing some cycling in my active wear</h2>
<p>Let’s talk Lycra.</p>
<p>Lycra has been touted as a miracle fabric capable of converting the average middle-aged weekend warrior into <a href="http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/bradley-wiggins-blasted-by-kittel-and-greipel-over-tue/">Brad Wiggins with a Therapeutic Use Exemption</a> or <a href="https://theconversation.com/lance-armstrong-doping-and-the-illusion-of-control-11680">Lance Armstrong</a> on a cocktail of every known ergogenic aid. </p>
<p>Lycra compression garments are claimed to increase blood flow by stopping blood pooling in the veins – more blood means more oxygen, more oxygen means faster cycling. Lycra apparently can stop muscle wobbling, making your legs work more efficiently. Then there’s the one about Lycra being a wicking fabric, drawing sweat to the surface and facilitating cooling of the body. Of course Lycra may also enhance warm-ups by increasing skin temperature. </p>
<p>But the evidence for these claims is <a href="https://www.clearinghouseforsport.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0017/293012/28407Wallace.pdf">mixed</a> — which in scientific jargon means <a href="http://link.springer.com/article/10.2165/11591420-000000000-00000">the jury is still out</a>. Lycra compression garments may improve repetitive jumping power, and enhance recovery after strenuous exercise, but there is little evidence they will improve your physiological performance in other ways. </p>
<p>Nevertheless, Lycra can look very cool. Of course, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. </p>
<p>I may see you out there in your Lycra. But only if I’m looking back.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/69135/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tim Olds has received funding from The Australian Sports Commission, The Australian Institute of Sport, the Australian Research Council, and the NHMRC.</span></em></p>Cycling is a great form of exercise, and what better time to get started than the new year. But before you launch yourself up a mountain, review these tips from an experienced MAMIL.Tim Olds, Professor of Health Sciences, University of South AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.