What I like about cycling? As a designer I’m of course attracted to the beauty of a bike, but what I love most about biking is the mental masochism. The wind flowing through my hair, the brown stripe in my tight pants, blowing my snot away. It’s a simple game. You push, you go forward. You push harder, you go faster. You keep on pushing until you drop: you feel great.
When a professional cyclist falls at 50 km/hour on the asphalt, he can’t start whining like a football player would, he needs to get up fast. The rest of the peloton isn’t waiting and if he can’t get back in that peloton, the game is over. Cycling is about rain, wind, mud, dust. It’s about a 20% steep climb on a cobble-stone road called ‘de muur’. It’s about races called ‘l’Enfer de Nord’ or ‘A Sunday in Hell’.
Wind tunnels, NASA technology, engineers, physical and mental trainers, dieticians, all are needed to help the cyclist do this simple thing: push harder. It’s not about doing your best, it’s about giving 300%, being so tired that you can’t even lift up a spoon. But the only thing you’re thinking about is the next ride with your friends. This is how I like to design.
