tag:theconversation.com,2011:/uk/topics/british-cycling-15134/articles
British cycling – The Conversation
2019-03-18T10:37:18Z
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/113082
2019-03-18T10:37:18Z
2019-03-18T10:37:18Z
Twenty times more English children could cycle to school with better transport planning
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/263146/original/file-20190311-86693-1oilwb1.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/parking-kids-bicycles-near-wooden-wall-630956264">Yosmoes815/Shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Only 2% of pupils in England cycle to school, even less than the 3% of adults who cycle to work. <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-arent-more-kids-cycling-to-school-3531">Similarly low rates</a> can be found in other wealthy countries, like the US and Australia, although some European countries have much higher levels.</p>
<p>Hostile cycling environments, where riders are expected to mix with buses and other large vehicles, are off-putting enough for commuters, let alone for children (or more accurately, <a href="https://journals.open.tudelft.nl/index.php/ejtir/article/view/3064">the adults deciding</a> whether or not their children can cycle). Lack of provision for cycling may also help explain the comparatively low rates of cycling in England <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1369847817302802">among women</a>, who are more likely than men to be travelling with children.</p>
<p>Yet planning for school cycling barely exists. Most effort across the country goes into teaching children cycling skills, via the national <a href="https://bikeability.org.uk/">Bikeability</a> programme. While it’s important to ensure children can ride a bike, often little is done to ensure they have somewhere to ride. At school run times many neighbourhoods are <a href="http://roadsafetygb.org.uk/news/cars-most-annoying-part-of-the-school-run/">traffic clogged</a>, with drivers parked on double yellow lines and zig-zags, at times even driving on the pavement in the rush to drop off.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/263148/original/file-20190311-86703-18h3tl3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/263148/original/file-20190311-86703-18h3tl3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263148/original/file-20190311-86703-18h3tl3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263148/original/file-20190311-86703-18h3tl3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263148/original/file-20190311-86703-18h3tl3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263148/original/file-20190311-86703-18h3tl3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263148/original/file-20190311-86703-18h3tl3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Getting more children to cycle would have many benefits.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Romrodphoto/Shutterstock.com</span></span>
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<p>There hasn’t been much incentive for this to change. Transport planning has generally marginalised cycling, with planning tools and models focused on private motorised traffic. More broadly, commuters and to a lesser extent adults making other utility trips are prioritised over children’s mobility, independence, and well-being. These two factors have combined to mean that child cycling has not reached the mainstream transport planning agenda.</p>
<h2>Cycling potential</h2>
<p>Leadership and funding <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S096585641730410X">are crucial</a> in changing the situation. But data and planning tools also matter. We saw an opportunity to use data to improve planning processes. Part of the problem is that we don’t know how many children might cycle to school. We don’t know which neighbourhoods could have high levels of child cycling, nor which routes within an area have the greatest potential.</p>
<p>Making that invisible potential visible is the challenge. And one that we’ve met through developing a new modelling tool, part of the Department for Transport-funded <a href="https://jtlu.org/index.php/jtlu/article/view/862">Propensity to Cycle Tool</a> (PCT). The analysis is based on the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-census-2018-to-2019-guide-for-schools-and-las">National School Census</a> within which data on travel to school was last collected in 2011 for all state primary and secondary schools in England.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214140518301257">analysis shows</a> that if children in England cycled to school at the same rates as Dutch children do (for trips of the same distance and hilliness), more than two in five children would do so. The model uses data from the Dutch travel survey, which shows for instance that while around a third of Dutch primary school children might cycle 2-3km to school, these rates drop to one in nine when distance rises to 4km. Realising the “Dutch” potential would mean a <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214140518301257">22-fold increase</a> from the current levels of one in 50 children cycling to school.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/263147/original/file-20190311-86699-8elrc3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/263147/original/file-20190311-86699-8elrc3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/263147/original/file-20190311-86699-8elrc3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=225&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263147/original/file-20190311-86699-8elrc3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=225&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263147/original/file-20190311-86699-8elrc3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=225&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263147/original/file-20190311-86699-8elrc3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=282&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263147/original/file-20190311-86699-8elrc3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=282&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263147/original/file-20190311-86699-8elrc3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=282&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Current (left) and potential (right) for cycling to school.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Propensity to Cycle Tool</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<p>Even today’s best performing areas would see growth. For example, in Cambridge (with the highest levels of cycling across the country), the amount of children cycling to school would rise from <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214140518301257">30% to 53%</a>. All areas see substantial increase, even rural and hillier places; and no English local authority would have fewer than 16% of trips to school cycled.</p>
<p>At present, child cyclists are almost absent from most of our streets, and this amount of child cycling is hard to imagine. To help planners visualise and plan for growth, the PCT maps cycling to school, along routes, in neighbourhoods, and for individual schools. Some roads might have as many as 500, 1,000 or more children pedalling along them, if we were able to create conditions that prioritise children over cars. “School streets” are one such policy, restricting car access at school times, leaving streets clear for children to walk, cycle, play, and socialise without fear of traffic injury.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/262871/original/file-20190308-150693-1yol1ep.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/262871/original/file-20190308-150693-1yol1ep.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/262871/original/file-20190308-150693-1yol1ep.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/262871/original/file-20190308-150693-1yol1ep.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/262871/original/file-20190308-150693-1yol1ep.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/262871/original/file-20190308-150693-1yol1ep.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/262871/original/file-20190308-150693-1yol1ep.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">A school street in Southwark, London.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© Will Norman</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
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<p>Other options are to create more widespread interventions. For instance, London’s mini-Holland programme (in Enfield, Kingston, and Waltham Forest) involved closing some neighbourhoods to through motor traffic. Replacing rat runs with planters, play areas, and bike parking, the scheme is <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0965856417314866">already resulting</a> in an increase in walking and cycling.</p>
<h2>Health and climate benefits</h2>
<p>What might the benefits be of getting more children to ride to school? Many benefits can’t easily be quantified, such as the impacts of redressing long-term decline in children’s <a href="http://www.psi.org.uk/docs/7350_PSI_Report_CIM_final.pdf">independent mobility</a>. For children, available space has too often shrunk from whole neighbourhoods, to streets, to front or back yards – with the greatest impacts on children without access to private outdoor space.</p>
<p>But some impacts can be quantified. The PCT shows that if England achieved its school cycling potential, the benefits could be huge. <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214140518301257">The calculations suggest</a> that achieving the scenario outlined above would increase physical activity from school travel among pupils by 57% and reduce transport-related carbon emissions by 81 kilotonnes per year.</p>
<p>These benefits vary by primary versus secondary school. Primary school children would see a 9% increase in physical activity from school travel (largely because many walk at present, with distances short). Secondary school children would see a 97% increase. Using World Health Organisation physical activity targets, the proportion of secondary school children getting at least half their recommended physical activity from active school travel would increase threefold, from 13.6% to 40.4%.</p>
<p>We’ve got a long way to go before cycling to school is normalised. If we get there, the benefits are great: improved health and well-being, cars off the road, greater child (and parental) mobility and independence. This will involve a <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-47520848">shift in mindset</a>, prioritising children’s health over adults’ car-driving convenience. The new PCT layer contributes to an emerging <a href="http://www.pct.bike">evidence base</a> to help local policymakers plan for, and prioritise, child cycling.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/113082/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rachel Aldred currently receives funding from the Department for Transport, Sport England, and Transport for London.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anna Goodman currently receives funding from the Department for Transport and Transport for London.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>James Woodcock receives funding from MRC, DfT, PHE, and through the Centre for Diet and Activity Research (CEDAR), funding by the British Heart Foundation, Cancer Research UK, Economic and Social Research Council, Medical Research Council, the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) and the Wellcome Trust (MR/K023187/1).
</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Robin Lovelace receives funding from the Department for Transport, the EPSRC and the ESCRC. </span></em></p>
In England, one in fifty children cycle to school. But if English children cycled at the same rates as Dutch children, this could rise to two in five.
Rachel Aldred, Reader In Transport, University of Westminster
Anna Goodman, Lecturer in Public Health, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
James Woodcock, Senior Research Associate, University of Cambridge
Robin Lovelace, Research Fellow in Geospatial Analysis, University of Leeds
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/93106
2018-03-12T10:58:09Z
2018-03-12T10:58:09Z
Three radical steps to derail doping in elite sport
<p>Elite British cycling outfit Team Sky “crossed an ethical line” by giving medicines to squad members which could be used to enhance performance, according to the <a href="https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201719/cmselect/cmcumeds/366/366.pdf">new UK parliamentary committee report</a> into doping in British cycling and athletics. </p>
<p>Though the report makes clear that the drug use was within <a href="https://www.usada.org/about/world-anti-doping-code/">global anti-doping rules</a>, it devotes much attention to eight-times cycling medallist Bradley Wiggins and several occasions on which he took medicines before major races – he and Team Sky strenuously deny any wrongdoing. </p>
<p>Champion distance runner Mo Farah is also named. The report heavily criticises his doctor, Robin Chakraverty, for not recording the dose size of a restricted substance he injected into the athlete before the London Marathon in 2014 – Farah and Chakraverty insist they were within the rules. The report refers to “acute failures” in both British cycling and athletics around medicine procedures that urgently need addressed. </p>
<p>It amounts to one more doping controversy for elite international sport – barely two weeks after several Russian athletes were <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/winter-olympics/43186278">caught cheating</a> at the Winter Olympics. It threatens to drag cycling even further through the mud, all the worse because British cycling’s apparent anti-doping respectability always seemed central to Team Sky’s success. </p>
<p>The global system for preventing doping is not working properly and needs reform. For defenders and critics alike, here are three radical options:</p>
<h2>1. More of the same, but better</h2>
<p>Currently <a href="https://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1048181/anti-doping-claimed-to-cost-sport-300-million-each-year">there are</a> around 300,000 drug tests a year, <a href="https://www.asada.gov.au/about-asada/finance/fees">costing</a> approximately £700-£1,000 each. They <a href="https://www.wada-ama.org/sites/default/files/resources/files/2016_anti-doping_testing_figures.pdf">catch less than</a> 2% of doping, much of it either recreational or innocuous. </p>
<p>It is <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40279-017-0792-1">possible that</a> up to 50% of athletes have doped. We need substantially more funding for more frequent tests to make participants really fear being caught. Obviously this would only address detectable drugs and not substances which tests cannot yet find, but this would be an improvement. </p>
<p>To achieve this, you could pay athletes less money. Rewards vary hugely of course, but for instance the winner of the Tour de France receives €500,000 in prize money – never mind the sponsorship opportunities. Cutting incomes would reduce the incentive to dope and free up cash for more testing. It would also address the problem in cycling, where the richest riders can afford the best doping doctors. </p>
<p>Second, reduce the list of banned substances to priority substances that either have the highest health risk or most potently enhance performance. Keep steroids on the list, for example, but take off cannabis. Third, raise money from sponsors and major event organisers and governments to pay for more testing.</p>
<h2>2. Monitor suppliers</h2>
<p>Despite the limited testing, one paradox with the current system is that it takes an extreme approach to keeping athletes under surveillance. Those on the registered testing pool must tell the authorities where they will be for at least an hour every day. </p>
<p>All athletes can be tested randomly at events, training facilities, their house or on holiday. When they are approached for a test, a drug control officer needs to chaperone them until they are ready to urinate. At that moment, the officer accompanies them to the bathroom to ensure the urine leaves the body and is not swapped for a prepared sample. </p>
<p>This unethical intrusion clearly does not work. Too much time and money is wasted on locating and observing athletes with little or no risk of doping. It makes clean athletes nervous that they have inadvertently used a doping substance, or that there might be a problem with the handling or laboratory processes. </p>
<p>One alternative option might be to spend less time on athletes and more on doctors and coaches. After all, it is very likely that they will be the conduit to doping. The recent history of cycling shows a small coterie of <a href="http://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/latest-news/lance-armstrong-doping-doctor-given-18-month-prison-sentence-323284">doctors</a> whose doping practices could have been stopped if the right systems had been in place. </p>
<p>In a more rigorous system, these personnel would be regularly checked, compelled to undertake anti-doping education, and face career-threatening sanctions if an athlete reported them to the authorities. </p>
<h2>3. Independent scrutiny</h2>
<p>Global anti-doping practices are overseen by the <a href="https://www.wada-ama.org">World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA)</a>, but there is no watchdog or auditor to ensure policies are fair, just and properly implemented. Governments could collectively fund such an agency. A key role would be to review anti-doping in all countries and sports to detect and prevent corruption of the testing system. </p>
<p>Perhaps each sport would even have its own agency. If that had been in place for cycling, some of the evidence released by the new UK parliamentary committee report would have been collected and WADA might have had a more hands-on role than it has had. </p>
<p>The new watchdog would also become a forum for whistleblowers and critics with new ideas for anti-doping. It would be independent enough to prevent the sorts of organisational and political conflicts of interest that <a href="http://www.sportsintegrityinitiative.com/tackling-doping-sport-removal-conflicts-interest-central/">have plagued</a> the Olympics, cycling, football and other sports. </p>
<p>Another progressive step would be to support athletes <a href="https://www.balls.ie/newsnow/new-documentary-shines-light-irish-sprinters-controversial-doping-conviction-382087">who appeal</a> against high or unjust sanctions. Currently, it’s a long and expensive process in which they are very unlikely to succeed. This would give them more trust in the system, and make them more likely to proactively support it. </p>
<p>Which of these three options would I choose? I lean towards less surveillance of and more protection for athletes – shifting more of the testing burden to doctors and other support staff. </p>
<p>The risk is that less testing of athletes could lead to more doping, so there may be a balance to be struck. Meanwhile, a global doping watchdog enforcing the kind of standards that British procedures have failed to meet might have meant that athletes like Wiggins and Farah would not have found themselves under suspicion. </p>
<p>We might never be able to achieve “clean sport”. But if we can put core values at the heart of change and accept that incremental progress is better than nothing, options like the ones I’ve laid down might mitigate the current failings.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/93106/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paul Dimeo has previously had funding from the British Academy, Wellcome Trust, Fulbright Commission and WADA, but not related to this article.</span></em></p>
Doping controversy around British cycling and athletics is the latest sign that sports authorities need to do something drastic.
Paul Dimeo, Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Health Sciences and Sport, University of Stirling
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/84805
2017-10-04T11:15:03Z
2017-10-04T11:15:03Z
It’s time to modernise the UK’s road rules – but adding offences for cyclists is no place to start
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/188768/original/file-20171004-23655-xug1bv.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.flickr.com/photos/pixelhut/5601056449/sizes/o/">gidsey_</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The UK is <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-launches-urgent-review-into-cycle-safety">set to review</a> the criminal laws and safety issues relating to cycling. This announcement came shortly after 20-year-old Londoner Charlie Alliston was <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/aug/23/ex-courier-charlie-alliston-convicted-for-mowing-down-kim-briggs-on-his-track-bike">found guilty</a> on the little known charge of “<a href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Vict/24-25/100/section/35">wanton and furious driving</a>”, having collided with 44-year-old pedestrian Amanda Briggs causing serious head injuries, which led to her death in 2016. </p>
<p>This was, for several reasons, an odd case. Historically, the offence was used to prosecute drivers of horse-drawn carriages. It stems from a Victorian act of parliament, which predates the invention of the penny farthing bicycle. Yet it does carry a sentence of up to two years in prison, and has been used in the modern era (notably <a href="http://www.bailii.org/cgi-bin/markup.cgi?doc=ew/cases/EWCA/Crim/2008/2109.html">in 2008</a> and <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/dorset/8197430.stm">2009</a>) to convict cyclists who have killed pedestrians as a result of riding on the pavement. </p>
<h2>An odd case</h2>
<p>If Alliston had been driving a motorised vehicle, he could have been charged for causing death by dangerous driving, which can attract a sentence of up to 14 years in prison. Although cyclists can face <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/52/section/28">a charge of dangerous cycling</a> under the Road Traffic Act 1986, this offence only carries a minimal sentence: a fine of up to £2,500.</p>
<p>Taking the view that these charges would be too lenient, prosecutors were left with few alternatives but to charge Alliston with manslaughter and the lesser charge of “wanton and furious driving”. Alliston was eventually acquitted of manslaughter, but found guilty on the lesser charge and sentenced to 18 months in prison. </p>
<p>That prosecutors had to rely on such an outdated legal provision shows that the law is in need of modernisation, so the UK government is right to update it. Yet, of the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/648081/rrcgb2016-01.pdf">400 or so pedestrians</a> killed on Britain’s roads every year, only <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-launches-urgent-review-into-cycle-safety">about two</a> are the result of collisions with bicycles. So creating new crimes to punish cyclists may seem an odd place to start improving pedestrian safety.</p>
<h2>Who’s liable?</h2>
<p>In fact, there is a strong argument for a wider review, which overhauls the way that the law balances the rights of all road users. Research <a href="http://lawdigitalcommons.bc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2176&context=ealr">shows that</a> UK law is out of step many other more cycle-friendly European nations. In the UK, only about one per cent of journeys are made by bicycle, in comparison with 27% in The Netherlands, 19% in Sweden and ten per cent in Germany. </p>
<p>This <a href="http://www.niassembly.gov.uk/globalassets/documents/raise/publications/2015/regdev/2315.pdf">has been achieved</a> through investment in cycle infrastructure, education and the provision of pro cycling road laws which has had the effect of normalising cycling as a mode of transport. </p>
<p>Under UK civil law, the burden of proof is on an injured cyclist to show that a defendant driver is liable for his or her injuries. While a similar principle is at work in Malta, Romania, Cyprus and Ireland, the majority of European jurisdictions have some version of a “presumed liability” principle. </p>
<p>This is where the driver of the more powerful vehicle is presumed to be at fault, unless they can prove otherwise. For example, Article 185 of the Dutch Wegenverkeerswet (Road Law), introduced in 1994, presumes the liability of a motorist in a collision with pedestrians or cyclists.</p>
<p>Campaign groups such as <a href="http://www.roadshare.co.uk/research">RoadShare</a> argue that bringing UK civil law in line with most European jurisdictions would improve the safety of both pedestrians and cyclists. But this move has so far <a href="http://researchbriefings.parliament.uk/ResearchBriefing/Summary/SN01097">been resisted</a> by successive UK governments. They have argued that the European model undermines an important legal principle in English law; that the defendant is presumed not to be at fault until proven otherwise – or innocent until proven guilty in a criminal context. </p>
<p>Yet concerns have <a href="http://thecyclingsilk.blogspot.co.uk/2017/08/the-alliston-mis-trial.html#links">been raised</a> over whether UK law provides enough protection for cyclists who, along with motorcyclists, are the group <a href="http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20160120203536/https:/www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/463045/rrcgb2014-01.pdf">most likely to be injured</a> on the road. A Freedom of Information request <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article/28345522/cycling-deaths-fewer-than-half-of-drivers-face-jail">by the BBC</a> demonstrated that only around 40% of car drivers who killed a cyclist received a prison sentence.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.niassembly.gov.uk/globalassets/documents/raise/publications/2015/regdev/2315.pdf">evidence suggests that</a> making roads safer for vulnerable users does come at a cost; the Dutch spend around £20 per head on cycle related projects per year, whereas the UK spends <a href="http://www.parliament.uk/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/commons/2016-05-18/37538">only £7 per head</a>. But the health and economic benefits seem to justify this spending. </p>
<p>So, although a review of UK cycling law is a welcome opportunity to modernise the laws around cycling, it needs to do much more than create further criminal offences for cyclists.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/84805/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Hugh McFaul is a member of the Labour Party. </span></em></p>
How a curious case of wanton and furious driving is leading to a much-needed overhaul.
Hugh McFaul, Lecturer in Law, The Open University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/75687
2017-04-07T14:50:53Z
2017-04-07T14:50:53Z
Vicious cycle: the ‘troublemakers’ tackling sexism in elite sport
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/164458/original/image-20170407-29390-1bp7qr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=17%2C22%2C2982%2C1958&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/london-england-february-18-2012-victoria-298921613?src=aEvRRL_mQq_rChzDnlBftg-1-5">Mitch Gunn/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>British Cycling has delivered some of the UK’s most stunning sporting triumphs over the past decade. But success has brought scrutiny – alongside parliamentary committee hearings about <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/cycling/2017/02/28/sir-bradley-wiggins-jiffy-bag-doctor-sensationally-pulls-parliamentary/">mysterious jiffy bags</a> and reports of a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2017/mar/15/uk-sport-went-easy-british-cycling-medal-factory">slack approach to governance</a> has been a relentless undercurrent of stories and testimony about sexism in the sport.</p>
<p>Most memorably perhaps, Jess Varnish went public with allegations against British Cycling technical director Shane Sutton in 2016. She claimed he had dropped her from the squad and <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2016/04/25/sport/british-cyclist-jess-varnish-baby-sexism/">told her “to go and have a baby”</a>. He <a href="http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/other-sports/cycling/jess-varnish-hits-back-liar-9220225">denied saying this</a>. </p>
<p>Two years before this, gaining less public attention, Nicole Cooke documented with meticulous detail the sexism encountered throughout her international cycling career in her autobiography The Breakaway. And in evidence given to a Select Committee hearing, the road race gold medal winner from the Beijing Olympics said she had been <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/sportsnews/article-4154154/Bradley-Wiggins-story-does-not-add-says-Nicole-Cooke.html">branded a troublemaker</a>. Both Cooke, and track cycling star
Victoria Pendleton <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/may/26/victoria-pendleton-olympics-shane-sutton">have spoken out</a> in support of Varnish’s integrity and against the culture that became established in their sport.</p>
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<h2>Frustration</h2>
<p>That stack of evidence will only grow now that former road world champion and London Olympics silver medalist, Lizzie Armistead has raised the issue <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2017/apr/01/lizzie-armitstead-cycling-missed-drugs-tests-sexism-in-sport-simon-hattenstone">in her upcoming autobiography Steadfast</a>. She includes the uncomfortable admission that she was perceived as the “plaything” of male cyclists at a party when she was a 19-year-old hopeful. </p>
<p>Perhaps more tellingly, however, you can also feel her reluctance to tackle the issue of sexism and a desire to set apart sporting achievement from that context. In an interview with the Guardian, she said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I want to be world champion again, and that is the best way for me to represent my sport. Win it fiercely, win it impressively and excitingly. The equivalent man isn’t sat at every interview defending his sex, so I don’t feel that’s what I have to do.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This is a critical point about what it means to be a successful female athlete and to publicly tell a story of sexism in your sport. </p>
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<h2>Post-feminist sport</h2>
<p>Western contemporary culture has become defined in part by <a href="https://theconversation.com/this-girl-can-campaign-is-all-about-sex-not-sport-36236">so-called “post-feminism”</a>. We can best describe this as a kind of popular feminism where the idea has emerged of the “pretty and powerful” woman. Perhaps the iconic moment in the construction of this archetype came with the 1990s pop group The Spice Girls. The concept they <a href="https://www.vice.com/en_uk/article/girl-power-spice-girls-jenny-stevens-geri-horner">popularised of “girl power”</a> usefully illustrates the overemphasis on individual women’s so-called “empowerment”. </p>
<p>In recent years, post-feminism has been linked to an increase in the visibility of female athletes in the sporting media. Female athletes are often (self-) represented as strong and resistant to gendered limitations. This reinforces their seemingly abundant opportunities for liberation and upward mobility in elite competitive sport. </p>
<p>And so post-feminism demands that successful high-profile female athletes embody the normative signifiers of heterosexual femininity and competitive advantage. Many do – and their achievements as both “pretty and powerful” are hailed by post-feminism as proof of equal opportunity in western societies as well as in elite competitive sport. </p>
<p>For critical feminists, the warning is that when individual women “can have it all” we are not actually combating systemic gender inequalities. This is because the idea and actuality obscure the subtle, lived reality of everyday sexism. The idea that women can have it all ends up reassuring people that feminism is no longer necessary. Problems are turned into stories about conflict between individuals, a tactic used to disparage feminism and to silence voices that divulge details of discrimination and abuse. All the while, the faults in the system go unaddressed.</p>
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<p>We can argue that elite female athletes are offered freedoms and individual choice at a cost – to their own integrity and to a broader, collective feminist politics. Such a process promotes individual choice, causing us to overlook the practices and cultures that propel the systems of gender inequality in sport. British Cycling has emerged as a useful reminder of this dynamic and, equally, those who are speaking up are a useful reminder that so-called “troublemakers” are exactly what is needed to challenge it.</p>
<h2>Risk and reward</h2>
<p>There is a cost. There are considerable cultural expectations for female athletes to fulfil the “pretty and powerful” post-feminist ideal. Athletes who break these conventions are taking a personal and professional risk. At the very least, they may limit their post-career marketability. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Breakaway-Nicole-Cooke/dp/1471130339">In her autobiography</a>, Cooke challenged post-feminist sentiments. Instead, she drew from a more traditional feminism to offer a critique of how the structures of elite competitive sport treat women athletes as not equal to their male counterparts. Cooke, we suggest, is an unusual voice of active feminism in sport. Her autobiography can be viewed as a political intervention to break the cycle of silence surrounding sexism and an important model for how to deal with gender trouble in sport. Her example may well have paved the way for Varnish, Pendleton and Armistead to speak out.</p>
<p>Feminism’s dilemma really lies in the popularity of post-feminist ideas among women and girls who incorporate them into their sporting experience. We should be aware that feminist advocates and role models might be as unpopular with young women as they are with some men. The “pretty and powerful” post-feminist success story is more palatable and less troublesome. </p>
<p>If Cooke’s story had gained the traction it deserved, then we might not have been so surprised by the allegations from Varnish. Cycling – and women’s sport more broadly – would benefit from a conscious awareness of the post-feminist filters through which we all view it. Such awareness might ensure that women who do speak out about sexism are not drowned out or dismissed as individual troublemakers.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/75687/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Carly Stewart works for Bournemouth University. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jayne Caudwell works for Bournemouth University. She received funding from research council grants. She is affiliated with Leisure Studies Association, Labour Party, University and College Union. </span></em></p>
Stars of one of sport’s biggest success stories are slowly revealing the dangerous influence of Spice Girls-style postfeminism.
Carly Stewart, Senior Academic in Sociology of Sport, Bournemouth University
Jayne Caudwell, Associate Professor Leisure Cultures, Bournemouth University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/64076
2016-08-17T15:49:45Z
2016-08-17T15:49:45Z
How Team GB cyclists peaked at the Olympics and owned the velodrome
<p>To say that Team GB have dominated the Olympic cycling would be the biggest understatement of the games. British track cyclists seem to have made peaking in line with the Olympic cycle their speciality. They won <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cycling/35742686">seven of the ten</a> gold medals on offer at both London 2012 and Beijing 2008, but this year in Rio, they have really surpassed themselves. Every member of the 15-strong squad has come away with a medal, taking the final tally to six golds, four silvers and one bronze.</p>
<p>This remarkable success has baffled their rivals. Michael Gané – the French sprint coach – must have echoed the thoughts of many teams when <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3744422/Secrets-Team-GB-s-Rio-success-rivals-left-scratching-heads.html">he remarked</a>; “they don’t exist for four years, then at the Olympics they outclass the whole world”. So, how have Team GB managed, yet again, to peak at the optimum time?</p>
<h2>Training for success</h2>
<p>It all comes down to a technique called “periodised training” – a strategy which has long been used to prepare athletes for major events. The training year is divided and organised to ensure that peak performance is achieved at the optimum time – in this case, at the Olympic Games. </p>
<p>A <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=YBhr72UVh70C&oi=fnd&pg=PR1&dq=Sharkey+and+Gaskill,+2013&ots=EgbGcm7ygM&sig=p5MPKV0aJw4Cl6JIWDGOm2DtTGg#v=onepage&q=Sharkey%20and%20Gaskill%2C%202013&f=false">multi-year programme involves</a> a gradual increase in training intensity through the pre-competition period, followed by a reduction or tapering of training, as the competition period draws nearer. </p>
<p>When following a multi-year periodisation plan – such as the four-year Olympic cycle – the final year is the most important one. That’s when the amount of training (the distance covered or time spent) is reduced to prevent injury and fatigue, while the intensity of the workouts is increased to ensure athletes are in top form for the big event.</p>
<p>For Team GB’s cyclists, training will focus on muscular endurance, anaerobic endurance (ability to sustain high intensity exercise) and sprint power. But the real skill is to maintain the subtle balance between periods of work and recovery, which must be tailored to each rider’s individual capabilities. </p>
<p>The British Cycling team has clearly mastered this approach, having set the Olympic Games as their number one priority. This may also explain why the team are less visible on the podium at world championship events in the lead up to the games. </p>
<p>That said, while timing athletes’ training right will unquestionably give them an edge, there are still a few other factors to consider. </p>
<h2>The price of gold</h2>
<p>The winning streak of Team GB cyclists at successive games has brought about <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/aug/15/brutal-but-effective-why-team-gb-is-winning-so-many-olympic-medals">a significant increase</a> in investment from UK Sport – the organisation which allocates public funds to elite-level sports – at the expense of many others. According to sports policy expert Dr Borja Garcia, the “brutal” regime is “as crude as it is effective”. Certainly, with a grant in the region of £30m every four years, lack of funding has not been an issue for Team GB’s cyclists. </p>
<p>And it’s clear that investment pays off: former Olympic gold medalist Chris Boardman <a href="http://www.standard.co.uk/sport/sport-olympics/how-great-britain-s-cycling-team-ruled-the-velodrome-at-the-rio-2016-olympics-a3322246.html">said that</a> “the British team have always been at the head of the technology race and we’ve seen that again [at Rio 2016]”. This level of funding has enabling the development of bikes worth in the region of £10,000, and skin suits so aerodynamic that they can produce up to a 5% performance gain, compared to those used at the world championships in London earlier this year. </p>
<p>In post-race interviews, many of the athletes have also praised the extensive sport science support network working behind the scenes; from nutritionists to data analysts. </p>
<h2>Success breeds success</h2>
<p>The old addage “success breeds success” clearly applies to the whole of Great Britain’s Olympic team. On the track the first cycling gold in the men’s team pursuit at Rio seems to have given the squad a level positivity and confidence which not only motivated them, but also potentially has intimidated their rivals. </p>
<p>This notion was echoed by Max Whitlock, when <a href="http://www.itv.com/news/update/2016-08-15/max-whitlock-i-hope-my-success-inspires-team-gb/">he reflected</a>on the huge success that Team GB gymnasts had experienced: “I’m a big believer in success breeding success. The results we’ve had have pushed us to get more, it’s made us all believe that it’s possible”. </p>
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<p>British Cycling head coach Iain Dyer <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/aug/16/british-cycling-head-coach-hits-back-rivals">openly said</a> that the whole squad have been focusing first and foremost on the Olympics: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>While we peak athletically for the Olympics, we also peak in our research and innovation for the Olympics … we’ve got a really great team of people doing a fantastic job, who will go to the ends of the earth looking for that final marginal gain. It’s all about marginal gains, isn’t it? </p>
</blockquote>
<p>While this approach has left some competitors <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3744422/Secrets-Team-GB-s-Rio-success-rivals-left-scratching-heads.html">scratching their heads</a>, no one can question the success of Dyer’s strategy. It’s clear that British Cycling and Team GB have mastered the art of periodised training. But make no mistake – it takes more than good timing to be an Olympic champion.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/64076/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Candice Lingam-Willgoss 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>
When it comes to winning Olympic gold, it turns out timing isn’t everything.
Candice Lingam-Willgoss, Lecturer in Sport & Fitness, The Open University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/58366
2016-04-28T14:04:47Z
2016-04-28T14:04:47Z
Charge of the lycra brigade: will the Tour de Yorkshire attract more people to cycling?
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/120501/original/image-20160428-28064-1aajo5l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">from www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Competitors in the <a href="http://letour.yorkshire.com">second Tour de Yorkshire</a> cycling event have begun their three-day route through many of the region’s towns and cities, racing toward the finish line in Scarborough. This event has largely been developed off the back of the success of Le Grand Départ – the opening stages of the Tour de France – which was hosted by Yorkshire in 2014. </p>
<p>Yorkshire’s leg of Le Grand Départ was viewed as a great triumph, <a href="http://www.leeds.gov.uk/news/pages/-Evaluation-report-reveals-%C2%A3130million-Le-Tour-boost.aspx">generating £128m</a> for the local economy and attracting an estimated 3.6m visitors to the region. It was said that the event would boost the popularity of cycling – and indeed, the sport is undergoing <a href="http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/public/cyclesafety/article3706006.ece">something of a renaissance</a> in the UK. </p>
<p>But up until now, there has been no detailed research on who attended Le Grand Départ – so there was no telling whether the event did reach out to a new audience. Now, we have used a unique <a href="http://leedsdatamill.org/dataset/tour-de-france-grand-depart-survey/resource/ec906ae8-c166-44fe-b7de-7f4774688e2c">dataset</a> to investigate whether Le Grand Départ was attended by all sections of society – or just “the Mamils” (middle-aged men in lycra). </p>
<h2>March of the Mamils</h2>
<p>Yorkshire has a relatively diverse population, in terms of ethnicity, <a href="http://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/culturalidentity/ethnicity/articles/ethnicityandnationalidentityinenglandandwales/2012-12-11">7.3% are Asian, 1.5% are black</a>, and in terms of economic profile, pockets of deprivation sit alongside some of the <a href="http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/wealth-divide-still-growing-in-yorkshire-of-two-halves-1-6529698">wealthiest areas in the country</a>. If the event was truly inclusive, we might expect these populations to figure more prominently at Le Grand Départ.</p>
<p>Over 4,000 questionnaires were taken over the course of the three opening days of Le Grand Départ in 2014. We analysed these to pull out the basic demographic information of those who attended. Our analysis revealed that the demographic profile of the spectators as a group is skewed: it is more white, male and middle-aged than the national profile. </p>
<p>Over 97% of those who came to the event were white (compared to 86% of the population who reported as white in the <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/census/2011census">2011 Census</a>), with the proportion of male spectators slightly over the national average (51% compared with 49%). There was also a clear over-representation of spectators aged 35 to 44 (23% of all spectators compared with 17% of the national population), 45 to 54 (25% compared with 17%) and 55 to 64 (17% compared with 14%). These traits match up with the group popularly known as Mamils. </p>
<p>Even so, we were surprised to find that there was a relatively equal gender split at most locations (bar the “King of the Mountains” sites). According to the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/457752/nts2014-01.pdf">National Travel Survey</a>, men cycle more than women: in 2014, men made over three times as many trips by bike as women, with those aged 30 to 49 covering more miles than any other age group. The equal attendance at Le Grand Départ is encouraging, because it shows that events like this may have a role to play in reducing the gender imbalance in the sport.</p>
<h2>Access denied</h2>
<p>However, the same cannot be said for other demographics: for instance, the spectator group was less disabled (4%) than the national average (12%). And while this is likely due to a smaller proportion of spectators being over 65-years-old, it could also be attributed to the difficulty of access at many stages of the route. Generally, where the route is least accessible the demography of the spectators is more skewed away from the national average. </p>
<p>This is most prominently seen in the least accessible (and arguably most exciting) “King of the Mountains” sections of the race, usually staged in the most rural areas. Here, the proportion of male spectators jumps to 56%, while the proportion of spectators with disabilities drops to 2%. This does suggest that there may be barriers to access for certain groups in the least accessible places.</p>
<p>This data was combined with a <a href="http://acorn.caci.co.uk/downloads/Acorn-User-guide.pdf">socio-economic classification</a> to draw a clearer picture of the type of person who came to spectate. Again, we found that the composition of spectators for each of the three opening stage of the 2014 Tour de France in Yorkshire is unlike the national average. </p>
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<p>Between 79% (stage two) and 83% (stages one and three) of spectators fall within one of the three most affluent categories, while those classified as the most financially comfortable (“affluent achievers”) represent more than twice the national average at stages one and three. There is variation at different sections of the route: the relatively inaccessible “King of the Mountains” sections were primarily attended by “affluent achievers” (39%) and “comfortable communities” (37%), while the least affluent “urban adversity” group only accounted for 1% of the total crowd at these locations.</p>
<p>The positive benefits of hosting large scale events like Le Grand Départ and the Tour de Yorkshire are compelling. Beyond short-term economic benefits and positive publicity for the region, the social capital delivered by these events should not be underestimated – there’s no doubt that they bring communities together in celebration. </p>
<p>But high profile events, which require public expenditure and goodwill to go ahead, should be accessible to all. Evidence suggests that the crowd who turned out for Le Grand Départ was not particularly representative of the wider population. In the interest of fairness – and indeed longer-term justice in our society – we could, and should, do more to ensure that cycling and other major sporting events are accessible for all.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/58366/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
There’s clearly a growing enthusiasm for the sport but our experts crunched the numbers to see if this is just more middle-aged men in lycra (Mamils).
Matthew Whittle, PhD candidate Transport Studies, University of Leeds
Alison Heppenstall, Associate Professor in Geocomputation, University of Leeds
Nik Lomax, Lecturer in Population Geography, University of Leeds
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/38069
2015-02-26T06:21:34Z
2015-02-26T06:21:34Z
Can a zen-like state of mind power super cyclist to one of sport’s great world records?
<p>A golden age of British cycling appears to be coming to an end. In the recent World Championships in Paris, the country’s cyclists <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2015/feb/22/team-gb-world-track-cycling-championships">performed below expectations</a>, recording their poorest showing at that level since 2001. </p>
<p>Yet the World Championships don’t include the event that many purists regard to be the most demanding challenge in the sport: the one-hour time trial. The current women’s world record stands at 46.065km, <a href="http://velonews.competitor.com/2003/10/news/zijlaard-van-moorsel-sets-new-hour-record_5054">set by</a> Dutch rider Leontien Zijlaard-Van Moorsel in Mexico City in 2003. The men’s record under the current rules <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cycling/31253353">was set</a> several weeks ago in Granges, Switzerland, by Australia’s Rohan Dennis, who achieved 52.491km. </p>
<p>On February 28 at the Lee Valley Velodrome in London, Dame Sarah Storey <a href="http://www.britishcycling.org.uk/gbcyclingteam/article/20150225-gb-cyclingteam-news-Dame-Sarah-Storey-finds-more-speed-in-pursuit-of-hour-record-0">will aim</a> to break the women’s mark. Only a handful of British riders – and none from the current generation – have held these records.</p>
<p>It is worth noting – but not central to the narrative – that Sarah Storey is a paralympic champion. Born without a functioning left hand, she is a 20-times world champion in swimming and cycling. She has been at six Olympics and has competed both against disabled and able-bodied athletes at the highest level. But more than any other challenge perhaps, the one-hour time trial is her opportunity to establish a position in the history of the sport.</p>
<p>In sport, preparation is everything. The venue will be warmed to around 25 degrees to ensure the minimum of air resistance. The sport-science team behind Storey will have data to ensure the optimal gearing and weight of the bike. In the only concession to Storey’s paralympian status, one side of her handlebars will be slightly shortened to accommodate her left limb. </p>
<p>The bike and her riding position will have been tested in a wind tunnel to identify the optimal position for reducing drag, thereby translating muscle power into velocity. And over the past months, data will have been collected on physiological parameters leading to the wattage required to go one metre beyond the record, such as <a href="http://www.mattroberts.co.uk/resources/training/general/blood-lactate/">blood lactate</a> accumulation. </p>
<h2>Mind v matter</h2>
<p>Storey and her team will know that every 250m lap must be covered in an average time of around 19.3 seconds to give her a chance. But no rider, Storey included, is a pedal-pounding android. The factor which will ultimately determine whether she achieves her goal will be her 60-minute battle with fatigue, a battle in her mind.</p>
<p>In sports science, there is currently a debate about the extent to which fatigue is about mind over matter. Traditional theories <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=t6CaJM_BXR0C&pg=PA241&lpg=PA241&dq=%22Biochemical+bases+for+fatigue+in+exercise+performance%22&source=bl&ots=NB7uinXmQB&sig=kYUKPcwgolJH_QjZs2J5QBBclzs&hl=en&sa=X&ei=njjuVLSBB8z_UpaSgMAN&ved=0CDIQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=%22Biochemical%20bases%20for%20fatigue%20in%20exercise%20performance%22&f=false">argue that</a> fatigue is a physiological state, independent of the central nervous system, and cannot be consciously overridden. </p>
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<span class="caption">Fatigue: all in the mind?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://theconversation.com/drafts/38069/edit">Lukiyanova Natalia / frenta</a></span>
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<p>This is being challenged by what is called the “central governor hypothesis”. It <a href="http://www.runnersworld.com/sports-psychology/tim-noakes-on-fatigue-cowardice-winners-and-losers">argues that</a> the brain reaches an emotional decision that it is fatigued based on information from the body. </p>
<p>One of the main consequences of this debate is that the role of psychology in discussions about fatigue has been rehabilitated. Certainly the newer theory sounds intuitively right: anyone who has played sport will appreciate that fatigue is qualitatively different when you are winning as opposed to when you are losing. </p>
<h2>What psychology can do</h2>
<p>From a psychological perspective, Storey will need to effectively balance the paradox of keeping the brain comfortable while the body suffers increasing discomfort. As the hour progresses, the brain’s signals of fatigue will become more overt and require conscious action to manipulate the central nervous system to keep the record attempt on track.</p>
<p>The margins in this event are so fine that psychologically the rider must be engaged from the first second to the last. Storey <a href="https://twitter.com/damesarahstorey">has acknowledged</a> that there will be “grippy” points – meaning that the little voice in her head will be intruding and presenting her with things that don’t help.</p>
<p>Primarily these will be about how comfortable she feels. As the hour clicks by, the answer will progressively become “not very”. For a physically well prepared performer, it is likely that they will feel “comfortable” for maybe the first five minutes of the event at most. </p>
<p>One of the most effective strategies for managing a large and difficult task is to chunk it down into manageable sections, with goals for each. The team will be giving feedback on where she is in relation to these. </p>
<p>This feedback is both vital in itself and will also serve to fuel her internal dialogue and the “what ifs” involved – “I’m ahead of schedule, what if I’m going too fast and will exhaust myself before the hour?”; “I’m behind schedule, what if I can’t recover the required tempo?”; or even “I’m bang-on but I’m going at my limit and I’ve still got 40 minutes to go – what if I can’t sustain this?” </p>
<p>She may dissociate from the discomfort through carefully monitoring her thinking, filtering out the unhelpful and reconnecting with positive cues. She may engage in an internal conversation with her legs, as Jens Voigt (a previous holder of the men’s hour record) famously did. He coined the phrase “shut up legs”, which is known to all top riders.</p>
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<h2>The pain barrier</h2>
<p>Ultimately, Storey is searching for a method of coping with profound and potentially overwhelming pain. We know that the body produces its own natural painkillers – endorphins. Recent studies have <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24058189">shown that</a> painkilling drugs do allow riders to ride harder, reporting improved lactate tolerance and <a href="http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/02/10/ask-well-maximal-heart-rate/?_r=0">maximum safe heart rate</a>. </p>
<p>Yet the solution ought to be natural. The ideal for Storey would be reaching the “zone”, a “zen-like” state in which performers report altered perceptions of effort and pain tolerance. </p>
<p>The search for this state has its roots in some of the earliest research in modern sport psychology. Work as <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=BVsALG2k-uoC&pg=PA709&lpg=PA709&dq=%22Peak+Experiences+in+Sport%22+Ravizza&source=bl&ots=uw2bqF4ThL&sig=fqjl9NZ4PsNx-ajP3LXqr02uoR8&hl=en&sa=X&ei=-jruVOz_KMzmUv2UgeAH&ved=0CDYQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=%22Peak%20Experiences%20in%20Sport%22%20Ravizza&f=false">far back as 1977</a> linked peak performance to “loss of fear” and “ability to execute basic skills”, together with “no thought about the activity being undertaken” and “total immersion in the activity”. </p>
<p>These findings and <a href="http://www.humankinetics.com/products/all-products/flow-in-sports">later research</a> on the concept of “flow” offer some ideas about how riders like Storey should approach the mental side. Flow is about total absorption and engagement in an activity, to the point where normal perceptions of effort and time become distorted. This <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18296435">is often linked</a> to the production of endorphins. </p>
<p>The problem for time-triallists such as Storey is that this so-called “runner’s high” appears spontaneous. Yet <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17081621">some recent work</a> using advanced brain-scanning techniques gives some clues to what a rider can do to capture and harness it. </p>
<p>It suggests for example that Storey should avoid higher-level cognitive thoughts such as calculating lap times or pacing. Better to mindfully focus on attention and awareness cues, such as engaging with the sprinters’ line on the velodrome track, the feeling of her feet on the pedal and every face in the crowd. And she should relax, as much as one can when your heart is going at around 190bpm and you are moving at just over 28 miles per hour. </p>
<p>There will be a moment, at around three-quarters distance, where Storey’s emotion will change. This could be in a positive way, where she will know that the record is hers, which will re-engage her and lift her emotionally. Or it could be negative, knowing that it is highly unlikely. At this point she may just get off her bike. The interesting thing to the sport scientist is that physiologically, these two completely different outcomes are identical. What better way to illustrate the vital part that the mind plays in this kind of challenge. </p>
<p><em>This piece was co-written by Ian Campbell, a student on the M.Sc Sport Performance Enhancement programme at Edinburgh Napier University</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/38069/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tony Westbury 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>
As Olympic cyclist Sarah Storey faces the greatest challenge of her career, she can draw on recent findings that the mental state for coping with extreme fatigue is more achievable than we thought.
Tony Westbury, Lecturer in Sport Psychology, Edinburgh Napier University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.