Go Canada! Go!

Ryder Hesjedal e’ il vincitore del straordinario Giro d’Italia! With those words from the RAI commentator we knew that Ryder had won the Giro d’Italia. And not just any Giro, it was one of the more exciting Grand Tours that I can remember. What a day for Ryder, and for Canadian cycling.

Ryder wasn’t the only one that had a great ride on Sunday. Svein Tuft also rode well in the time trial, finishing 9^th: two Canadians in the top ten of a Grand Tour stage. Before the finale of the Giro that would have been seen as a monumental moment for Canadian cycling.

And what was happening at the Tour of California only a week ago? Two Canadians – David Boily of SpiderTech p/b C10 and Sebastian Salas of Optum-Kelly Benefit Strategies – were battling it out for the climber’s jersey. In addition, we had top-ten stage finishes from three of the young guns on the SpiderTech p/b C10 team. All the while Marsh Cooper was riding a brilliant race in the Tour of Guatemala, stepping up onto the podium twice during the race.

Depth of talent is what Canadian cycling is starting to develop. This is a drum I have been beating in this blog and here I am saying it again. The question now is how do we capitalize on this success, and thus ensure that we build talent to continue the growth of the sport into the future.

We need our local government and organizations to take an interest in sports more generally, and hopefully in cycling more specifically. Recently I have read articles about two different, yet related issues.

One article discussed the lack of physical exercise that children are getting these days, and explored the relationship between physical exercise and academic success. Children that exercise tend to be able to concentrate better when it comes time to doing school work.

The second article talked about the restorative power of being in nature, something that I experience every time I go for a bike ride in the countryside. For me cycling has been a great stress reliever while living in the city. Cycling can address both of these issues of modern life – a lack of exercise and the need to get out into nature. Add to that the active transportation aspects of the sport and you have a powerful set of reasons for why our society should be doing more to promote cycling.

Ryder winning the Giro was a huge day for Canadian cycling and sport. As a country we should be immensely proud, now we just need to keep the momentum going.

Recently retired from professional cycling, Andrew Randell has taken up a management/rider development role with the Jet Fuel/La Bicicletta team for 2012 and opened up his coaching services to the public. Reach him at arcoaching@gmail.com.