Booze, Sweat and Tears

I just read this interesting interview in The Guardian with British track star Bradley Wiggins, world champion many times over and the winner of 5 (five!!) Olympic gold medals. It seems that Wiggins went off the deep-end after winning gold at the Athens Olympics, and started heading down the local boozer in the mornings to get wrecked, every day. It's an interesting insight into the life of someone at the very top of their field, who was nevertheless unhappy and disillusioned. As he says himself:

"When I won gold in Athens I said to my wife, Cath, who was pregnant, 'This baby of ours will never want for anything.' There was real pride in that - but it just didn't happen. You end up trying to give the perception you've got a bit of money. 'Yeah, it's great, lots of offers rolling in ...' The reality was quite different. I woke up every Monday morning and we were still overdrawn and I'd think, 'God, I don't feel like riding my bike again.' There was a bitterness that nothing had changed after all the hard work but it went deeper than that. I'm not saying I was clinically depressed but there were definite bouts of depression - and lots of drinking."

"I drank because I enjoyed it. I was happy sitting at the end of the bar on my own, reading the paper. I've always enjoyed my own company and that stems from riding alone. I never trained with anyone - and I still don't. I've always been happy with my own thoughts and that sums me up as an individual-pursuit rider."

The interview continues: "There were enough moments to drive a self-respecting Olympic champion to drink. In 2004 Wiggins became the first British athlete to win three medals at the same Olympics in 40 years but he and Chris Hoy, who also won gold in Athens, were both ignored at the BBC's annual Sports Personality shindig. 'We were shunted near the back and Chris and me didn't get a mention the whole evening. They did a 10-minute slot on Red Rum instead. That struck home - we mattered less than a dead horse.'"

Clearly, winning 3 gold medals at Athens didn't exactly set Wiggins' world on fire as much as one might expect, and I think that's illustrative of professional cycling in general. The life of a pro-cyclist doesn't hold much appeal, for me at least. I'm not just talking in reference to this interview, but in general. It seems that unless you're one of the few people consistently winning big on the road, and I mean winning stages at the Tour de France or winning marquee classics like Paris-Roubaix or Milan-SanRemo, you're just not making very much money, or garnering much praise. Yeah, you're getting to ride your bike for a living, and you're getting paid more than your average factory worker, and, yeah, maybe it is hard to feel sorry for someone who has just won multiple Olympic gold medals, but in many ways cycling is a poorly recompensed vocation.

Which is what it is, a vocation, a real desire to do something, and not just a profession. I'm sure there are many of us who would love to ride in the pro peloton, but it seems that the reality of professional cycling is a little different than the glitz and glamour that a scant few big races would suggest, especially when you excel in one of cycling's "minority" disciplines, like track. And, there are plenty of people who will romanticize the pain and suffering inherent in professional cycling, but what they don't tell you about is how a lot of pros are struggling to just pay their bills...

But, I suppose cycling is a vocation. I don't think anyone gets into it because they want to be rich and famous. Just as well.