In This Issue
Cycling Psych Profs Go the Distance
The joy of biking and the mental challenge it provides lead psychology profs to great lengths on two wheels
BY TERESA PITMAN
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| Cycling has been popular with faculty in the Department of Psychology for decades. Prof. Michael Grand, far right, was part of a group that started doing long-distance rides together in the mid-1970s. Today's crop of biking enthusiasts includes, from left, Profs. Ian Newby-Clark, Karl Hennig and Peter Hausdorf. Photo by Martin Schwalbe |
Worried about rising gas prices? Want to do your bit to protect the environment? Some cycling enthusiasts in the Department of Psychology may be able to provide just the inspiration you're looking for.
Take, for example, Prof. Serge Desmarais, associate vice-president (academic), who joined the Department of Psychology in 1995.
“I cycle in from my home in Kitchener as many days as I can,” he says. “It's about 35 kilometres one way and takes me about an hour and 15 or 20 minutes.”
He's been making this long-distance trek for more than eight years, usually starting in early May and continuing until late September. With his current work schedule, however, he expects he'll be riding only from June to August from now on.
“That's mostly because of the number of daylight hours — I don't want to be riding in the dark.”
Desmarais may bike farther to work than his colleagues do, but they're just as passionate about cycling. Prof. Michael Grand says it all started in 1975 when then faculty member Larry Cousins began encouraging other members of the department to join him in his enthusiasm for biking. Soon the group included Grand and Profs. Andrew Winston and Jim Mottin. They called themselves the Bipsychos.
“We even had T-shirts printed up,” recalls Grand.
At one point, the group organized a department ride to Breslau that included about 25 faculty and graduate students. Longer rides were soon occurring, and after Prof. Michael Matthews joined the group, they began doing some 100-mile trips. “He took his training very seriously and took us all to a new level of fitness,” says Grand.
Although the prospect of biking 100 miles seems daunting to new cyclists, “when you're riding in a group and having fun and challenging each other, the miles go by quite quickly,” says Grand.
He'll be taking the concept of “riding in a group” to new heights this weekend when he joins more than 2,000 cyclists to raise money for cancer research at Princess Margaret Hospital. The group will start in Toronto and cycle to Niagara Falls, with an overnight stop along the way — a total distance of 225 kilometres.
“It's a way to do what I love while supporting a good cause,” says Grand, who has already raised more than $6,500 in pledges.
His love of longer rides — he's biked from Vancouver to Guelph twice, has ridden from Guelph to Halifax and is planning to cycle to Ottawa this summer to speak at a conference — doesn't stop him from enjoying shorter rides, too. He commutes to work daily from his Guelph home, no matter what the weather.
Prof. Karl Hennig not only cycles back and forth to campus but also rides back downtown to see clients, to escort his kids to sports or school events or to attend medical appointments.
“One day I cycled over to the hospital to have a procedure done,” he says. “I wanted to ride back, too, but I'd been given a sedative, and my wife had to take away my bike and helmet to stop me.”
Hennig started cycling when he got married 16 years ago.
“I like simplicity. That's kind of a fundamental philosophy of mine. So I sold my car and bought a bicycle, and we became a one-car family.”
Like Grand and Prof. Dan Meegan, Hennig commutes by bicycle year-round.
“There are usually only two or three days each year when I really can't, and that's not because there's too much snow. It's because there's been slushy snow that has frozen, and the cars have made too many ruts in it. You just can't get through those.”
Grand says that although he and the other commuters are “road cyclists,” the growing popularity of mountain bikes has captured the interest of some new psychology faculty. Profs. Peter Hausdorf, Ian Newby-Clark, Francesco Leri and Boyer Winters are among those who like to head out to the off-road bike trails in places like Guelph Lake. Always looking for a new challenge, Mottin, now retired, often joins them.
As a long-term cyclist, Grand has given some thought as to why it's so appealing to many.
“I like the idea of crossing long distances using only my own strength and being self-sufficient in that way. There's no carbon footprint, and I feel good about that. When you are riding alone, you're also open to conversation with people along the road — and I've met many interesting folks. It's also an opportunity to have some quiet times. I live my life very intensely when it comes to my teaching and research, so several hours alone on the bike is a good way to slow things down and set my life at a different pace.”
Hennig says Grand has been an inspiration, not just for his long-distance rides but also for the way he's involved his family.
“He uses his cycling trips to connect with his kids in a deeper way,” says Hennig, who has plans for a trip with his own son this summer.
Although environmental concerns are part of the reason he's such a fan of cycling, he says the appeal of a bicycle is hard to explain.
“There's just something about the bike. I don't mind the occasional walk, and I do some running, but I love cycling. I just bought a new bike, and I'm like a little kid about it.”
Desmarais offers another explanation: “You've got to be a little crazy.”
He says the appeal of cycling for people in the psychology field may be the mental aspect.
“It's hard every time. You get up in the morning and ask yourself: ‘Do you really want to ride 37 kilometres and then do the same thing again tonight?' Who would say yes? But you do it. A lot of it is in your head. Even when there's a big hill looming in front of you, the physical process is not that hard. It's realizing that if you just keep going, you'll get there. Some parts are wonderful, some parts make you curse your way through, but ultimately, no matter how hard it is, there's always joy in it.”