Last night saw Bradley Wiggins crowned ‘BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2012′ despite an extended field of competitors. Great Britain has experienced a stellar year of sport which included the London 2012 Olympic Games and of course, a historic win by Wiggins and Team Sky at Le Tour de France.

The annual event has a range of awards from ‘Unsung Hero’ usually given to non sports stars who help members of their community to achieve their potential, to ‘International Personality of the Year’ which was taken home by Usain Bolt this year. Due to London 2012 being such a success for Team GB the normal shortlist for the main award was extended from 10 to 12. Some felt there should have been a separate title for Olympic competitors but this had the potential to water down the main award and I’m glad they chose the format they did. Contenders for this years main event included sailing legend Ben Ainslie, heptathlete and all round babe Jessica Ennis, the sensational Mo Farah, golf supremo Rory McIlory and track king Sir Chris Hoy.

The shortlist is compiled by a panel of male and female sports editors and journalists but the final vote goes to the public and is always hotly contested. Although not greatly appreciated outside the UK, for British sports stars the award is a big deal. London’s Excel Centre hosted the awards dinner last night and it looked immense! I have never seen a bigger sports awards ceremony and it did justice to the fantastic year of sport we have witnessed in 2012. And who better to award Wiggo the main prize but Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge or Kate Middleton to those not eligible for a stay in The Tower.

This award has been scooped by 3 cyclists in the last 5 years (Sir Chris Hoy 2008, Mark Cavendish 2011, Bradley Wiggins 2012) and goes some way to illustrate the upsurge in popularity of cycling in Britain. The only question now is if Wiggins does defend his Yellow Jersey in July despite initially stating he would focus on the Giro, can he make 2013 even more epic and take the top public voted sports award for a record second year in a row!?

UPDATE

Below is a link to a video that emerged on the BBC website of Wiggo jammin’ at the after show party! Such a dude!

Any regular reader will know that I like to keep my posts light hearted and simple… like me. But I’ve had this post in me for some time now and although it is not fully realised yet, I want to cack-handedly explain my point and get your views on the subject. 

The modern sports superstar is a complex beast. They are at the peak of physical fitness, mentally strong, media savvy and walking, talking advertisers of everything from sneakers to themselves. But how did they end up commanding so much of our attention and demanding so much in return when sports and the superstars themselves came from such humble, yet brutally hard roots as the Roman gladiator?

Tommy B and the gang just chillin’, selling some pillows!

Usually prisoners of war or men who had fallen in to debt and sold their freedom to clear their debts, Roman gladiators had none of the luxuries that a modern sportsman has. Gladiators were essentially slaves, providing their owner with a financial income, despite not getting paid themselves and living  in barracks like soldiers. Although some of the more successful ones may have had minor-celebrity status and regular members of society may take an interest in their form (similar to that of a racehorse) on the whole they were not liked in society and were seen to be good for only one thing – fighting!

Although they were the lowest of the low, these men were involved in one of the earliest sports and people paid to see them fight for survival which they saw as entertainment. So how did we get to the stage now where sports men and women are paid gigantic sums of money to entertain us? Whether it be in the stadium or sitting at home with our pay-per-view watching the hard men of Le Tour slug it out on the slopes of France it is the sportsman who has become the most important part of the relationship, demanding our attention and pushing us to look, buy and behave they way they do.

In such a materialistic world it’s hard to imagine our society where we are the ones who control the path and legacy of our sports ‘entertainers’. Modern sport is more like a drug. A drug we can’t do without and sacrifice other parts of our lives to make sure we don’t miss out on that endorphin riddled high. I haven’t read the entire history of the world yet, but this change in the way sportsmen are viewed in society happened at some time. If you have time this week, you could read it all for me and let me know!

Somewhere along the line the modern sports superstar has morphed from a controlled, despised and lowly member of society into an all-powerful super being. Well… most of them!

Stevie

A couple of years back I did a guest post for a cycling clothing site entitled, “Einstein Never Used Flashcards”.  It was an article written about kids, free-thinking, and exercise.  The idea came from a book that my Wife was reading at the time and for some reason the concepts have been floating around my mind once again.  So I’ve decided to resurrect that post, make a few tweaks, and lay it down for all of you here on our website.

My wife has this book called, “Einstein Never Used Flashcards“ and she used to read excerpts of the book to me.  The book talks about how schools are going away from recess and there is less and less free-thinking playtime given to children.  I won’t even get into the whole childhood obesity thing right here, and I’ll just focus on the kids that are still getting in some exercise.  We’re part of a society that is overdosing on structured fitness classes and sports for kids.  It’s great to see them active and getting involved with so many different sports, but as the book points out…they aren’t given “unstructured time to discover their own creativity and strengths.”

As the title of the book insinuates, the great Albert Einstein did all he did because of the free-thinking free time he took part in and not because of using structured learning….and we all know that he spent a lot of time on his bike.  I’m not a preacher, and really just wanted to have some fun with this, so I’ll leave it up to you to decide if the book is worth a read or not.  It spoke to me, and if you think it might do the same for you…give it a go.

But I will add in just one more quote from the authors, Kathy Hirch-Pasek and Roberta Michnick Golinkoff, that I think sums things up quite well: “Despite societal brain washing that kids need exposure to a wide variety of activities to encourage their interests, the reality is that it’s okay to just play!”

When I was a kid, I remember two types of physical activity: cruising on my bike, and running through town with my friends.  I lived on my bike.  It was my source of freedom, transportation, and endless amounts of great times.  It really was one of my best friends.  When I wasn’t on my bike, I was running around playing games with my friends.  I’m absolutely convinced that it was all this play time on and off the bike that made me the dude I am today.  Now that I’m the Dad of three super awesome kids, I’m making sure that they are encouraged to just get out there and play as well.

I’m a fan of any source of athletics and totally encourage kids to try things out and find what they love best.  But my advice to the parents out there is to make sure that there’s room for play time in the sports they take part in, and that maybe it doesn’t have to be taken too seriously.  I want to see kids loving the sports they play.  Having a total blast while they are lovingtheswim, lovingthesoccer, and of course….lovingthebike.  Most of all…..just getting out there to play.

For many months now we have gathered as seething masses in the musty halls of a simple but wonderful night class known only as #bikeschool. Some people pop in to wind down after a day at work, others set their biological clocks to tingle once a week at 9PM EST… and others well, others use it as a vehicle to explain their drinking behaviour! So how has #bikeschool EVOLved since it’s conception 9 months ago and who are the social media rascals behind this dastardly brilliant idea?

In August 2010 @bikerly, @egggman and @lovingthebike (henceforth known as ‘The Rascals’) blogged about the benefits of using the #bikeschool hashtag to bring people together and share lessons learned as part of the first Secret Evol Plan (Evol = Love backwards and even more dastardly than the regular evil) Those early days of the #hashtag sparked some enlightening discussions and in the words of @bikerly:

We’ve heard about kids flying free without training wheels and what this has meant for the parent. There have been stories shared about mountain biking, volunteerism, beer biking, icebiking, biking with a
family, and we’ve even had a couple Yogi Berrisms. It’s been amazing and fun to be part of this.

The idea of an hour slot on Twitter quickly became necessary, at the very least, to harness those fantastic stories, ideas and tips that were being spread across Twitter. So Thursday, October 21st at 9p EST was chosen to be the night The Rascals did the dirty and #bikeschool 1.0 was conceived.

Les Coquins

Darryl (@lovingthebike) is the dude behind this wonderful hub… www.LovingTheBike.com.  He’s a cycling-lifestyle blogger and a bone fide social media warrior who’s proud of the tremblings he’s helped created along the way.  A native of Canada, but not made for their climate….Darryl escaped and spent a few years living in the Caribbean before returning to North America.  He now lives in Austin, Texas with his family who mean the world to him.  His life revolves around his family and cycling.

Darryl is no newcomer to the realm of social media.  His cycling blog,  is quickly becoming a favorite digital media home for bike lovers around the world.  When not hard at work developing valuable strategies to launch his clients into social media stardom, this devoted husband, father of three, and avid cyclist can be found riding the back roads of the Texas Hill Country or conversing with clients and fans on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, and so many other funky cool places.

Jim (@bikerly) grew up on a farm in Iowa, just on the outside of town with plenty of quiet streets to bike up and down on the way to the football games, school, the grocery store for baseball cards, Dairy Queen for an ice cream cone etc. He is a regular ‘beer running guy’ (Jim has been voted one of the Top 12 Beer Runners To Watch in 2011!), father of two boys, husband, runner and bike rider and manages to find enough love in his life for all of these things. Never taking things too seriously, you won’t find him on the turbo or doing hill repeats, Jim likes to take his riding slowly and often takes a camera with him, biking for fun and to get out of the house. That does not mean he’s any less of a bad ass though! He’s no stranger to winter riding and last year started ice-biking:

It was an arctic February day (-10 F) when I decided to get off the couch and go for a bike ride. It had been months since my last, but I was determined to kick Old Man Winter where the sun wasn’t shining.

Layers, face mask, goggles and gloves, I pedaled. My wife thought I was crazy. So did the neighbors. I loved it, and spent the rest of the weekend researching winter cycling gear. That weekend marked my addiction to icebiking. I continued biking through the Winter, taking pictures and facebooking the heck out of my adventures.

Jim’s ethos on biking and life is a beautifully simple one and he dishes out regular doses of it on his personal blog, over at Groucho Sports (more on them later!) and also at dailymile.

Mike (@egggman) is a true winter-riding warrior who regularly posts his gnarly rides to work through the snow covered suburbs of his home town on his blog, The Old Singlespeed. If you ride your bike for for no other reason than because you love it his videos will speak to you… they might make you want to head off on an Hawaiian vacation… but they speak volumes about the man himself. No further words are necessary… marvel in his awesomeness!!!!

Rise of the pedaltarian

So a time and date had been set, all that was needed other than the baying masses to fill the halls was someone to control the chaos. The Rascals took it in turns to run #bikeschool as ‘Professors’, asking questions every 15 minutes to give the hour a structure and to try and tempt tweeps to the front of the class rather than lurking, the idea being if you contribute to the session you will  get more from it. As the weeks went on and people came back each time, connections and friendships were beginning to form and the 1 hour slot became a much more fluid affair. Gone was the feeling of waiting for that week’s professor to ask a question so you could answer. It now really felt like a room full of like minded people chatting about 1 subject and the ‘Prof’ questions molded and stimulated these conversations; some class-wide, some more personal (#YouKnowWho).

Possibly the most influential part of the EVOLution so far has been the introduction of guest professors into the proceedings. By doing this The Rascals ensured that sessions remained fresh and current and showed an understanding that their creation was now bigger than the sum of its parts and was an offering to the biking community. Although ‘guesting’ provides it’s own nervousness and trepidation, within the #bikeschool community it is a privileged, sought after position and enables people to inject their personality into the session.

As we turned our backs on the decade that was and pressed on into 2011 the attendance numbers rocketed and #bikeschool quickly became much bigger than it’s conceived 1 hour slot with the hashtag pinging Twitter clients 7 days a week. A class regular and #bikeschool stalwart, Groucho Sports, were quick to help when the masses demanded a #bikeschool jersey. A collaboration between The Rascals, the designer Bob Avery (@BobRidesABike) and Groucho Sports soon followed and the #bikeschool jersey is now available and can be seen around the globe.

The most recent change for #bikeschool has been the move of it’s supporting blog away from the original Tumblr location to nestle very nicely here at LovingTheBike.com. I’ve been involved with The Rascals for a while now and felt truly honored when asked to provide the weekly updates for the blog and be part of the LovingTheBike.com family. With no credible history of writing or blogging to my name it was a risky audible from a well honed play book but it is another example of how The Rascals are trying to move #bikeschool forward and broaden it’s demographic and appeal as well as making time for them to sink their teeth into new and even more EVOL secret plans. I hope this new home for us is going to be a fruitful one and we always welcome your comments, advice, suggestions and requests here or on twitter about what you want to see on the #bikeschool blog which has already seen 2 fantastic interviews courtesy of British Road Race Champion and Team Sky rider, Geraint Thomas and Bike Pure creator Andy Layhe.

Ladies, gentlemen and those in between, please be upstanding for a toast…. To The Rascals! And all that may follow them!

Check out the Facebook page, and the Groucho Sports shop and we’ll see you on Thursday, 9pm EST for #bikeschool