Doing things differently

Steve Cummings is preoccupied with change. It’s something he has had to deal with since he was forced to retire as a professional cyclist in 2019 after breaking his back during a crash at the Tour of Britain, a fate that reflects the fragility of living life at warp speed.

Cummings was only a few miles away from his home in the Wirral when the crash happened, cutting short his final season with Dimension Data and leaving him wondering what to do with himself once he recovered and it became clear that he wouldn’t have a team for the following season.

‘It was funny – I carried on training for six months, full gas. And then one day I was like, “What am I doing this for?”’

‘It was funny – I carried on training for six months, full gas,’ he tells Cyclist. ‘I didn’t really know what else to do, to be honest. And then one day I was like, “What am I doing this for?”’

He confesses that he’s still not entirely through the transition process. He may have been able to divert his physical energy back into the bike, but finding a focus for his mental energy would prove to be trickier.

‘Fifteen years of being a professional bike rider and enjoying what I did on a daily basis? Yeah, it was tough,’ he acknowledges. ‘But you have to reset.