HIGH SOCIETY
“When we cycle up mountains we have to confront our inner demons… it is the psychological challenges that represent our eternal search for self-improvement – both on and off the bike”
To cycle up a mountain is to pedal into a world of paradoxes. Mountains are a playground and a torture chamber; an opportunity for wonder, a guarantee of pain. A mountain can drag you to despair but leave you soaring with joy.
When we think about cycling, mountains erupt into our imagination: a snaking Alpine pass or the curling grey ribbon of a Pyrenean hairpin. The most iconic moments of the Tour de France have taken place at altitude; photobooks of snow-capped cols adorn our coffee tables and riders make pilgrimages to legendary peaks. But we rarely pause to think how strange this fascination really is. Road cyclists aren’t drawn in the same way to forests, fields or flatlands, although those landscapes feature in our rides and races. Mountains form the
