Don't just ride...Play Bike!

About 8 years ago I led the community coach development programme at Cycling New Zealand. Cycle sport is obviously highly competitive, can be quite serious and sometimes loses the fun factor even at community level.

I posed a question by showing the below picture on coach development courses I was delivering at the time.

It occurred to me that we viewed cycling as a sport and a means of transport….we ride bikes….and it seemed that we didn’t play on bikes or consider it play anymore. But why?

In coach & athlete development terms there was so much emphasis on play for skill learning and for our health and wellbeing, so why weren’t we ‘playing bike’?

As a kid I was always out playing on my bike….I lived in an urban environment where formal bike parks or well managed bike trails didn’t exist, we didn’t have devices or smartphones, only limited TV and we made our own fun & games by playing outside on our bikes.

I started to inject the phrase ‘PLAY BIKE’ into workshops and seminars for parents, riders and clubs I was delivering around NZ, and it started to catch on….so much so, that Alexandra BMX Club had T-shirts made with the words PLAY BIKE on them….very cool!

Play isn’t just for tamariki or rangatahi, it’s for all of us. I’m in my 60s and a grandad now , however, play features highly when I’m out riding my bike, even mucking about just for fun in the late spring snow we had last year.

Check out this great story about local rider Malcolm, well into his 80's, and still ripping it up on his mountain bike and learning new skills all the time. 

I encourage you all to play on your bikes, and not just ride them….learn something new, learn how to weave from side to side, find a different line, learn how to skid or pop the wheels up, learn how to drop off or go up kerbs, learn how to do ‘hi-fives’ with your riding buddies….the list is endless….just play!