Cycling in Mid and Later Life: Involvement and Benefits Sought from a Bicycle Tour

IntroductionActive participation in sport tends to decrease sharply after age 40 (McPherson, 1984); and at all stages of life, more men than women are active participants in sport (Hargreaves, 1994). Likewise, in terms of travel to take part in sport (active sport tourism), a distinct decline in participation is evident with age, and at all life stages more men than women tend to choose sport related vacations (Gibson & Yiannakis, 2002). The participant profile for Bike Florida, a week-long bicycle and camping tour, seems to run counter to these findings and supports the more recent work of researchers who have found that there is an active subset of mid and later life individuals who are regularly involved in organized sport such as master's swimming (Stevenson, 2002), the Master's Games (e.g., Dionigi, 2002; Ryan & Lockyer, 2002), and the Senior Games (Cardenas, Henderson, & Wilson, 2009). Each spring, Bike Florida, a nonprofit bicycle safety organization, sponsors a bicycle tour through the back roads and cycle trails of Florida. Participants cycle an average of 50 miles a day and camp as a group at night. Many participants take part annually and since its inception in 1994 about 1,000 cyclists participate each year. As yet, there are a few studies on bicycle tourism. Ritchie (1998) examined the potential for tourism development in New Zealand from bicycle touring; Kaplanidou and Vogt (2007) examined the likelihood that participants in a bicycle tour similar to Bike Florida would return again to the event location as tourists; and Bull (2006) examined cycle racer's patterns of travel associated with taking part in weekend competitions. This study adopts the participants' view and focuses on their experiences of taking part in a bicycle tour.While in much of the western world there is a growing concern about the lack of physical activity at all stages of the life course (Henderson & Bialeskchi, 2005), there does appear to be a group of mid and later life adults who are physically fit and have a high level of commitment to their sport. However, as yet little is known about them, beyond the growing body of work on Master's and Senior Games participation. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the benefits sought from taking part in an organized cycling event and the level of involvement in bicycling of these mid and later life participants, with a view to finding out about why they took part in this sort of event and their overall interest and participation in cycling. The study was framed within a life span perspective notably Levinson's (Levinson, 1996; Levinson, Darrow, Klein, Levinson, & McKee, 1978) model of the adult life cycle and a gender analysis, with a particular focus on sport.Review of LiteratureLife Cycle and GenderUsing a biographical approach to initially study men (Levinson et al., 1978), and later women (Levinson, 1996), Levinson identified four overlapping eras or seasons in the life cycle: Childhood and Adolescence (zero-22 years); Early Adulthood (17-45 years); Middle Adulthood (40-65 years); and Late Adulthood (over 60 years). These eras make up the macrostructure of the life cycle within which a series of developmental tasks occur. Levinson suggested that these tasks are shaped by the self, psychological and biological processes, as well as by the wider sociocultural context. The current study focused on two eras, Middle Adulthood and Late Adulthood, each of which is characterized by different tasks. Middle adulthood is characterized initially by coming to terms with the polarities between young and old, masculine and feminine, destruction and creation, and attachment and separateness. These polarities are manifested in the mid-life transition starting around age 40 for some, and may signal a period of questioning about life and the impending movement from the younger to the middle-aged generations. While starting out with what may be a turbulent transition into middle adulthood, the 50s may be a period characterized by satisfaction as many individuals may feel able to enjoy the benefits of their earlier efforts related to career and family. …