Plug and Play
‘As a precaution against the influenza, keep out of the crowds; ride a bicycle to and from your work. Just look at the ruddy-cheeked delivery boys riding to and fro. They demonstrate what a bicycle will do for you. Every man who lives a sedentary life needs a bicycle. One will give you fresh air, new blood, a lease of life. We’ve a model that will please you…’
This advert by the Roanoke Cycle Company of Virginia was posted during the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918-1920 One hundred years later and COVID-19 has created a new set of instructions for cyclists everywhere. The modern advert might read: ‘As a precaution against the coronavirus, keep out of the crowds; clamp your road bike to the smart trainer you’re so glad you didn’t stick on eBay in February. Just look at the ruddy-cheeked Zwifters riding to and fro in Watopia. Every (wo)man who lives a sedentary life needs a bicycle. One will give you reason to wake, new blood (but through legal means), a lease of life…’
‘Once this crisis has passed, indoor cycling will play an increasingly important role in the sport’
Before the pandemic did its best to erase our long Sunday morning rides – oh, and the WorldTour calendar – indoor cycling simmered – warming, but hot to the touch rather than at boiling point. Then the onehour timer began and everything changed.
‘We’ve done a year’s worth of business in the past 10 days,’ says James Vickers, head of marketing at virtual cycling interviews him in the early days of the pandemic a few months back. He stresses he’s sensitive about releasing those figures in the current climate, but it does, he says, highlight how indoor cycling has given riders all around the world a much-needed sanity and stamina safety net.
