Looking at human behaviour in terms of physical activity and sport suggests that "lifestyle sports" are emerging with increased awareness of health and fitness in urban centres. We are familiar with the cycling as a sport from the Olympics such as road races, MTB races and Velodrome events. The Tour de France is the third largest sporting event in the world. Even though the tour de France and randonneuring started around the same time, the later did not grab the attention till the recent decade in India. However, Randonneuring has slowly and steadily crept to the top spot in the ranking table among the participating countries. In this essay we will be exploring the emerging culture and ask questions such as why is the sport gaining popularity now? What are the key characteristics of the randonneuring? who are the participants?
Riders that participate in randonneuring try courses of 200 km to 1400 km, stopping at pre-set "controls" (checkpoints) every few tens of kilometres. Between checkpoints, riders are expected to be independent and are free to go in groups or alone as they like. The cyclists who take up the sport are most likely thirty and above in age and white collar job holders.
The work is explorative and qualitative in nature uses ethnographic material and secondary data to make sense of the sport. In this context Bourdieu’s conceptual framework of capital is employed to understand the social mileu of the sporting event. The study can possibly contribute to the changing tastes of urban lifestyle practice, endurance cycling events and their effect on overall human health.
