Exhaustion of Leisure: Identity and Cycling

Finn Kolsrud examines amateur bicycling from a sociological perspective, relying on interviews and the concepts of exhaustion and flow. Kolsrud’s project examines the ways that the drive to compete gets mixed with the drive to get ahead. His findings give him some surprise; he assumes that “badass” culture would define the racers’ mindset, but he finds that sharing stories and sharing the workload are just as important. In the end, Kolsrud describes a complex “civilizing process” to racing and training that emerges when he more closely investigates the concept of flow. His ending questions complicate any easy notion that hyper-masculine drives must always form the foundation of bicycle racing ethos