Seven strange cycling sports to try

Cycling has exploded in popularity over the past 20 years, the sport is growing in popularity for many reasons – is good for the environment, good for fitness, it’s a cheap mode of transport, low cost of entry and also because of the variety of cycling sports.

When we thing of cycling sports, a few familiar ones come to mind, the most popular being road cycling.  Cycling to a leisure destination with friends, commuting to work or road racing all have grown massively over the years.  Then there is the more niche cycling activities like mountain biking, bmx, track cycling and cyclo cross.

Then there is another sub breed of whacky cycling sports!  Let’s have a look.

Bike football

Bike football or Radball is played by teams riding a fixed gear bicycle with no brakes.  It’s essentially football on a bike –  the ball is controlled by the bike and the head, except when defending the goal. Putting your feet on the ground is a foul penalised by a free kick for the other team.

The sport has been around since 1893 and its first world championships were in 1929.  Cycle-ball is popular in Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Japan, Russia and Switzerland.

Cycle polo

Also known as bicycle polo, or bike polo, cycle polo has become quite popular and is a great fun sport.  Think horse polo but on a bike, the game is sometimes played on grass but mostly played on an outdoor concrete basketball court, where teams of three compete against each other for 10 minutes.  The rules are simple – try to score a goal and don’t put your foot down.

Bike polo is played on flat barred single speed bikes.

Artistic cycling

This is sometimes referred to as bike gymnastics and it is definitely a form of cycling that would test anyone’s athletic skills to the maximum.  It’s competitive indoor cycling where athletes perform tricks or exercises for points on specialized, fixed-gear bikes in a format similar to ballet or gymnastics.  The competitors have to perform gymnastic displays like standing up on the seat while riding around the arena on a fixed gear bike. They also have a limited amount of time to complete their displays.  It’s an interesting sport to watch and its’ riders are super skilful.

The Weirdest and Wildest Sports

Fat biking

Fat biking is an extreme sport that originated in Canada and involves riding your bike on ground covered by thick snow. It has several benefits for those who try it, as the task of driving yourself on through the snow gives you the same sort of challenging workout as running on soft sand, while the low tyre pressure on the specialist fat bikes that are used makes you feel as if you are floating when you are in the saddle.  Fat biking on mountain trails is very demanding, and can be a lot of fun.

Bike basketball

Bike basketball sees two teams riding fixed gear bikes and attempting to shoot baskets, but beyond the cycling aspect there are other differences from conventional basketball. For one thing, there are only four players on each side, and for another, the players do not have to dribble by bouncing the basketball. It became a very popular game in France during the early part of the 20th century, but never really caught on anywhere else.

The different cycling sports explained

Unicycle football

Basically this is American football only on unicycles!  The game was invented by a Texas in 2008 and features two teams of five players.  Though not as fast-paced as regular football, one of the biggest challenges is keeping your balance on the unicycle when you are tackled, but despite the potential for a hard landing it is popular enough to have its own Football League.

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