Mountain biking is for (white, wealthy, middle-aged) men: the Cape Epic mountain bike race

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe Cape Epic (an eight-day mountain biking stage race in South Africa) exemplifies the most difficult mountain bike race on the African continent and attracts a relatively homogenous group of participants who, in order to prepare for such an extreme event, must engage in serious leisure. Until quite recently, academics considered lifestyle sports, like mountain biking, as playful and more relaxed than traditional sports. However, most hobbies or leisure activities can become ‘serious leisure’ when the time and energy spent participating and preparing for them begin to resemble work. Despite stereotypes surrounding lifestyle sport participants as young, white, middle-class males, a preliminary analysis of data collected on the 2017 Cape Epic revealed that although ninety per cent of riders were indeed white males, sixty per cent fell into high-income brackets and the average rider age was 44 years. Using demographic information from Cape Epic participants and responses given in a series of in-depth interviews with riders involved in serious leisure, this study contributes to a better understanding of serious leisure and team participation in lifestyle sports by addressing social and business motivations, subcultures, and meaning for participants in this ‘grey-area’ where serious leisure meets lifestyle sports. Furthermore, contrary to changing demographics across many lifestyle sports to include women, children and the elderly, Cape Epic participants are not diverse; this is explored through the gendered experience of the Cape Epic and the socio-cultural environment of lifestyle sports within the context of post-apartheid South Africa.