What are the virtues, and how do they relate to cycling—training and racing, more specifically? What is the goal of philosophy? To me, being a philosopher does not mean talking endlessly in an intellectual masturbatory way but rather seeking the truth so I can become a more capable person. By becoming that better person, I can now help others around me further. Is that the goal of life? If that is the case, we may ask ourselves how we become such a person. First, it seems critical to realize that life is constant becoming—Being is, in fact, becoming. Virtue is, therefore, constantly refined and never attained fully. We caress this virtuous ideal, but as we approach it, it moves afar. A full mastery of virtue would be akin to a full union with God or practical omniscience. Here, I want to explore the cultivation of the four cardinal virtues within the framework of cycling training and racing, which can help us translate them into the grander realm of life.
Prudence – Phronesis
Prudence means to have the ability to foresee the future—one knows what his action would yield: their fruits (Matthew 7:16). At least, that is partially true because we never fully know what life entails. Only God knows. However, with a developed sense of prudence, we have a better idea of what might come. This is a kind of pragmatism—but one oriented towards the proper proposition. We are enjoying the present, yet we are walking toward an ideal future. That is only possible with the proper integration of the past, present, and future.
In training, prudence can be cultivated by having a global view of a workout, a training week, a season, and even a cycling career. For instance, when starting a workout, let us say an interval workout comprising two sets of six minutes of thirty seconds on and thirty seconds off, one needs to consider the entire working bout so that he begins in a way that he can complete the intervals fully yet at the end of the final repetition, he is content to finish but did not experience a significant loss in output. He has not done too much nor too little; he has walked on the path of life doing what is right in the present so that the future may reveal its full Sublime. This ability to see the whole picture can, therefore, and ought to be applied to the three other timeframes.
In racing, similarly, a wise person would consider the entirety of the race. In a pursuit on the track, the race is sixteen laps. If someone starts too swiftly, it is obvious how he would come to regret that misguided decision later—or should I say, lack of decision because of his own absence of intentionality. The opposite of being too prudent is also possible. As Aristotle teaches us, virtues are indeed a balance between a lack and an excess, which reveals themselves as the Golden Mean. However, being overly conservative is rarely the case, especially among men. If you have carefully watched men’s and women’s races, you would know that the latter group tends to be more conservative at the beginning of the race, reflecting the inner reality of higher agreeability that the post-modernists seem to classify as mere “social constructs.”
Justice – Dikaiosyne
According to Aristotle, justice must be both distributive and corrective, meaning that justice shall favor an equal opportunity for everyone. It is distributive because everyone can start, and corrective because when people engage in a Machiavellian fashion, they might be corrected so that they do not impact the others playing within the rules of the Logos—the incarnation of the greatest conceivable good.
Justice can be practiced in training, in a group ride, or in a club in general so that everyone contributes to the group. Indeed, everyone must have a taste of the wind. They might not all do the same amount of work, but they ought to work all together in an organized fashion so that they reach something that they would not have been able to achieve alone. Indeed, by collaborating, they ride faster and farther. It is the balance of the individual contribution with the collective aim. Everyone has something to bring forth; we need them to do so that the community may flourish. A group is a community. If the community flourishes, then the larger group that is society may flourish.
In racing, full justice can be practiced if the governing bodies are uncorrupted. I was thinking that if most of our politicians are corrupted, by that, I mean that they favor lower ends in their actions, such as fame, power, money, and lust over doing what is right no matter how uncomfortable it is for themselves—they are once again all of the same substance—what makes us believe that the “elites” of cycling know better? While a cyclist cannot fully control his government, he has the power to govern himself. As a Stoic, he knows what he can control and what he cannot, thereby focusing on the former. Therefore, a virtuous cyclist on the individual level has to pursue his duty. What if duty was the manifestation of love itself? This cyclist must resist the temptation of evil. He must refuse to dope, even though it is tempting, because he knows profoundly that he would acquire worldly success but, at the same time, abandon inner success. Even Cain realizes it was not worth the deal in Genesis 4:13: “And Cain said to the Lord: My iniquity is greater than that I may deserve pardon.” After all, all life is internal—the Garden of Eden within shall (re)flourish after our Fall.
Fortitude – Andreia
As we have touched on the component of acting while knowing what it might entail with the virtue of prudence, fortitude can be seen as a complementary of prudence—like yin and yang. Together, they make the story of life worth living. We have enough information to take a leap of faith into the wilderness of the unknown. We have done our jobs; we have exhausted reason. Now, we can only pray for the remainder and experience the pure awe of life. Undeniably, all that is left is in God’s hands.
In training, fortitude can be practiced in doing workouts that we know will be uncomfortable, but deep down, it is a call for us to face them. It is a way to face the truth, and the truth shall set us free (John 8:32). Indeed, if we identify a weakness, we must work on it. For instance, if we have difficulties with a lower cadence or, inversely, a higher cadence, we better confront that weakness so it does not haunt us inadvertently in the future. A workout is daunting, but we have a commitment to the truth—a covenant—therefore, we might abandon the lower part of ourselves to climb the ladder of our true potential. That will reveal inadequacies that shall hurt profoundly, yet this encounter may liberate our soul to guide us towards our potential. That potential is not about mere balancing but rather maximizing our strengths and weaknesses.
In racing, fortitude can emerge as attacking even though we are not sure to win. Fortitude, here, is about knowing what is possible and being willing to sacrifice a lower result for something higher. I remember when I rode to the victory at La Vache qui rit in 2023. I was dropped on the main climb of the day. My weight was playing in my disfavor, but I stayed composed. Upon reaching the summit and calculating in my head as I am doing every hour I am awake, I felt the intuition to gamble. Therefore, I rode aggressively on the descent, trying to caress the speed at which I would puncture my tires—yet not going over it. It was a narrow gate (Matthew 7:13–14), but I managed to keep the bike in perfect working order and catch up with the two leading racers, that was at least until my electronic shifting system ceased to work. Even that could not stop me on my path to victory. I sacrificed a third place for something greater, and in the end, it worked; crossing that finish line felt like a firework had been lit up in my heart.
Temperance – Sophrosyne
Temperance is about controlling one’s desires for higher ones. The opposite of temperance is immediate gains, but these gains shall haunt us in the future. It is refusing tempting sexual offers such as casual relationships, pornography, and even masturbation in place of the pursuit of one of the greatest godly gifts—marriage. It is refusing to scroll on social media to genuinely cultivate the mind with timeless books, even though it is painful to depart from one’s established worldview. It is refusing junk food to truly nourish the body and express one’s genuine physical, intellectual, and spiritual potential. In some ways, temperance is refraining from doing what is wrong—which is itself still doing what is right. Again, there could be a complementary aspect between justice and temperance as with prudence and courage. When expressing justice, we do or say what is right. When exercising temperance, we do not act or do not say what is wrong. We wait for the harvest of the fruits—and our actions better not make them rotten.
In training, this ability to control oneself manifests itself through the ability to respect a training plan day in and day out rather than racing Strava KOMS every day, knowing that a symphony is not composed in one day. A note alone means nothing, but when put together in the proper order, it may produce a melody that transports us toward the eternal, immutable, and ineffable truth of beauty. However, one needs to be able to adapt and not follow his training plan without questioning it. If your coach cannot answer the reasoning behind his workout prescription, it may well be time to change your coach. Again, one is flexible enough to adapt yet anchored in truth.
In racing, if someone insults others, we shall remain calm. He is a fool, already punished by his foolishness. He does not even know he is a fool. Why should we punish him twice? We shall stand there, unperturbed, with our eyes set on Heaven. We are only here to race to the victory, for ourselves or another member of the team, depending on what is right on that day, and only a person who cultivates virtue shall know what is right to do. It is not the neo-Marxist framework of associating the “oppressors” as incapable and undeserving and the “oppressed” as capable and deserving. It must happen on a scale of actual capacity—a capacity that orders the world, something akin to an individual ability to propagate unconditional love (Agape).
Practicing virtue is practicing the truth. That truth inspires others to do the same which begins to stabilize society. Cycling as a practice is indeed a substrate of life—an expression of the self. That self would similarly express itself in cycling than in life. Therefore, cycling is excellent training for life—a perfect opportunity to cultivate virtue as many other activities. In writing this piece, I aimed at the Logos and revealed some truths, for me and for you. Precisely, I have uncovered a pairing of virtues—revealing again that the universe strives toward unity. Perhaps, you can look at yourself in the mirror and aim higher while answering the profound question of why you practice cycling.
