Abstract
Cycling is increasingly recognised as a pathway to health and mental wellbeing, yet empirical accounts grounded in lived experience—particularly in later life—remain limited. This poster presents a collaborative auto-ethnographic study centred on the development of www.hakodatecycle.jp, a website to promote cycling culture in southern Hokkaido, Japan. The two author-researchers entered the project from contrasting physiological and biographical starting points: one, a lifelong cyclist grappling with mid-life metabolic decline and declining motivation; the other, a newly retired non-athlete who, inspired by the gift of an old bicycle, discovered unexpected levels of fitness, vitality, and self-confidence in his mid-sixties. Their intersecting trajectories offer a reflexive lens on ageing, embodiment, and health promotion through sport. The poster explores how their shared engagement with cycling—and with the co-creation of a digital community platform—has shaped their personal health narratives, supported mutual motivation, and fostered broader public engagement. It considers how cycling, as both a physical activity and a technologically mediated practice, enables dynamic reconfigurations of identity, capability, and connection in later life. The authors contend that the website itself functions as a “third space”—an evolving interface between personal health practice and public knowledge-sharing—supporting community wellness, age-inclusive participation, and conversations around active transport in the region. By highlighting the emotional, social, and technological dimensions of cycling across the ageing spectrum, the poster invites scholars, educators, and practitioners to reconceptualise cycling not only as exercise, but as an embodied and socially embedded form of health education and promotion across the lifespan.
Presenters
Damian RiversProfessor, School of Systems Information Science, Future University Hakodate, Hokkaido, Japan Michael Vallance
Professor Emeritus, School of Systems Information Science, Future University Hakodate, Hokkaido, Japan
Details
Presentation Type
Theme
The Physiology, Kinesiology and Psychology of Wellness in its Social Context
KEYWORDS
Cycling and Ageing, Embodied Health, Health Trajectories, Lifespan
