‘Why I'm Riding The Entire Tour On A Static Bike'

Amateur racer Rob Stephenson is riding every stage of the Tour on a smart-trainer to raise awareness of mental health in the workplace

 

The famous Etape du Tour, where amateur riders take on a full stage of the Tour de France, is rightly regarded as a formidable challenge. For Rob Stephenson, though, one stage wasn’t nearly enough — he is currently riding the entire Tour, every stage as it happens, aboard a static bike.

Stephenson, 46, is an accountant, cat-two road racer and time triallist who is open about the fact he has bipolar disorder. He is undertaking MindCycle, riding the entire Tour de France on his Cycleops Hammer smart-trainer, to help raise awareness. Touring prominent workplaces around the UK, Stephenson is inviting people to get involved and ride parts of the event with him. So what’s his motivation?

“The main goal is getting people to think it’s OK to talk about mental health,” he says after stage three. “If you have a diffcult challenge to deal with, whether it’s the condition you suffer from or something like MindCycle, the way to get through it is via talking and support.”

The hardest parts have been the sections ridden alone. “I did three hours on my own yesterday morning and time just dragged, compared to the afternoon when people were supporting and chatting to me.”