Cycling: The Need for It as a Club Sport at the University Level

Written by Liam T. Buchanan

Twitter: @_buchananliam

Instagram: @buchananliam

Thumbnail and Header Photo by Flo Karr on Unsplash

There are a select few club sports currently being offered at Saint Mary’s University. At the time of this writing, there are only ten offered to SMUdents. One sport that is relatively inexpensive – if you want it to be – and should become the eleventh club sport is cycling. This article will outline that cycling as a club sport can foster physical growth, that cycling can improve mental well-being for the cyclist, and that incentivizing cycling as a mode of transportation could encourage others to take up the sport.

 Health Benefits to Cycling

Cycling is well-known to be extremely beneficial to one’s health. It can be a rigorous aerobic exercise that does not put much stress on your joints; therefore, I choose to cycle over jogging, which strains my lower back and stresses my knees. Cycling is also known to lower body fat when done habitually while simultaneously building muscle, thus contributing to a healthier physique. It can also help build core strength and overall be an incredibly positive activity to incorporate into one’s life. 

It cannot be underestimated that cycling, too, can positively impact one’s mental well-being. According to VeloSock, there are numerous benefits cycling has on the brain: it reduces the amount of cortisol (also known to be the stress hormone) you produce;  it can reduce anxiety because your body produces endorphins that improve your mood; it can help combat depression by increasing the number of neurotransmitters being released, and it keeps your brain intact and helps you stay young and sharp. These examples alone demonstrate the degree to which cycling benefits your mental health, thus contributing to a healthier lifestyle. Even if you begin by cycling ten minutes daily, it is a fantastic way to begin incorporating the sport into your daily routine and will allow you to progress with time to the benchmarks you wish to reach.  

The Need for Urban Bicycle Infrastructure

Providing people with the means to cycle safely and efficiently will foster further growth in the community by connecting neighbourhoods with cycling infrastructure, as well as develop an interest in the sport. This is why Halifax needs more bike infrastructure, and not just painted lines. Copenhagen, Denmark is often considered the nirvana for bike enthusiasts. They prioritize the individual and their experience and build their communities around local commutes rather than prioritizing streets for inevitable congestion from vehicles. Ultimately, these choices benefit the whole community, because clean air leads to healthier living. According to State of Green, a Danish not-for-profit that champions Danish-centric solutions regarding the transition to green technology, Copenhagen is ranked second amongst European cities for their quality of air, in large part due to their prolific bike culture. It should be noted that the article dates from 2015 and that the percentage of cycling use outweighs all other modes of transportation, including public transit. How has Copenhagen grabbed the torch in quality of life? Well, strategic urban planning conducted via a human-centric focal point has allowed for the city to become a healthier place to thrive and live. 

Halifax is also slowly increasing cycle infrastructure, from the separated lanes on South Park Street to the hopeful eradication of the Cogswell Interchange to connect downtown and the North End with proper cycle and pedestrian infrastructure. Why is our municipal government investing funds in this sort of infrastructure? Well, it should be highlighted that the process of creating incentives for people is done such that it will persuade them to pick up on the given activity. For example, the bus lanes recently erected around the HRM are purposefully orchestrated to create congestion within the non-bus lanes to portray public transit as a more attractive option. If cycling infrastructure is further implemented within the Municipality, more people will be willing to take up the sport. Education is always a part of the change, too. If more Haligonians are educated on the benefits of cycling – not just as a sport, but as an activity that can be incorporated into their daily commutes – it will directly tie into more interest within the SMU community to create a club sport for cycling. Now, that also means collaborating with other universities to create their own clubs, but Huskies are resilient, and there is nothing stopping SMUdents from leading the charge in creating this change.  

Photo by Halifax Cycling Coalition. Haligonians cycling during wintertime.

Laying the Foundation For a Cycling Club

While the benefits of cycling have been outlined, it begs to question: what will cycling as a club sport look like? 

Surely cycling is not the first sport that people think of when pondering what the next club sport at Saint Mary’s may be. Cycling enthusiasts could begin reading the policy manual that all club sports must abide by. The guide provides instructions on what a club sport needs to comprise of; for example, there must be an Executive Board governing the club, as well as rigid roles and responsibilities for executive members. Moreover, coordination can be conducted between SMU, Dalhousie, Mount Saint Vincent, and other Nova Scotian schools to see if there is enough interest in creating a club - if there is, the next ideal step would be to request the assistance of the Halifax Cycling Coalition and Cycling stores to promote the new club sport. Funding could be raised via fundraisers. The possibilities are endless, and through the coordination between universities throughout the province - and perhaps Atlantic Canada - as well as organizations and businesses, it is indeed possible for a cycling club to soon take off at Saint Mary’s and elsewhere.

I personally call upon the Halifax Cycling Coalition to partner with like-minded individuals to not just raise awareness surrounding cycling, but also to collaborate with university students in the pursuit of creating cycling as a club sport. This will ultimately benefit the cyclists’ mental and physical health, and the first place to begin is to allocate funds to bicycle-friendly infrastructure.