{"id":15547,"date":"2026-09-08T07:52:06","date_gmt":"2026-09-08T00:52:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/?p=15547"},"modified":"2026-09-08T07:52:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-08T00:52:09","slug":"for-this-woman-in-her-50s-endurance-cycling-is-quietly-radical-and-about-much-more-than-sport","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/for-this-woman-in-her-50s-endurance-cycling-is-quietly-radical-and-about-much-more-than-sport\/","title":{"rendered":"For this woman in her 50s, endurance cycling is quietly radical \u2013 and about much more than\u00a0sport"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Bicycle Network<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Saskia Beudel\u2019s book begins with a straightforward premise: how she prepared for one of Australia\u2019s toughest cycling events.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Peaks Challenge, held in Victoria\u2019s alpine region, requires riders to cover 235 kilometres and climb more than 4,000 metres in a single day, taking in Tawonga Gap, Mount Hotham and Falls Creek. Yet this book is about much more than cycling. When she started the challenge, in 2021, she was in her late fifties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the pages unfold, Peaking becomes a story about ageing, endurance and the surprising possibilities that emerge when we push beyond our perceived limits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Structured as a diary spanning 111 days of training, the book follows Beudel through familiar rides around Canberra and Melbourne, before she eventually arrives at the Victorian Alps and the challenge itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The diary format captures the slow, incremental nature of preparation. In each entry she records distance, terrain and weather \u2013 but also her evolving experience of pushing her body to its limits. Endurance emerges not as a single moment of triumph, but as an ongoing negotiation between capacity, expectation and doubt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Saskia Beudel trained for 111 days to take part in one of cycling\u2019s toughest events, in her late fifties.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Is age just a number?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

There is something quietly radical about taking on an event of this magnitude in your late fifties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beudel\u2019s experience suggests midlife can open new possibilities for physical challenge and self-discovery. What makes the book compelling, however, is its refusal to become an inspirational clich\u00e9. Beudel is often uncertain, vulnerable and fatigued, and such moments sit alongside her achievements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a woman in my mid-fifties who also enjoys cycling, I found myself connecting with many of Beudel\u2019s reflections. One observation in particular resonated strongly: \u201cThere\u2019s always the feeling when you ride somewhere new, alone, out into the countryside of crossing a threshold into the unknown like setting out to sea.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have not attempted anything approaching the scale of the Peaks Challenge. But her observations about ageing, resilience and the ongoing negotiation between confidence and limitation felt both familiar and authentic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a result, Peaking avoids both triumphalism and nostalgia. Instead, it offers a thoughtful account of what it means to inhabit a changing body while continuing to test its limits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A bike of her own<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Bicycles occupy a special place in the history of women\u2019s freedom. Beudel draws on this legacy through examples such as Simone de Beauvoir cycling through wartime France, an image that evokes both physical independence and intellectual liberation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet the promise of that freedom remains incomplete. Women continue to be underrepresented in endurance cycling events such as the Peaks Challenge. While Beudel acknowledges this imbalance, she doesn\u2019t spend much time examining the barriers facing women riders today. It is one of the book\u2019s most intriguing threads, and I found myself wanting more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the book\u2019s greatest strengths is the way it explores the psychology of endurance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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One of this book\u2019s greatest strengths is how it explores the psychology of endurance. Bicycle Network<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Long-distance cycling demands a particular kind of attention. Climbs require patience; descents demand concentration. Hours on the bike create a space where thought, sensation and movement become closely intertwined.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beudel captures this experience well. Moments of immersion are punctuated by self-reflection, anxiety and doubt. Her challenge is not to eliminate discomfort, but to continue despite it. Endurance emerges as a mental practice as much as a physical one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Expands the possibilities of sports writing<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In countries such as the Netherlands, cycling is embedded in everyday life and supported by extensive infrastructure. In Australia, cyclists often remain peripheral figures in a culture shaped largely around cars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Without becoming polemical, Beudel highlights the limits of seeing cycling solely as an individual choice. Participation depends on systems and environments, as much as on personal determination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"book<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Environmental conditions form a subtle but significant backdrop to the narrative. Much of Beudel\u2019s training takes place during an Australian summer marked by bushfires. Smoke-filled skies and extreme heat transform otherwise routine rides into encounters with a landscape under stress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The final ride through Victoria\u2019s alpine country offers moments of beauty and relief, yet ecological vulnerability remains present. Nature is not merely scenery: it is an active force shaping the experience itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Photographs, maps and diagrams help ground the story in place, giving readers a sense of both the landscapes traversed and the scale of the challenge undertaken. Stylistically, Beudel balances memoir and reflection. Her academic background enriches the narrative, by weaving personal experience together with insights from history, philosophy and social commentary, though the shifts between diary entries and analysis can feel slightly uneven at times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Peaking succeeds in expanding the possibilities of sports writing. It is less concerned with crossing the finish line than with the accumulation of effort that makes such moments possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ultimately, the book suggests endurance is about more than physical achievement. It is about attention, persistence and a willingness to confront uncertainty. In doing so, it offers a thoughtful reflection on what it means to keep going \u2014 both on the road and beyond it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Sharyn Carnahan<\/a>, Lecturer, Health Science, Torrens University Australia<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This article is republished from The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Saskia Beudel\u2019s book begins with a straightforward premise: how she prepared for one of Australia\u2019s toughest cycling events.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[98],"class_list":["post-15547","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-health","tag-cycling"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t