Will Ryder’s win today at the Giro have the same effect on cycling as Simon’s gold at the Olympics had to triathon. Let’s face it that both sports in Canada are niche sports so I was thinking that maybe it would have the same effect. I know it has on my son who after watching the race today wants to go for a ride with dad.
As a Canadian, any exposure or publicity about a Canadian doing well in sports other than Hockey or Baseball is good.
Breaks the stereotype so to speak, not just non-Canadians but also to us Canucks.
Not since Steve Bauer and to a lesser extent Curt Harnett (on the track) have Canadians been at the forefront of cycling at the international elite level.
Cycling is developing / evolving in Ontario and perhaps elsewhere in Canada (British Columbia in particular).
Heck, when the world class indoor velodrome is finished (just in time for the 2015 PanAm Games in Toronto), you might see Canadians doing well on the track as well.
For the meantime, I think the local news will be filled with Ryder’s win for the next little while…perhaps inspiring a kid or two to jump on their Schwinn 
Way to go Ryder!!!
The average person has no idea what the Giro is, unlike the Olympics games.
I think it’ll give inspiration to the young bikers already riding though, show them a canadian can win at a high level
Good Job Ryder
Hey, Canada has the next Lance…
As a Canadian, any exposure or publicity about a Canadian doing well in sports other than Hockey or Baseball is good.
Breaks the stereotype so to speak, not just non-Canadians but also to us Canucks.
Not since Steve Bauer and to a lesser extent Curt Harnett (on the track) have Canadians been at the forefront of cycling at the international elite level.
Cycling is developing / evolving in Ontario and perhaps elsewhere in Canada (British Columbia in particular).
Heck, when the world class indoor velodrome is finished (just in time for the 2015 PanAm Games in Toronto), you might see Canadians doing well on the track as well.
For the meantime, I think the local news will be filled with Ryder’s win for the next little while…perhaps inspiring a kid or two to jump on their Schwinn
Way to go Ryder!!!..and most importantly we’ll have an endless supply of 16 year old hockey players who are sick of competitive hockey to convert into track cyclists. They already have the legs and aerobic engines and are probably the right size to be track cyclists if they got cut from hockey!!!
Ryder is probably closer to Peter Reid now for awareness in Canada. They did show the giro live this morning on sportsnet… which is a step up from ironman.
The Olympics are a whole other level… That’s why Bauer and Harnett became better known to Canadians.
You mean Olympians like Lori-Ann Muenzer? (but in fairness … I waited behind she and a Canadian IM pro in line at a big sale/event at Endurosport a few years ago, and even in that crowd, she got zero recognition.)
Sadly, unless it’s the gentle, bland, warm servings of Hockey that get spoonfed to Canadians all year, there isn’t a lot of appetite for many other sports.
I think there’s hope.
I can only speak for the Calgary area, but there are more and more cyclists out riding than ever before. Each year there seems to be more riders out on the highways either training for a charity ride, Fondo, triathlon or for general health. I’ve had my racing license for what is now my 3rd year and without doubt more and more guys/girls are racing too. It’s growing. The fact it’s even on live for the last two stages was awesome. Just a couple years ago the Giro was not on tv at all.
Awesome hearing the Canadian athem being played today in Milan!
… but I’m sure there’s been a flurry of Italian sports journalists looking for Canada on a map this afternoon!
As a Canadian, any exposure or publicity about a Canadian doing well in sports other than Hockey or Baseball is good.
Breaks the stereotype so to speak, not just non-Canadians but also to us Canucks.
Not since Steve Bauer and to a lesser extent Curt Harnett (on the track) have Canadians been at the forefront of cycling at the international elite level.
Cycling is developing / evolving in Ontario and perhaps elsewhere in Canada (British Columbia in particular).
Heck, when the world class indoor velodrome is finished (just in time for the 2015 PanAm Games in Toronto), you might see Canadians doing well on the track as well.
For the meantime, I think the local news will be filled with Ryder’s win for the next little while…perhaps inspiring a kid or two to jump on their Schwinn
Way to go Ryder!!!..and most importantly we’ll have an endless supply of 16 year old hockey players who are sick of competitive hockey to convert into track cyclists. They already have the legs and aerobic engines and are probably the right size to be track cyclists if they got cut from hockey!!!
Don’t hold your breath on that one Dev.
Well I think with Ryder’s performance today in the TT and the fact that he won the race that he has to be the natural choice for the Olympics. With the great riding over the last 3 weeks and the support riding at the Tour de France, it might be an incredible base going into the Olympics to show what he is capable of. I think if he can carry this fitness and maybe podium in the Olympics that maybe just maybe it would push cycling to a new level in Canada.
I think our biggest problem is that every place in Canada other than as small subset of BC (from which Ryder hails) is not “rideable” for 4-5 months per year. We lose a lot of development time for our youth every winter. This is not as big a deal in triathlon as kids can make forward progress in swim and run through the winter. Hard to foster a club atmosphere for kids through the winter when it is all trainer based. This makes is hard for Canadian youth development clubs to groom talent to the same extent as in other countries where the kids can ride all year. I’m not sure that an Olympic medal by Ryder will change “much”. We had Steve Bauer, Brian Walton and Curt Harnett do that as well as Clara Hughes.
Bottom line is that our best athletes will be sucked into the massive youth hockey development system. In general, all other sports will get the scraps from a statistical perspective (there are good athletes going into other sports…ex: Owen Hargraves, Alex Harvey etc etc), but we just need to accept that the bulk of our top youth athletes will first try their rounds at hockey. For a few years now, I’ve been recruiting kids out of hockey into XC skiing and that is working well in our small club. I know that Steve Bauer has said that hockey is the place to get next round of top cyclists, rather than try to groom them through cycling.
Triathon is a marginal sport. By now, while it is frustrating I think everyone can agree with that. When compared the larger sporting events it isn’t on the radar screen. But, it will continue to slowly improve. The way it improves and gets more recognition (and this is true of cycling as well) is as follows:
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As a kid, a bicycle was something I used to get to school. It had one speed and when I got older I got the most advanced bike around, a 3 speed. As a kid I did not know that a 10 speed bike existed, never saw one, never rode one till I was in my 20s. TdF, didn’t know it existed till I was an adult.
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All my kids know about Bike racing and Triathlons. Heck, even my wife watches parts of the Tour, Giro and Veulta.
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My son is a Para Triathlete, the other one sticks to cycling only. I’ll do my first Sprint Tri in 2 weeks.
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I had 4 Grandchildren (3 boys, 1 girl) do a KOS today.
We are all having fun. If others choose not to participate, that’s up to them. Whether through ignorance or conscious decision.
Finally, one of the ways to increase uptake (other than have Lance out there), is through education. One of the reasons there is an IMC poster on my wall at work.
So go and celebrate Ryder’s amazing accompishment and raise a glass to Simon as well.
I think there’s hope.
I can only speak for the Calgary area, but there are more and more cyclists out riding than ever before. Each year there seems to be more riders out on the highways either training for a charity ride, Fondo, triathlon or for general health. I’ve had my racing license for what is now my 3rd year and without doubt more and more guys/girls are racing too. It’s growing. The fact it’s even on live for the last two stages was awesome. Just a couple years ago the Giro was not on tv at all.
Awesome hearing the Canadian athem being played today in Milan!
Yes, same thing in Ottawa. On yesterday’s ride I was noticing a huge increase in the number of riders on the road and Gatineau Park compared to 10 years ago. Lots of strong peletons hammering it. And with the Gran Fondo Ottawa coming for the first time this year, and IMMT, Rideau Lakes and other great cycling events, combined with now Ryder’s influence, I think this trend will continue.
With my parents living in Victoria and with a Grand Fondo there, I might have to do that one next year.
With my parents living in Victoria and with a Grand Fondo there, I might have to do that one next year.
I thought about doing it last year. The VIP entry got you a pre-race dinner, VIP @ the start/finish and your own start corral, commemorative ride kit, and a special edition pair of Oakleys. It was a damned good deal, really. My issue was that I lacked the fitness to ride with the real cyclists, and hate riding with the yokels. 
One more thing I have noticed. When I first started riding in my teens, cycling was not a sport that Canadians did. The few bike clubs that existed seemed to be centred around the local Italian communities (or so it seemed). Then we grew up with Steve Bauer and as young adults we got exposed to pro cycling and also to triathlon. Now our kids have us as role models in addition to successful pro athletes. But I think having local adult role models is an important compliment to professional successes. We did not have adults pushing us towards these sports. This generation does.
The same is happening with XC skiing in Canada. The competitive side in the 70’s and 80’s was seemingly pushed by immigrants who came from Nordic countries to Canada. Then a bunch of local kids grew up competing and watching guys like Pierre Harvey, Al Pilcher, Wayne Dustin, Frank Ferrari (he posts on ST and races masters tri) trail blazing around Europe. Now we had all these guys as role models and clubs flourished because of their success. I hope we keep building on these international successes and our niche sports can become a bit more “mainstream”. When I did triathlons in the 80’s few knew what it was about. Now all the kids in our community know about it thanks to the Canadian successes over time and the fact that there are so many events locally.
…and yes, Gatineau Park was packed on Saturday. Interestingly there seemed to be more folks with aerobars and tri bike than the “bike teams” in their matching uniforms etc. 10-20 years ago, it was the bike teams that ruled in the park. Now it seems the majority are sporting tri gear and Mdot logos.
Road cycling is definitely on the upswing and I’m pretty sure it’s still the Lance effect. Here in my area (Southwestern Ontario), 25 years ago you almost couldn’t buy a road bike if you wanted one. I remember a buddy of mine and I went to the Toronto Bike show and there were probably 3 road bikes in the entire building. I’d ride my local back country loop all summer long without ever seeing another rider.
Nowadays, it’s not unusual for me to pass (or be passed…) by 4 or 5 riders every time I’m out. Ryder’s success is only going to help. Like R10C said “Canada has their own Lance”.
Overall, the more of us that are out there, the more likely drivers are going to take notice of us…
I live in QC- prob the least cycling friendly place in all of Canada.
This morning Ryder is on the front page of the newspaper (the English one)
THAT is HUGE> we have student protests ruining our city, we have never end political nonsense, hockey is still not over, and yet the Giro winner is front page news.
I think it’s awesome, and I hope it helps.
Will Ryder’s win today at the Giro have the same effect on cycling as Simon’s gold at the Olympics had to triathon. Let’s face it that both sports in Canada are niche sports so I was thinking that maybe it would have the same effect. I know it has on my son who after watching the race today wants to go for a ride with dad.
The key thing is what you said - they are both niche sports. What I have found extraordinary is that , for the most part the main stream news and sports media have not been picking up on the Ryder story from the Giro - although, that has changed in the last 48 hours. When Simon Whitfield won the Gold Medal in Triathlon in Sydney, that was both lead sports and lead news the following day in Canada. In fact, I was invited on as a guest on CBC TV in Vancouver on a show that was broadcast nationally, the following morning, to discuss the phenomenon of what it meant for Simon and for the sport!
Cycling is a bit different. It is both a very old and also a “new” sport. As Dev has pointed out the sport has deep routes in certain immigrant communities in Canada - most notably, the Italian, eastern European and British communities. Go back 20 - 30 years, and the road cycling clubs of the day all revolved around, groups of ex-pat Brits, eastern Euros and Italians.
These days with the advent of the Gran Fondo and mass participation riding in charity rides etc. . ., the appeal and attraction of road riding has gone way beyond that.
It’s interesting to note that in real Category Licensed racing right now all across the country there is an over abundance of Masters ( 40+) who have category Racing Licenses, but actually very few with Sen 1/2 Licenses ( the step just below Pro), and even fewer in the junior ranks. Not sure what this means for the future - because the really great riders of the future, need to be in some form of Junior/Cadet racing now, and then step into the Sen 1/2 ranks for further development. World class riders are not going to come from the Masters ranks - as good as some of these guys are ( and I ride with a number of them), they are not going to race Internationally!
So in general in Canada right now, it’s kind of a Best of Times Worst of Times, situation. Who knows where it’s all going to go and what Ryder’s win will mean??