Sunday 14th May saw the latest edition of one of the most prestigious races on the British domestic calendar, the Lincoln GP. It is known for the fearsome cobbled climb of the Michaelgate; for the women the race takes in eight laps; the men thirteen. Even though it’s the closest race to me in terms of geographical location, I’ve still never seen it in person until this edition.
My daughter and I went to watch and live sport is truly something to behold. Watching cycling however is probably one of the most unusual sports to watch. In comparison to sports like football or rugby, where you see everything all at once, cycling is completely different. You don’t get that experience like you would on the television, you only ever see a snapshot of the event. Wherever you are located, and we chose the main Michaelgate climb for the spectacle, you only see the riders for that stretch of road. You don’t see the rest of the race or any of the narrative that’s happening away from where you are.
On television it’s easy to follow and know what’s going on, in person you either have to rely upon whatever commentary is available or make up your own narrative based on what you can see. That is the one advantage that being there in person gives over watching on television. You can see the pain etched into rider’s faces, you watch as the stronger riders come to the fore and how they seem to glide over the cobbled climb whereas others battle and wrestle their bikes to the top.
Another advantage is that although you might cheer at home, sat on the sofa the riders won’t ever hear you – in person, your shouts get heard by the riders, the cheers can potentially help propel them to victory. For races such as Le Tour de France, you typically only get the snapshot of seeing the race pass you once on any given day and that’s all.
Fortunately the GP is a circuit race so you get the snapshots of the event multiple times. You can watch how the race develops and build up the narrative in your head, of riders progressing and strengthening, or of riders hitting their limit and their reserves running out. Although at times the race can happen away from Michaelgate, the climb is still the most pivotal part of the race. Riders can both win and lose the race there.
We got there on lap four of eight, and literally just in time to see the lead group go up the climb for us to cheer on. It’s quite incredible the noise a group of people can make and how the noise travels up the climb with the riders. You hear riders coming, first from the whistles of the marshalls, alerting any unwitting viewers that now would NOT be a good time to walk in the road; then from the claps and cowbells on the lower slopes until the riders come into view. The noise erupts from a whisper to a roar – sometimes a literal, visceral roar urging riders onward. On television it does not translate.
Another benefit of the circuitous nature of the route, is that if you miss the riders coming past; they’ll be coming back past in another 20 minutes or so, so you can see them again and how the race has evolved. Within that window, people tend to seek refreshments or, as in our case, visit the British Cycling area where they had a section for children to learn how to cycle.
Now British Cycling has a lot of issues too numerous to go into here – however what they did here very well is their provision of getting people into cycling. It was very well run and with both balance bikes and pedal bikes on offer, it catered for all abilities and the coach running the area was great with my daughter and helping her gain confidence. I cannot speak highly enough of the provision and what an effect it had on her interest in the sport.
It also helped that after the women’s race was over, we happened to go past where the riders were gathering post-race. Cycling is one of those sports where you can get close to the riders and chat to them before and after races. We were able to do so and my daughter loved chatting with Maddy Nutt, and now wants to be just like her and wear blue socks in races. That’s the power of live sport, television makes sport distant and otherworldly; sport in person enables you to comprehend the feats of the athletes but most of all, sport inspires.